{"id":18236,"date":"2019-10-21T15:38:38","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T14:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=18236"},"modified":"2020-09-03T11:23:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T10:23:13","slug":"teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching The Value of UX Research in Ten Minutes (with Chocolate)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">When I began teaching UX and Product Design years ago, I wanted to start the first class off with a fun activity. Something engaging the class could participate in that would get us all off on the right foot, (a.k.a, get them to like me, and follow me blindly into the deep world of design) and quickly help them understand the impact of just a little bit of UX research. There\u2019s lots of existing workshops I could have used, but as <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/u\/dcda1d2b2f7f?source=post_page-----f0d3653e95e0----------------------\">Frank Chimero<\/a> would say, I like to do things the \u201clong, hard, stupid way\u201d, so I made my own. I call it \u201cThe Chocolate Bar Exercise\u201d (very inspiring) and I\u2019ve used it in workshops for students, startups and Fortune 500 companies with some pleasantly powerful results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><em>Quick Summary<\/em><\/strong><em> \u2014 making assumptions about the kind of chocolate people like is just as harmful as making assumptions about customer behaviour, preferences and the features to build next. Make a wrong assumption with chocolate and I could ruin a day or worse \u2014 I could kill someone with an allergy. Make a wrong choice in product and you could cost your company millions, but with a little bit of research we can drastically improve the success rate of our product, or in this case, our chocolate bar disbursement.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><img class=\"size-full\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/13wbVDOLhLD4GfPaMKQQpoA.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6580\" src=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/13wbVDOLhLD4GfPaMKQQpoA.jpeg\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Here\u2019s how to run the workshop<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">What you\u2019ll need:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s list list--unordered marginBottom-l lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">\n<li>A group of at least 8 people (smaller can work, but the data isn\u2019t as impactful \u2014 you\u2019ll see why in a second)<\/li>\n<li>A different chocolate bar for everyone. Full or mini sized depending on your budget. You can throw candy in the mix too, like a bag of skittles, or a package of Liquorice Allsorts for the old souls in the crowd.<\/li>\n<li>10 minutes of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">What to do:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s list list--unordered marginBottom-l lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">\n<li>Start by <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">handing out a chocolate bar to each person<\/strong>, telling them not to eat it or trade it. They\u2019ll give you a look of disappointment or intrigue, depending on how hungry they are. Easy enough.<\/li>\n<li>Once you\u2019ve handed out all of the chocolate bars, <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">ask everyone to put their hand up if they got their favourite one or one they\u2019d happily eat<\/strong>. In my experience, success for this initial stage is generally around 5\u201310%.<\/li>\n<li>Now ask them to get up out of their seats, walk around and talk to the rest of the group and <strong class=\"c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-5 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">trade chocolate bars until they have something more to their liking<\/strong>. Give them a few minutes to ditch those Coffee Crisps.<\/li>\n<li>Once they\u2019ve traded, have them sit back down in their seats and by a show of hands let you know who has their favourite now.<\/li>\n<li>In my experience, the number of people with their favourite chocolate bar will be closer to 90%.<\/li>\n<li>Stand back and congratulate them for doing their first round of user research. Clap, clap, clap.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">How to Explain What The Heck Just Happened<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">The moment you reveal that they just did some UX research is a magical one. You\u2019ll see looks of confusion, and then a slow expression change from confusion to epiphany once they realize what just happened. Then you all nod together like you\u2019re all in on the same awesome scheme, and you\u2019ve learned the secret to life. Now you can start to explain why your original approach sucked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><a><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6580\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"><img class=\"size-full\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"href=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/16uMzJ4bCpdxZANDoAN_N6g.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6580\" src=\"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/16uMzJ4bCpdxZANDoAN_N6g.gif\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\"style=\"text-align: center;\">Well done folks. Well done.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Problem 1: You Didn\u2019t Care<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Before you walked into that workshop, you didn\u2019t bother to ask anyone about their chocolate preferences, allergies, diabetes, or any other constraints that might make chocolate a terrible choice for them. You had chocolate on-hand (aka a product or feature) and you tried to literally shove it down their throats.