Digital product research doesn't have to be difficult, take a long time, or cost a lot of money. Nor should it be a job solely for scientists or expert researchers. In this practical book, Aras Bilgen, C. Todd Lombardo, and Michael Connors demonstrate how your entire team can conduct effective product research within a couple of weeks--easily, cheaply, and without compromising quality. Drawing from decades of experience in product development, the authors lay out nine simple rules that combine user research, market research, and product analytics to quickly discover insights and build products customers truly need. Recognize and avoid common research pitfalls Switch to the insight-making mindset that underlies all successful research efforts Find out how to look at data, formulate the right questions, and pick the right research method Learn interview techniques and research skills Analyze for insights collaboratively while avoiding bias Inspire action with your insights through powerful presentations and prototypes Learn how to involve a wide variety of stakeholders in research, from developers to executives Discover how you can make research a habit, not a one-off effort

Digital product research doesn't have to be difficult, take a long time, or cost a lot of money. Nor should it be a job solely for scientists or expert researchers. In this practical book, Aras Bilgen, C. Todd Lombardo, and Michael Connors demonstrate how your entire team can conduct effective product research within a couple of weeks--easily, cheaply, and without compromising quality. Drawing from decades of experience in product development, the authors lay out nine simple rules that combine user research, market research, and product analytics to quickly discover insights and build products customers truly need. Recognize and avoid common research pitfalls Switch to the insight-making mindset that underlies all successful research efforts Find out how to look at data, formulate the right questions, and pick the right research method Learn interview techniques and research skills Analyze for insights collaboratively while avoiding bias Inspire action with your insights through powerful presentations and prototypes Learn how to involve a wide variety of stakeholders in research, from developers to executives Discover how you can make research a habit, not a one-off effort

Seven Rules for Social Research teaches social scientists how to get the most out of their technical skills and tools, providing a resource that fully describes the strategies and concepts no researcher or student of human behavior can do without. Glenn Firebaugh provides indispensable practical guidance for anyone doing research in the social and health sciences today, whether they are undergraduate or graduate students embarking on their first major research projects or seasoned professionals seeking to incorporate new methods into their research. The rules are the basis for discussions of a broad range of issues, from choosing a research question to inferring causal relationships, and are illustrated with applications and case studies from sociology, economics, political science, and related fields. Though geared toward quantitative methods, the rules also work for qualitative research. Seven Rules for Social Research is ideal for students and researchers who want to take their technical skills to new levels of precision and insight, and for instructors who want a textbook for a second methods course. The Seven Rules There should be the possibility of surprise in social research Look for differences that make a difference, and report them. Build reality checks into your research. Replicate where possible. Compare like with like. Use panel data to study individual change and repeated cross-section data to study social change. Let method be the servant, not the master.

Digital product research doesn't have to be difficult, take a long time, or cost a lot of money. Nor should it be a job solely for scientists or expert researchers. In this practical book, C. Todd Lombardo and Aras Bilgen demonstrate how your entire team can conduct effective product research within a couple of weeks-easily, cheaply, and without compromising quality. Drawing from decades of experience in product development, the authors lay out nine simple rules that combine user research, market research, and product analytics to quickly discover insights and build products customers truly need. Recognize and avoid common research pitfalls Switch to the insight-making mindset that underlies all successful research efforts Find out how to look at data, formulate the right questions, and pick the right research method Learn interview techniques and research skills Analyze for insights collaboratively while avoiding bias Inspire action with your insights through powerful presentations and prototypes Learn how to involve a wide variety of stakeholders in research, from developers to executives Discover how you can make research a habit, not a one-off effort.

A good product roadmap is one of the most important and influential documents an organization can develop, publish, and continuously update. In fact, this one document can steer an entire organization when it comes to delivering on company strategy. This practical guide teaches you how to create an effective product roadmap, and demonstrates how to use the roadmap to align stakeholders and prioritize ideas and requests. With it, you’ll learn to communicate how your products will make your customers and organization successful. Whether you're a product manager, product owner, business analyst, program manager, project manager, scrum master, lead developer, designer, development manager, entrepreneur, or business owner, this book will show you how to: Articulate an inspiring vision and goals for your product Prioritize ruthlessly and scientifically Protect against pursuing seemingly good ideas without evaluation and prioritization Ensure alignment with stakeholders Inspire loyalty and over­-delivery from your team Get your sales team working with you instead of against you Bring a user­ and buyer-­centric approach to planning and decision-making Anticipate opportunities and stay ahead of the game Publish a comprehensive roadmap without over­committing

One key responsibility of product designers and UX practitioners is to conduct formal and informal research to clarify design decisions and business needs. But there’s often mystery around product research, with the feeling that you need to be a research Zen master to gather anything useful. Fact is, anyone can conduct product research. With this quick reference guide, you’ll learn a common language and set of tools to help you carry out research in an informed and productive manner. This book contains four sections, including a brief introduction to UX research, planning and preparation, facilitating research, and analysis and reporting. Each chapter includes a short exercise so you can quickly apply what you’ve learned. Learn what it takes to ask good research questions Know when to use quantitative and qualitative research methods Explore the logistics and details of coordinating a research session Use softer skills to make research seem natural to participants Learn tools and approaches to uncover meaning in your raw data Communicate your findings with a framework and structure

A data-driven assessment analyzes the practices of thousands of high- and low-performing companies over a forty-five-year period to reveal unique thinking habits and counterintuitive strategies.

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication AwardToyota's sustained growth attracts the attention of economists and industrialists around the world eager to learn the secrets of Toyota's lasting success. In Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth, Satoshi Hino examines the source of Toyota's strength: the fundamental thinking and management structures that lie beneath the creation of its famed Toyota Production System. From the perspective of a professional with 30 years experience in the auto industry, Hino presents a fresh and detailed analysis of Toyota's essential management system, from its very beginnings into the 21st century. The ultimate goal is not simply to mimic Toyota's formula, but to learn from it and, in doing so, surpass it. From the Translator's Foreword: Unlike most Toyota watchers, Hino urges us to set our sights not on replicating Toyota's success, but on surpassing it. This point is crucial, because it moves our attention away from slavish imitation of what is visible on the surface and challenges us to tap into deeper and more powerful mechanisms of excellence. This is not a cookbook and it is not 'Toyota Lite.' It deserves serious study, application and experimentation. Learn how Toyota thinks, Hino is telling us. Learn Toyota's strengths, make them your own and then exceed them.—Andrew Dillon,September

The collection of papers presented in this special issue arose out of two events. The first was the symposium "Escaping Satiation - Increasing Product Variety, Preference Change and the Demand Side of Economic Growth" which was held at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany, in December 1997. The Fritz Thyssen Foundation provided financial support for this seminal symposium which is gratefully acknowledged. Wilhelm Ruprecht was of great help in preparing the symposium and I would like to express my gratitude to hirn on this occasion. Many stimulating exchanges with hirn over the past few years while he was a research associate at the Institute working on long term changes in consumption convinced me of the relevance and importance of this problem for understanding modem economic growth. I also owe thanks to many people who encouraged me to go ahead with the symposium, among them Stanley Metcalfe, Carl Christian von Weizsäcker, and also Ehud Zuscovitch, who died so unexpectedly last year.