Site visits (aka Contextual Inquiry) are an amazingly rich source for customer understanding. We typically go on site visits when we are trying to understand how people are accomplishing tasks now (whether it is with our software or something else), what their main pain-points are in a given area, opportunities for innovation, inspiration, and to gain a better understanding of our customers.
Certainly, the best interactions with participants are when they show us their processes and talk about their issues. However, there are times when it can be difficult to get customers to give us those rich experiences. For example, sometimes participants don't think their process is important or interesting. Here are a few techniques to try that can kick start richer conversations and a deeper understanding of the people you visit:
Desk surface Inventory - Where does your participant use their computer? Do they have a desk? If so, take a look at the surface of the desk. What is there? When people pile up papers or items, or stick post-it notes to their monitor, they are trying to save some piece of information for some reason. Usually, things on a desk are considered things that the participant needs to pay attention to or remember. Have them walk you through the objects and papers on their desk. What are the objects? Why are they there? Get into this discussion with your customer. It might open up a window for further exploration and insights.
"Desktop" Inventory - When looking at your participant's computer, what does their computer screen tell you? Files that people leave on the computer screen "desktop" can be left for a number of reasons; these are often files that the customer isn't ready to file, needs to remember for some period of time, or used for "working" space. Much like the desk surface inventory, understanding what people leave on their computer desktops can give you insights and open the door for deeper discussions. What does the desktop background look like? Do they have a picture? If so, ask them about it. Have them walk you through each of the icons on the desktop and tell you what they are, what they use it for and maybe when was they used the file last.
Take a tour - have them walk you around the site and explain it to you. This works really well as an ice-breaker at the beginning of a visit. Sometimes, people are somewhat disconcerted by this request. Just reassure them that you are interested in knowing a little more about them (or their business). Have them show you around and take note of the things you see and what they tell you about the person. Ask your participant what they use things for, or how often they use a space. For example, if the participant shows you their formal dining room, you could ask them about when they used the room last and why. You never know what these types of tours might reveal to you about the person. You can expect to get clues to their values, the importance of various things that they use, and gain some color to better understand your participant. This activity also tends to set a good context for the site visit participants because it makes it clear that we are there to learn from them.
A day in your life - have the participant walk you through their typical day. You can map this out as a timeline of activities, or as a map of where the person is in their space throughout the day. If the participant usually comes into the office in the morning, grabs coffee from the kitchenette, goes to their computer and checks email, walks to the FAX machine to check for incoming orders, then to the store room to pull items from inventory... well that might be pretty interesting. Seeing how people are moving through their site and what they are trying to accomplish can give you insights into how to streamline processes, unveil hidden pain-points or opportunities to delight. It is really great to take advantage of being in their site to see how they use it.
Show me something - A fun activity to try as an icebreaker that can give you ideas about what your customer values, likes and dislikes, is to have them identify various things in their environment that reflects those values. Tell the person to think about things in the site, including on their computer. Then ask them to show you things. Ask them to show you something: "frustrating", "fun", "important", "painful", "delightful", "challenging", "unique" or other terms. With each thing, have them explain it to you and why they chose that. For example, if you ask the participant to show you something "fun" and they show you a golf club, ask them why they identified it as fun... you might learn that one of their passions is golf, that they spend every Thursday afternoon playing, and that they are getting ready to participate in a local competition. This information can help you better understand your participant, but can also help you build a relationship that might encourage them to share more with you as the session proceeds. You can tailor this activity around the thing you are interested in studying. For example, if you are studying payroll customers, you might do this activity around payroll. "Show me something important about payroll", "Show me something fun about payroll"... you might stumble across something really interesting!
These are just a handful of ideas of additional things you can do in addition to watching tasks. Please share your ideas with me!
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