Build Better Products With User-Centered Design
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Build Better Products With User-Centered Design
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What you'll learn
Define business needs for product direction
Analyze user behavior through research
Conduct effective user interviews
Skills you'll gain
- Performance Metric
- Agile Product Development
- Product Improvement
- Ideation
- Product Design
- Verification And Validation
- Journey Mapping
- Team Oriented
- Product Requirements
- Product Development
- UI/UX Research
- User Experience
- Usability Testing
- UI/UX Strategy
- Prioritization
- User Centered Design
- Team Building
- User Research
- Business Metrics
- Performance Measurement
Details to know
See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills
There are 12 modules in this course
In today’s competitive landscape, building products that truly resonate with users is critical. This course focuses on equipping you with the skills and frameworks to design user-centered products that align with both real customer needs and core business objectives.
Through structured modules, you will learn how to conduct effective research, validate assumptions, and measure outcomes, enabling you to reduce risks and improve decision-making. Each step of the product development lifecycle is covered—from idea generation to validation and post-launch evaluation—ensuring you can apply these concepts immediately in your professional work. What sets this course apart is its practical, research-backed methodology. By blending proven theories with actionable techniques, it bridges the gap between product strategy and hands-on execution, offering you tools that drive alignment across teams and deliver measurable impact. This course is ideal for UX designers, product managers, and researchers with a basic understanding of digital product development. It is also valuable for professionals aiming to sharpen collaboration skills and achieve better results with product teams. No advanced technical background is required. Copyright © 2016 Laura Klein. All rights reserved. Originally published by Rosenfeld Media, LLC. This course edition is published by Packt Publishing under license from Rosenfeld Media LLC. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission from the author or the publisher.
In this section, we focus on defining a better business need by implementing exercises that help identify core business objectives and align them with strategic goals. We also explore designing measurable and achievable goals and analyzing the user lifecycle to enhance product engagement, which are crucial for improving decision-making and product development strategies.
What's included
2 videos7 readings1 assignment
2 videos•Total 2 minutes
- Course Overview•1 minute
- Defining a Better Business Need - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 90 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Creating a Measurable and Achievable Goal•10 minutes
- Quantifying the Business Need•10 minutes
- Exercise: Defining Your User Lifecycle Funnel•10 minutes
- The User Lifecycle Math•10 minutes
- The Dangers of Starting from the Business Need•10 minutes
- Exercise: Set Team OKRs•30 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Defining Business Needs and User Interaction•10 minutes
In this section, we identify and analyze user needs to improve products and align them with business goals. We also design provisional personas and implement iterative interviewing to refine user insights.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Understand Your User Better - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Exercise: Provisional Personas•10 minutes
- From Provisional to Predictive•10 minutes
- Exercise: Identifying Problem Patterns•10 minutes
- Exercise: The User Map•10 minutes
- The Dangers of Defining Your User•10 minutes
- Jumping to Solutions•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Enhancing User Insight•10 minutes
In this section, we delve into the importance of selecting appropriate research methodologies to gather accurate user insights. We emphasize the pitfalls of common but ineffective methods, such as random surveys and focus groups, and highlight the need for strategic planning in research to ensure data-driven product development.
What's included
1 video8 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Do Better Research - Overview Video•1 minute
8 readings•Total 80 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Exercise: Picking a Research Topic•10 minutes
- Exercise: Picking a Research Methodology•10 minutes
- Generating Ideas vs. Validating Ideas•10 minutes
- What vs. Why•10 minutes
- Putting It All Together•10 minutes
- Learning About Your Product•10 minutes
- Expert Advice and Methodologies•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Effective Product Research Strategies•10 minutes
In this section, we focus on enhancing listening skills during interviews to extract valuable insights for product development. We learn to design questions that delve into deeper insights and context, enabling us to analyze responses effectively and make informed product decisions.
