Blink - how does it apply to me?
I read the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell this weekend and just loved it! It was really easy to read and I really enjoyed it. I was also eager to apply it to my work when I design UX in my role as a PM.
1) The right and wrong way to ask people what they want: In the book, Malcolm talks about how Coke ran "sip tests" that placed Pepsi above Coke. Then when they ran a "home test" when people have the chance to drink Coke in the way they intend to i.e. at home, Coke comes back as a winner again. I've seen this in practice where we've shown our new UI to first time users and ask them for their initial opinion on the UX through a task. This is the "sip test" for us which is great to get a sense of whether the product is something that they would use. However, it misses out on the more complex usability pieces where we don't find the issues that arise from repeated use.
2) People don't always say what they feel: Pollsters ask folks who they will vote for and that is usually a quick answer. Ask them why and thats a different picture and people might end up changing their answers as the right side of the brain kicks in and makes you second guess. Its the importance of intuition and in user design, thats an important one to listen to. Thats why I always prefer to provide multiple design options and ask people to choose the one they want instead of showing them 1 design and then ask why they like it or don't like it. I've realized through experience that when we ask people to justify their choices by asking "why", they start to process what they are seeing before them rather than intuitively which is what they would do if we werent around.
3) "Thin-slicing"/More information is not always a good thing: This set off a lightbulb in my head. I've seen it happen around me and I call it "analysis paralysis". Ever seen the manager who is waiting and waiting for more information and is too scared to take a decision? Then you know what I am talking about. Nothing is more frustrating than being managed/led by someone who either takes a decision too early or needs a lot of information before making one. How do you know if you have enough to make a decision? I think its the training - a combination of experience/practice to know what usually works and the ability to distil down the information to what matters in the end.
Very interesting indeed - highly recommended reading!
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