Hello, and welcome to the bottom up skills podcast I might pass since I'm the CEO of quality science and we are at the second last episode of our rapid prototyping series. Here on the bottom up skills podcast. And today we're going to talk about one of the most important things around rapid prototyping, and that is working uses this real, real, real underestimation of what it takes to get users working in the right way with you to give you good.

Clear objective feedback, because let's be honest. We don't want them to tell us it's great. If it kind of sucks, we want them to give us great feedback. So how we approach the users that we're testing with, you might call them [00:01:00] consumers, customers, end users, audience, whatever you want to call them. It's all about how you work with them.

And I've learned a few key lessons, uh, having done so many of these rapid prototyping sessions. What I'm hoping to do for you today is share with you some of those learnings so that we can get the most out of rapid prototyping. Cause I truly believe this is an, in such an incredible tool to use when you're on the journey of building a new product or service building a business, no matter what it is.

Rapid prototyping really is a powerful tool to know if your product is actually, if it's any good. So let's start by making sure we're on the right page here. We've got to make sure before we kind of talk about how we work with them, um, which is to make sure we've recruited the right people to come and test our prototype.

[00:02:00] So you might have, um, some basic demographic criteria, you know, age, uh, where do they live and that sort of thing. And it's really important to make sure that you actually verify that the users you're testing with meet whatever demographic criteria is that you have. Um, Now another thing is that, um, just because they're a demographic fit, they might have zero need zero interest in the product that you're trying to test.

So you may want to screen them for what segment in your audience that they are in. And that is generally going to be whether they're in a consideration phase of purchasing a product or service, or maybe some more. You know, attitudinal, um, uh, vectors, like what they like, what their interests are, um, what they believe in, or, you know, you might even have behavior stuff.

So, you know, if you're targeting, for [00:03:00] example, uh, you know, young mums, um, that's like a really important life stage, which creates new behaviors. So you gotta make sure that, you know, the people that you've recruited are actually mums because that's the way you're going to get the feedback. Before we talk about, uh, how we work with them when they turn up on the day or whether they turn up on a zoom call to be a part of our testing, let's make sure we've got the right people in the room because we don't want to go to all of this work and effort and do all this great testing.

I need to realize we tested with the wrong people because that's. Can I make the learnings pretty pointless. Uh, so make sure you got the right people in the room. Okay. So they're in the room. Now an interesting tip that I would give you. If you're going to do a big prototyping session, maybe you've got a bunch of your colleagues, a couple of teams testing, different variations of an idea.

I think you should really have [00:04:00] a green room, uh, which is. A place where you can sit them down, where they can't really hear and see too much about what's going on. Um, that way then you can check them in, take care of them, make sure they understand the purpose of the day and so on and so forth before you bring them in for the, to the team for real testing.

So have a green room that works at amp. So treat. Now, um, what you have to remember is that when people are coming to test your product, to have a look at your prototype, you know, They're humans. I mean, it's a crazy idea. Yes, I know. But they're humans, so say hello, greet them, find out their name, give them a name tag.

Um, make them feel comfortable and the importance of them feeling relaxed and comfortable and that this is not some strange unknown dangerous event, but it's just a bunch of great product people trying to learn how to build [00:05:00] the best product. Once they realize, uh, that this is, you know, actually an experience that can be really fun and interesting.

You'll get along the way with them. So I make them feel welcome. And just on that note, you know, the crazy thing is invariably, I find customers. I really find it rewarding to come and test prototypes. Number one, somebody is actually really, really deeply interested in their feedback, which doesn't happen a lot.

And number two, I think they feel like they're making a contribution to a better product and they really are too. So this is why making them feel comfortable is really important. Now, another big part of setting your user up for success when you're in a prototype with them. Is to give them context, context, it's context, context.

This is really important because. We're often. So in our own minds, in our own heads with [00:06:00] our product that we know, uh, automatically, uh, what situations would call upon them, but your user, your user doesn't know. That information. So you need to provide them with the context and at the start of getting, uh, the direct feedback, that direct response from them.

Uh, you need to actually give them a task to do. I want your feedback on this user journey. I want you to write down 10 cards. I want you to tell me what the total loan amount that you can get from your mortgage using this mortgage calculator. Those are great, clear, explicit tasks that help people. No, where they are, what they're trying to do here.

Now, importantly, once you've given them the task, you might say something. Like it's nine o'clock on a week, day. You've got 30 minutes [00:07:00] before your next meeting. And we want you to use the online mortgage calculator. Tell us what the maximum amount you could get it. Now, there might be some other constraints.

Um, you know, you might do this test on a phone. So you say you're on the train, you're on the bus. Um, you can give all of this sort of context, but it's really important because if you give them this context and maybe you have a few props. Where you're testing your prototype. This is the secret sauce. So this, this is where you evoke the direct route response.

Cause you transport them to that world into that moment. So they feel like it's nine Oh two. I got the cup of coffee and they've got 28 minutes. To get this number before their first meeting of the day. And you will be surprised. The biggest learning that I have is that you don't need to put them on a train to get that experience.

Although that would be like incredibly fun. You can create an environment where they can [00:08:00] imagine it and feel it like it's the direct moment. And why, why does this omerta because if people are feeling comfortable and they're really seeing themselves trying to. Complete the tasks they're really clicking.

They're really thinking out loud, helping you understand how they'd go about it. You will find that they can work with sometimes just 20 or 30% of the actual environment in order to evoke this direct response. And the key thing. Because they're comfortable and they have the context, their feedback is not them guessing what it would be like to use the product.

It is evoking the response as if they're using the product. And this ladies and gentlemen, this is the secret secret secret to why rapid prototyping is so powerful. You create this light version of the product idea, like a sketch. And then yo...