FOWA: Daniel Burka - Interpreting user feedback

This is part of a series of posts with my notes on various talks, I attended at the FOWA conference in London. Here are my notes from Daniel Burka's talk on Interpreting Feedback from users:

Intepreting Feedback - Daniel Burka (Creative Director, Digg.com)

Daniel Burka identified three stages during the development of a product/feature which can be different from each other.

1. Before starting to design/develop the product, decide if the feature is worth it? Do decide, rely on previous feedback from users and participate in the community. Try to anticipate areas of friction beforehand, and attempt to handle them. Focus groups and usability studies are worth it, and can help to identify these areas of friction. Also decide beforehand, what success means and how it will be measured.
2. Gathering feedback during development and alpha testing: Based on the type of feedback, there can be different strategies of gathering and intepreting it. Types of feedback:
   • Positive feedback
   • Bug reports.
   • Negative feedback. Interpretation is different depending on when you get it. If just after launch, this could be because of changes in the set patterns of users. If you keep getting -ve feedback after 2-3 weeks then there is an underlying problem that needs to be fixed.
   • Expert feedback.
   • Implicit feedback. This consists of observing user behavior and metrics. It tells what is actually happening, and speaks for silent users.
3. After product launch you have to react to user feedback. The procedure to reacting to feedback should be:
   Step 1. Dont do anything. Watch and listen for a few days (except for bugs).
   Step 2. Identify themes and strong ideas. Look for a bigger problem underneath smaller issues and also patterns in user needs.
   Step 3. Engage your community and talk to them. Participate and be near your users.
   Step 4. Iterate.

Lessons learned:

1. Plan for a ton of feedback. If possible hire someone to handle it, otherwise you'll spend large amount of time responding to feedback.
2. Anticipate negative feedback.
3. Listen to your community.
4. Usability testing and focus groups are useful.
5. Don't panic! Take your time and analyze the situation.
6. You can't please everyone and don't try to.