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Before getting at the crux of this question, I should say what I mean by “this”. In most cases, I use this question when sharing something that I’ve created – a design concept usually, but occasionally a deliverable to clients. In the question “this” is whatever they’re looking at right now – a screen design, a diagram, a bit of text. Generally, I’ve preceded this question with “What do you expect to see?” giving us an explicit foil.
Seeing something new is always a bit of a shock. People experience a momentary cognitive dissonance as they reconcile what they see with what they expected. I love watching someone absorb something new, and I picture their neurons forging connections. Through this question, I’m asking them to articulate this process. This question asks them to draw attention to the aspects of what they’re looking at that were the most difficult to reconcile with what they thought they would see.
Asking for feedback with this question acknowledges the subjective nature of design feedback. In doing so, it moves us away from simple likes and dislikes, and gets at the cognitive dissonance of a design concept. In other words, this question focuses us on what they expected to see in the context of the particular function or purpose.
As I implied, this question gets directed at people participating in design reviews – in most cases user research participants, but also project stakeholders. In most user research settings I ask this question only after I’ve established what they’re expectations are. That is, part of the user research protocol is to ask people what they would expect to see out of this kind of product. In talking to stakeholders, however, I haven’t always had an opportunity to understand what their expectations are for this product or this project. Asking this question gives me an opportunity to clarify that with them. Knowing your stakeholders’ expectations can provide an input into the design process, but moreover give you insights into how to manage them.
The answer to this question gives me topics to zero-in on. When they point out aspects of the design that didn’t resonate, that were somewhat different from their expectations, we can turn our attention to the why and how. This then gives me concrete feedback on how I might adjust the design.
When talking to stakeholders where perhaps their expectations weren’t as well defined at the outset, I get a chance to clarify their expectations.
This question is an essential ingredient in my generic framework for reviewing concept reviews with users:
So, in many cases, this question is part of a formula, and I ask it at a particular moment in the interview.
In other circumstances – say in doing a stakeholder review – I might just do steps 3 and 4
What to ask next depends on circumstances. In the first circumstance, you’ve already gotten them to establish their expectations – as I described in my typical approach for concept testing. Therefore, I can remind them about other things they indicated they expected. “You also said you thought this screen would let you contact someone.”
In another circumstance, you haven’t already spoken to them about their expectations, in which case you can dig into the distinction they made. Perhaps you can focus on why the product concept doesn’t meet their expectations. Alternatively, you can get them to make their answer more concrete by asking them to tell you a story. Something like, “You said you would have expected to be able to contact someone from here. Can you give me a recent example of when you needed to contact someone?”
When in doubt, ask them to keep going: “Anything else? How else is this different from what you expected?”
ALTERNATE
ALTERNATE