{"id":2631,"date":"2019-09-05T06:30:40","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T05:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uxstudioteam.com\/website\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2023-03-10T13:39:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T12:39:35","slug":"ux-minimum-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timemachine.uxstudioteam.com\/ux-blog\/ux-minimum-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"UX Minimum Checklist: 6 Steps Every Product Team Should Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

After working with many product teams in small and big companies, I collected the most important things you have to do while\u00a0you build a digital product. This is the UX Minimum Checklist. It\u00a0can help you to\u00a0start building a design culture in your organization. It is not perfect. But still, it is a good starting point and a checklist for anyone. So does your team fit the minimum requirements?
\n\"UX<\/p>\n

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1. Weekly user tests<\/h2>\n

Getting frequent user feedback is an essential part of building any product. You need it when you design something and iterate on different prototypes. You need it when you want to find out what problems to solve next. And you need it when something is ready to be shipped. With having at least one user test a week, you can maintain a close relationship\u00a0with your users. So you can be sure, the important insights will find their way to your team. Have at least one user test every week and you can check the first item of the UX Minimum Checklist.<\/p>\n

\"One<\/p>\n

2. Regular product discovery<\/h2>\n

Testing your product or prototype is cool, but you also need to come up with new feature or product ideas. In other words you should have a systematic way of doing product discovery. The goal is to find your audience’s pains and needs and come up with new ideas to solve them. You can do regular interviews<\/a>, field research, experience sampling, diary study or competitor analysis. Some companies\u00a0have dedicated discovery teams. But you don’t necessary need that. You can do mini discovery interviews before every user test. Or just choose a method from the list and do it\u00a0in every second month.<\/p>\n

3. Prototype first<\/h2>\n

When you build a new product or a new feature you should build a prototype first. A prototype is a low-fidelity clickable wireframe<\/a>. It’s easy and fun to create them.\u00a0If you don’t feel embarrassed<\/span> of your proto, you have spent too much time with it. The goal is to test this early prototype with people and get important feedback. Later every change will cost you precious\u00a0developement time. So it’s better to find those problems early.<\/p>\n

\"Prototype<\/p>\n

4. Measure usage, have numbers<\/h2>\n

You can start with the most basic things, like installing Analytics<\/a> and Hotjar<\/a>. If you want to track users one-by-one, Mixpanel<\/a> can be a good choice. More advanced teams have their own logging solutions, and they often hire data analysts too. The main point is to measure what happens in your product. It takes some time to install and maintain these tools, but believe me, it worth it. Data will help you to have a clear picture, and make decisions. It\u00a0can’t replace the insights you get from user research, but it is still a must have, so it has its place on our UX checklist.<\/p>\n

5. Regular design meetings with business and dev leads<\/h2>\n

At\u00a0our UX company<\/a>,<\/span> we work in week-long design sprints<\/a> and we meet with our clients every week. In my experience it is important to have business guys and developers on these design meetings too. Business leaders can emphasise the\u00a0goals, and developers can give feedback about the feasibility.<\/p>\n

If they take part in the\u00a0design process they will also understand the solutions better.\u00a0You can decide the frequency yourself, but you will need regular meetings with these guys.\u00a0So it’s better to schedule a recurring meeting the design sprint process<\/a> is a good solution. You should invite at least one developer and one business leader to the design meetings.<\/p>\n

6. Workshops to empathize with users and\u00a0align the team<\/h2>\n

To make sure that everyone is on the same page, you should hold a persona<\/a>, a jobs-to-be-done or\u00a0a customer journey<\/a> workshop. On these workshops your team defines the personas you are building for together, and explore their journey with your product. At the end everybody will have a clear picture\u00a0about the users and the context. It’s not magic,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u00a0will help\u00a0your teammates to make good decisions about your product. And it definitely worth a few hours of time. UX people<\/a> can help you to do some research so you can use\u00a0real data, and they can also facilitate the workshops. We have many tricks to get people involved. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Design<\/p>\n

Test your\u00a0team quickly with this UX checklist<\/h2>\n

And now it’s time to do a quick self-check. How many questions can you answer with yes?<\/p>\n