tech-company, mobile-apps, lean-startup, user-acquisition, business-methodologyI had a conversation with a teammate about the methodology used in a context of new product built by big company.
No need to enter in the details, I explained that Lean Startup principles could (should?) really apply for big companies especially in B2C context since meaning of startup is:
“working under conditions of extreme uncertainty”.
I said that even if the company’s Business department gets an idea (about a mobile app for instance) and expects from their IT teams to concretise it, in an ideal world following Lean Startup methodology, the Business dept. members themselves should go out, look for and talk to customers in order to get early feedbacks on the idea/product. They master their idea, so they are the most suitable piece to confront it to outside.
Response from my teammate:
“No, it’s the role of recruited UX experts to talk to customers and confront the (disruptive?) idea!”
According to me, UX experts deal with the ergonomics of the solution, the usability.
They might need real customers to test and improve their solutions, but they are not expected to confront the idea to customers initially.
According to me, Business members should be focused on: “Should I build this product?”.
UX should be focused on: “How to improve this product?”.
I’m confused so.
Am I wrong about the exact role of UX experts?
Should the Business stay on his chair without meeting real potential customers?
Am I wrong about the exact role of UX experts?
The marketer / Customer Developer’s job is to pin down what clients want, in terms of “I need to do this and that, can you help me solve this please, and I will pay you $x to do so?” In other words, slap a price in front of a user need, and bring it up internally.
The engineer’s job is then to dive into it, make sure it’s feasible, and if so come up with a solution in front that costs less than $x.
If that moves forward then the UX expert’s job then is - or at the same time is - to pin down how they could do it better (aka, typically, in less steps). Because let’s face it, most - though thankfully not all - engineers suck at UX. They ensure it’s still less than $x all while making it highly more likely you’ll find more customers.
Should the Business stay on his chair without meeting real potential customers?
Recipe for disaster. The first rule of marketing is to get out of the building and get in front of end-users to test assumptions. Because, to paraphrase Steve Blank (and Clausewitz): no business plan survives first encounter with customers.
As per me, it is the task of a person who deals with the end customers.
I am saying this because at the end it is a business personal who deals with the end customer in the company not the UX person.
The UX guy supposes to have overall knowledge of the Ergonomics and how to make the application more user friendly.
And in case if there would be any problem where the business personal can not understand how to facilitate the services then there must be a discussion together.
In such a case an advice from a developer can also be considered.
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