What's included
1 video6 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Listen Better - Overview Video•1 minute
6 readings•Total 60 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Never Ask These Questions•10 minutes
- Problem-Finding and Context Questions•10 minutes
- Exercise: Interviewing Better•10 minutes
- Don't Make the Participant Imagine•10 minutes
- Don't Fail to Follow Up•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Enhancing Listening and Feedback Skills•10 minutes
In this section, we explore techniques for effective idea generation within teams and the creation of customer journey maps to enhance user experience. We also learn to apply design principles for analyzing and categorizing ideas, crucial for developing user-centered designs and improving product development processes.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Have Better Ideas - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Where Ideas (Unfortunately) Come From•10 minutes
- A Better Way to Generate Ideas•10 minutes
- Dot Vote•10 minutes
- Exercise: Mapping the Customer Journey•10 minutes
- Annotate Your Timeline•10 minutes
- Ideas That Used to Be Bad May Become Good•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Innovative Product Strategies•10 minutes
In this section, we explore effective prioritization strategies in project management, focusing on delivering maximum value to both the company and its customers. We also design a 2x2 matrix to evaluate feature importance, ensuring informed decision-making and enhanced productivity.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Prioritize Better - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- What Should You Do Instead?•10 minutes
- Does It Deliver Value to the Customer?•10 minutes
- Exercise: The Quick Estimate•10 minutes
- Exercise: Finding the Core•10 minutes
- The Dangers of Prioritization•10 minutes
- Things People Forget to Prioritize•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Effective Prioritization Techniques•10 minutes
In this section, we explore the integration of UX design early in product development to enhance usability and ensure a seamless user journey. We focus on designing user experiences by analyzing context and flow, which helps prevent usability issues and aligns product features with user expectations.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Design Better - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Exercise: What Happens Next?•10 minutes
- Exercise: Matching Inputs and Outputs•10 minutes
- You Should Have a Style Guide•10 minutes
- Exercise: Make a Style Guide•10 minutes
- The Pros And Cons Of Design Patterns•10 minutes
- Exercise: Group Sketching•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Designing User-Centric Products•10 minutes
In this section, we focus on designing user journeys to enhance engagement and retention by aligning user actions with business objectives. We explore strategies to identify user intent and analyze behavior to ensure alignment with desired metrics.
What's included
1 video8 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Create Better User Behavior - Overview Video•1 minute
8 readings•Total 80 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Encouraging Behavior Change•10 minutes
- Making Visitors Into Users•10 minutes
- Find the Required•10 minutes
- Onboard Your User•10 minutes
- Exercise: Identifying User Intent•10 minutes
- Dark Patterns•10 minutes
- EXPERT ADVICE from Amy Jo Kim**•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Creating Effective and Ethical User Interactions•10 minutes
In this section, we explore how to effectively analyze assumptions in product development by designing strategies to identify and categorize them. We also implement methods to test and validate these assumptions, ensuring decisions are based on verified information to enhance product success.
What's included
1 video7 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Identify Assumptions Better - Overview Video•1 minute
7 readings•Total 70 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Problem Assumptions•10 minutes
- Exercise: Finding Assumptions•10 minutes
- The Riskiest Assumption•10 minutes
- Exercise: Creating a Falsifiable Statement•10 minutes
- The Dangers of Identifying Assumptions•10 minutes
- EXPERT ADVICE from Learie Hercules•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Assumptions in Product Development•10 minutes
In this section, we delve into various methods for validating assumptions about users and their needs, such as designing landing pages and analyzing metrics. By applying these techniques, we ensure that our solutions are effectively aligned with real-world requirements and user expectations.
What's included
1 video6 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Validate Assumptions Better - Overview Video•1 minute
6 readings•Total 60 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- Concierge•10 minutes
- Fake Door•10 minutes
- Exercise: Pick a Validation Method•10 minutes
- Exercise: The Hypothesis Tracker•10 minutes
- The Dangers Of Validating Assumptions•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Validating Business Assumptions•10 minutes
In this section, we delve into the importance of implementing granular metrics to assess the impact of product features on user experience and business outcomes. We explore how to design metrics that align with business objectives and utilize A/B testing to analyze user interactions, ensuring data-driven decision-making.
What's included
1 video11 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Measure Better - Overview Video•1 minute
11 readings•Total 110 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- User Experience and Engineering Metrics•10 minutes
- Feature-Specific Metrics•10 minutes
- Exercise: Pick a Metric•10 minutes
- Misunderstanding Statistics•10 minutes
- Cohort Analysis•10 minutes
- DAU/MAU•10 minutes
- X Over X•10 minutes
- Using Metrics for Reporting Only•10 minutes
- Giving Up•10 minutes
- EXPERT ADVICE from Avinash Kaushik•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Effective Measurement Strategies•10 minutes
In this section, we analyze team dynamics to identify patterns that contribute to efficiency and collaboration. By understanding roles and responsibilities, we implement strategies to enhance teamwork and productivity.
What's included
1 video4 readings1 assignment
1 video•Total 1 minute
- Build a Better Team - Overview Video•1 minute
4 readings•Total 40 minutes
- Introduction•10 minutes
- The Problem With Communes•10 minutes
- The Solution: A Heist Team•10 minutes
- Expert Advice from Irene Au and Dan Olsen•10 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
- Effective Team Dynamics•10 minutes
Instructor
Explore more from Business Strategy
- Status: Free TrialU
University of Maryland, College Park
Course
- Status: PreviewJ
John Wiley & Sons
Course
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