I sat in on this talk just a few months before we founded Say Yeah. For me this was a transitional time period, when I was making the change from “guy who designs websites” to “guy who cares about users”. Beginning with those first few projects at Say Yeah in the fall of 2008, our user-centerd design philosophy has been the foundation for our work over the past 6 years.
While keeping in mind that this talk was given two months prior to the initial iPhone launch, these points stick out to me as what would eventually become mobile first design process and the MVP movement.
- Remove features that aren’t being used when the benefit of simplicity is more than the benefit of the feature.
- Remove items to create visual simplicity.
- Figure out what you need to launch, the core features and watch how people use it.
- Get the site out there. Optimize later, when the site scales.
It’s impressive how adaptable this talk is to today’s emphasis on agile and lean product management. The talk is certainly as relevant now as it ever has been.
If you’re interested the event slides can be found on SlideShare, but read on now for my detailed notes.
MeshU – Notes from Presentations – 20/05/08
Iteration & You – Designing Adaptable Websites
Daniel Burka, Digg, Pownce
High Road Architecture
- Lots of planning, years to build and iterations take as much planning
- In websites, highly designed sites–flash, etc.
Low Road Architecture
- Quick, easy to build, change, adapt.
- In websites, built on frameworks, other peoples code/standards
Establish a Visual Language
- Design elements as a ‘visual vocabulary’ similar unified style for the entire site.
Desire Paths
- Builders pave walkways, people use the grass, they build their own pathways.
- Watch what people do, how they use the site, or app, and then help adapt.
- Figure out what you need to launch, the core features and watch how people use it
Adapt to Scale
- Get the site out there. Optimize later, when the site scales.
Subtraction is Iteration
- Remove features that aren’t being used when the benefit of simplicity is more than the benefit of the feature
- Remove items to create visual simplicity
Realign, Don’t Redesign
- Don’t take out the wrecking ball and restart – it’s very tempting, too much work.
- Make adjustments over time, instead of huge increment versions.
- Major redesigns can remove the pathways that users have developed over time – break user patterns.
- Use innovations of others, not your own, people understand how the things they’ve seen work. – Ie tabs, pagination, are intuitive and people know how to use them.
- Innovate only when needed, not for the sake of it.
Make Time for Iteration
- Build in time to change things to your past work.
- Research how users use the site.
- Improve on what you have, instead of just making new things.
Don’t Panic
- You’ll get feedback, wait and see before reacting.
- Take a breather then come back in a week, or month, and see what all users are thinking.
- Once you implement a feature, you have to maintain it.
Adapt to Survive
- Convince of why iteration is important, usually based on the bottom line. Set goals, try to reach them.
- Usability tests – simple as friends and a pizza – ie. These people, this background, have this problem.
Key Points
- Low road design is much easier to adapt.
- Realign, don’t redesign.
- Create a visual language and iterate it.
- You can’t predict all eventualities.
- Remove as much as you add.
- Don’t be over reactive.
- Make time for iteration.
Product strategy as a foundational skill
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