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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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UX for Lean Startups summary
Laura Klein
Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design
24 mins
Brief summary
UX for Lean Startups by Laura Klein is a practical guide on user experience design for startups. It offers tips and tricks on how to create user-friendly products that serve customers' needs and lead to business success.
Table of Contents
UX for Lean Startups
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Key idea 1 of 8
Lean UX focuses on formulating and validating hypotheses to inform decision-making.
Imagine you work for an e-commerce company that sells gadgets online. One day, during a meeting, someone suggests adding a comment section under each product on the website. This way, customers can leave feedback.
Everyone thinks this sounds like a great idea, so they get to work on it. The product manager writes some specs. The designers come up with a design. The engineers figure out the code.
Two months later, the feature is finally released, and it looks great. But there’s one little problem: none of your customers actually want to use it. All that work was for nothing. So what went wrong?
The key message here is: Lean UX focuses on formulating and validating hypotheses to inform decision-making.
This way of working highlights one of the core differences between Lean UX and the traditional approach to designing new features, products, and services. It all comes down to the distinction between an assumption and a hypothesis.
To see the difference, let’s go back to that ill-fated comment section. How would you use Lean UX to approach this idea instead? To begin with, you’d come up with a hypothesis, perhaps something like: “Based on our preliminary research, we believe that adding a comments section to our website will improve our sales by increasing customer engagement.”
Notice how this hypothesis turns your idea into a testable proposition. Customer engagement and sales are things you can measure. If the numbers go up, your hypothesis is correct. If they don’t, it’s wrong.
Your task is then to simply figure out which it is. In the language of Lean UX, this process is called validation, since you’re trying to validate – or invalidate – your beliefs about your new product, service, or feature.
The weaker alternative is the more traditional approach where you plow ahead with your idea and hope for the best. In doing this, you’re making a series of unfounded assumptions about your idea. In the case of the comment section idea, you’re assuming that it’ll increase your customer engagement, and hopefully your sales, without any real evidence. That’s a risky bet to make. After all, if your assumptions are incorrect, the result could be months of wasted time and money.
Lean UX is all about avoiding this fate. How? By invalidating bad ideas as soon as possible.
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What is UX for Lean Startups about?
UX for Lean Startups (2013) provides an innovative, cost-effective approach to researching and designing products and services. Geared toward start-ups and companies that want to act like them, it shows that you can provide your customers with an excellent user experience while keeping your time and money expenditures as lean as possible.
UX for Lean Startups Review
UX for Lean Startups (2013) is an essential read for anyone involved in the startup world, providing actionable insights to craft exceptional user experiences. Here's why this book stands out:
- With its pragmatic approach and focus on iterative design, it equips entrepreneurs with the tools needed to create user-centered products that resonate with their target audience.
- Backed by real-world examples and case studies, it offers practical guidance on conducting user research, designing intuitive interfaces, and implementing effective UX strategies.
- The book's engaging storytelling not only makes learning about UX enjoyable, but it also sparks inspiration and encourages innovative thinking in the startup ecosystem.
Who should read UX for Lean Startups?
- Entrepreneurs
- Product designers, managers, and engineers
- Start-up workers and founders
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UX for Lean Startups FAQs
What is the main message of UX for Lean Startups?
The main message of UX for Lean Startups is that user experience is crucial for the success of startups and should be integrated into the entire product development process.
How long does it take to read UX for Lean Startups?
The reading time for UX for Lean Startups varies depending on the reader, but it typically takes several hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is UX for Lean Startups a good book? Is it worth reading?
UX for Lean Startups is a worthwhile read for entrepreneurs and product managers. It provides practical insights and strategies for implementing user experience principles into lean startup practices.
Who is the author of UX for Lean Startups?
Laura Klein is the author of UX for Lean Startups.
What to read after UX for Lean Startups?
If you're wondering what to read next after UX for Lean Startups, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf
- User Research by Stephanie Marsh
- Don't Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug
- Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- Nobody Cares About Your Career by Erika Ayers Badan
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- The ChatGPT Millionaire by Neil Dagger
- ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson