How reversing assumptions can help to make your UX design better
By: Paul Pela
Tags: User Research, Ux Strategy, Product Management, UX, Product Design

Assumptions are necessary. They take some of the burdens away and let us move forward.

We don’t need to prove our assumptions, since we assume they are true.

But some assumptions can introduce bias. We need to be careful not to blindly build upon a biased assumption, lest we ignore the needs of the users and clients.

Example: Extraverts vs introverts

In my first project I started with an assumption that basketball fans are mostly gregariuos people who like the noise and energy of sports venues.

I’m like this. My group of friends is mostly like this. We go to all home games and cheer our team during the entire match. We are never quiet and we react to everything that is happening on the court. During timeouts we talk a lot about the game and analyse each situation in detail. When we disagree with some decision made by the coach, we are keen to express this and make sure he hears us. Same goes for the referees.

Making an assumption that everybody in the venue is like us would surely lead to providing features that would only appeal to a part of potential users. And since my goal is to attract more audience and fans for my team by creating an engaging mobile app, I should avoid that.

That’s also what I did with my project notes very early, during the initial brainstorming phase. I tried not to assume.

I devised a strategy to take every assumption I make and turn it upside down or test if opposite is also true or leads to useful outcomes.

I also created my first user survey in a way that would answer which approach to take. The findings show that this was a good step.

Out of 96 people who answered, 39.5% say they don’t engage in cheering, except in especially spectacular situations. For a highly engaged fan like me, this was unexpected.

I went to the next game with an agenda to perform a field test and observe the fans closely. I even recorded them to confirm this. Maybe they think they don’t engage? My observations supported the results of the survey, though. Around 2/5 of the fans come to games to just watch and talk with their friends. They tend to keep calm, almost stoic, and only comment on some plays among a small group of friends they came with.

I learned that taking more introverted fans into account and catering to their needs without forcing them to adjust to my views is important for the success of my project.

The steps to reversing and validating assumptions

Look at your notes early on while starting a project. See if you noted something that assumes a certain fact is true. This works especially well while you are running the initial brainstorm. Take the assumption and come up with an opposite statement. This may result in a quite weirdly sounding ideas at first — why would anyone come to a loud place to sit there quietly for two hours? Include questions in interviews and surveys that test which of your assumptions applies to the people you are surveying. The result will be a scale of approaches. Learn from the results and apply them to include different views in your design.

It’s best done early on in the process as this can save you a lot of time and missed opportunities if done right.