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Problem 2: You Made Sweeping Assumptions<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">I like chocolate, so everyone else must love chocolate, right? Wrong. Choosing the wrong chocolate could at the very least disappoint someone who\u2019s just not that into Big Turk (who is?) but in the worst case, you could seriously harm someone with a severe peanut allergy. Choosing features or products based on assumptions is dangerous, and could end up costing your company millions of dollars, or loyal customers, or both.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">A Little Bit of Research Goes a Long Way<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">With those eight people, in ten minutes you were able to increase the likelihood that a customer would be satisfied by about 80%. Ten minutes of discussion, and listening to what other people want. Ten minutes of being vulnerable and admitting to yourself that you actually don\u2019t have all the answers, and that getting hands-on with your people can bring about big change in your organization.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginTop-xl marginBottom-l c-black lineHeight-xl fontSize-xl fontWeight-5 breakPointM-lineHeight-xxl breakPointM-fontSize-xxl\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\">Chocolate For Change (working title)<\/h2>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">For any of you who are still (STILL) struggling to get buy-in from your organization when it comes to UX research, bring some of the naysayers into a room and ply them with chocolate. I\u2019ve found that it creates an environment where people are far more open to discussion around the necessity of research, and more importantly, an environment where teams are more willing to find ways of building research into everything they do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">Good luck! Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you might have about running this inside your company, and don\u2019t forget to lend a clapping hand so others can find this too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pageWrap pageWrap--s marginBottom-m paddingBottom-s c-slate lineHeight-l fontSize-l fontWeight-3 breakPointM-fontSize-xl breakPointM-lineHeight-xl\">This article was originally published on\u00a0<a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\"class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\" href=\"https:\/\/uxplanet.org\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate-f0d3653e95e0\">Matt\u2019s Medium page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I began teaching UX and Product Design years ago, I wanted to start the first class off with a fun activity. Something engaging the class could participate in that would get us all off on the right foot, (a.k.a, get them to like me, and follow me blindly into the deep world of design) and quickly help them understand&#8230; <a class=\"link link--blue fontWeight-4\" href=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/\">Read More &#65515;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":18230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[378],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By making assumptions of customer behaviour can be as bad as giving chocolate to others. With a little bit of UX research, you can improve your success rate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teaching The Value of UX Research in Ten Minutes (with Chocolate) | Marvel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By making assumptions of customer behaviour can be as bad as giving chocolate to others. With a little bit of UX research, you can improve your success rate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Marvel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/marvelapp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-21T14:38:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-03T10:23:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@marvelapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@marvelapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Marvel\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/marvelapp\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/marvelapp\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/marvel-app\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marvelapp\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Logo-Light.png\",\"width\":1605,\"height\":1130,\"caption\":\"Marvel\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Marvel Blog\",\"description\":\"Ideas and words on user experience, design, collaboration and more\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/15.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/\",\"name\":\"Teaching The Value of UX Research in Ten Minutes (with Chocolate) | Marvel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-21T14:38:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-03T10:23:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"By making assumptions of customer behaviour can be as bad as giving chocolate to others. With a little bit of UX research, you can improve your success rate\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1809afecae4c2112f50346a1df676d51\"},\"headline\":\"Teaching The Value of UX Research in Ten Minutes (with Chocolate)\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-21T14:38:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-03T10:23:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#webpage\"},\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#primaryimage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Research\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/teaching-the-value-of-ux-research-in-ten-minutes-with-chocolate\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1809afecae4c2112f50346a1df676d51\",\"name\":\"Matt Hryhorsky\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/28e14dcb3532a74ddb31b51fd8cd56805f2d3ada6bc7b18fa614110ef9fbb119?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matt Hryhorsky\"},\"description\":\"UX Lead, International Growth at Shopify\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.matthryhorsky.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marvelapp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}