When Is Enough, Enough? Or When Do You Stop Testing And Start Building?

The biggest risk in product development is building products that customers don't want. But the next biggest risk is analysis paralysis, where teams spend all their time and budget trying to evaluate whether they're building the right thing.

Creating prototypes and running desirability, usability and viability tests help us to reduce the risk of building the wrong thing. But how do we avoid the trap of over testing?

Well it depends on how your company thinks of development. Do you track whether delivery is on-time and on-budget? If so, then learning will take a back seat. Instead of iterating on the product the developers will focus on building the designs they are provided with. In this case, designers will need to spend more time reducing risk from their designs.

However, if teams are tracked on the outcomes they achieve then developers will focus on creating small iterations to validate that the features are delivering the expected value. This means that features can move from design to development much earlier, speeding up delivery.

In fact design and development are part of the same continuum of going from idea to validated solution. The only reason we have a distinction is because of the functional separation that we have in many companies. With cross-functional teams this separation fades away and teams can focus on using the best tool (a prototype or MVP) for reducing risk as they build.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

5 Questions To Help Your Team Make Better Decisions by Steven Morris
Help your team make clearer decisions by asking: What would happen if we did nothing What could make us regret this decision? What alternatives did we overlook? How will we know if this was the right decision? Is this reversible?

The Death Of The Ceo: How Basetis Rewrote The Rules Of Work by Emma de Blok
Basetis removed its CEO, ditched hierarchy, and let employees set salaries. Promoting a decentralized model that fosters shared responsibility and empowerment.

Product Direction

Product Direction Meets Revenue: Functional Alignment For Winning Together by Arne Kittler
Aligning product direction with revenue goals through functional collaboration can lead to better results. A shared understanding and accountability across teams drive business success.

Broken Record Models by John Cutler
As a product manager, it is your responsibility to guide the conversation with your partners in ways that are more product-centric, and less reactive and flavor-of-the-month.

Continuous Research

Longitudinal UX Research: Tracking User Behavior Over Time by UX Bulletin
Longitudinal UX research helps track user behavior over time, providing data-driven insights for continuous improvement.

Does A UX Researcher Lose Heart When They Explore AI? by Ki Aguero
AI is weaving itself into User Research and UX researchers can adapt to the challenges posed by AI, whether the role will evolve or lose its human touch in the process.

Continuous Design

When Is Enough, Enough? Or When Do You Stop Testing And Start Building? by Rory Madden
Each product team and market presents unique challenges and opportunities. However, by focusing on the learning/effort balance and embracing the fluidity between design and development, teams can make informed decisions about when to transition.

The Engagement Dilemma: How to keep users hooked without causing fatigue by Swati Goyal
Tackle the engagement dilemma with practical strategies to balance captivating content and user well-being. Strategies like personalization, pacing, and user control to foster healthy and sustainable digital engagement.

Continuous Development

Chat Is A Bad UI Pattern For Development Tools by Daniel De Laney
As chat-based AI becomes the new interface layer, developers must rethink system architecture to support memory, context, and real-time conversational flows.

What Is Backlog Grooming? by Airtable
Backlog grooming is critical for keeping product and development teams on track for designing sprints that succeed. Refining and prioritizing tasks help teams for better alignment and efficiency in agile workflows. [Sponsored Content]

Last Chance To Sign-Up For Community Events!
Join us in NYC and Berlin this week for free

This week marks your last opportunity to join a UXDX community event ahead of the main conference.

In New York, we’re gathering this evening at the Empire State Building for an evening of practical talks and conversation with speakers from Priceline, MongoDB, and Tricon Infotech. Register here

In Berlin, our final community event takes place tomorrow, 30 April, with sessions on behavioural design and UX measurement led by speakers from Miro and SAP. Register here

Both events are free to attend, but spaces are limited. We’d love to see you there.
Or if you haven’t done so, you can book your tickets for the main conference below!

FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS 

Check out more upcoming community events 

Video of the Week
Back to the Origin: Navigating the Pivot
from Retail to Curated Marketplace for Scalable Success

In this session, Dan Lake, VP of Technology at Not On The High Street, explores the strategic pivot the company made to return to its roots as a curated marketplace. He dives into the decisions that fueled this transition, how it’s shaping their future, and the tactical approaches behind scaling their technology and product strategy.

Discover key lessons on navigating purpose shifts, making pivotal "buy vs. build" decisions for scalable technology, and enhancing partner development to ensure a thriving marketplace. Watch now to gain valuable insights into growing and adapting a product strategy in a changing landscape! 👇

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: How do you handle your identity when moderating usability tests?

This week’s poll results show that almost half of respondents (48%) prefer to present themselves as impartial observers when moderating usability tests, even if that’s not entirely the case. This approach can help create a neutral environment, though it raises questions about the potential impact on participant feedback.

Interestingly, 26% of participants are more transparent about their role in the product, which can foster trust and more authentic insights. Meanwhile, 14% rely on external moderators to ensure objectivity, while 12% opt for unmoderated testing altogether. The fact that no one responded with "We don't conduct usability tests" highlights the importance of testing in the product development process.

If you’re looking to improve your usability testing techniques and learn how to balance impartiality with transparency, our Continuous Design course provides helpful strategies for conducting impactful tests!

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