Use when the problem, user needs, or solution approach still require discovery.
Scope Unknown17 methods
The typical sequence — adjust based on your context and existing evidence.
Non-linear by design. These activities represent recommended paths, not a rigid waterfall. Move backward when new uncertainty emerges, skip steps when sufficient evidence exists, or move between tracks as your understanding evolves.
Facilitated sessions that align the team on the problem and surface risky assumptions before fieldwork. Lean UX clarifies goals and outcomes; Assumption Mapping ranks assumptions by how little evidence exists and how costly they are if wrong.
ResearchQualitative conversations with representative users about their needs, mental models, behaviors, and context. They reveal the "why" behind what people do, which usage data cannot.
ResearchAnalysis of behavioral usage data in tools such as LogRocket, Pendo, FullStory, or Amplitude to find trends, friction, and drop-off. It shows what happens at scale, not why.
ResearchOrganizing, coding, and analyzing raw research (interview notes, recordings, survey responses, analytics findings) into themes, insights, and opportunities.
ResearchSessions that explore and critique high-level design directions or concept sketches informed by research, to judge whether concepts address the problem, not to finalize details.
ResearchTurning insights, themes, and recommendations into a shareable report, opportunity brief, or insight deck that informs next steps.
ResearchStructured questionnaires sent to representative users to collect quantitative and qualitative data on behaviors, attitudes, and needs at scale, complementing interviews with breadth.
ResearchA visual map of the end-to-end experience across touchpoints, channels, and time, showing actions, thoughts, emotions, and pain points at each stage of a defined scenario.
ResearchA detailed map of service delivery showing how what customers see and do (touchpoints, physical evidence) relates to staff actions (frontstage and backstage) and to supporting systems, data, and processes. It extends the journey map into operations.
ResearchOne-on-one conversations with the people who sponsor, build, sell, or support the product, to learn business goals, constraints, history, and risks. They capture the organization's view, not evidence of what users need.
ResearchField observation in which a researcher watches people do real work in their own environment and asks questions as it happens, capturing workarounds, interruptions, tools, and handoffs rather than recalled accounts. Notes can become a task analysis.
ResearchA structured review of how other products solve the same or a similar problem: direct and indirect alternatives, including workarounds, and products in other domains with a similar pattern. Findings describe the landscape, not what users need.
ResearchSystematic analysis of existing feedback (tickets, chats, reviews, NPS and CSAT comments, call notes), coded into themes with a count of how often each appears. It surfaces recurring pain points in customers' words, but over-represents people who choose to contact you.
ResearchGrouping users by shared behaviors, goals, and contexts (what people do and need, not demographics alone) and describing each group in a persona. A persona built without evidence is a proto-persona: hypotheses to label and test, not a finding.
ResearchA framework that describes needs as the progress a person wants in a situation, independent of any solution, paired with interviews that reconstruct the circumstances behind a choice to adopt or switch. It frames findings; it is not a study design.
ResearchA visual map connecting a desired outcome to customer opportunities from research, candidate solutions, and the assumption tests showing whether a solution is worth building. It keeps choices traceable to evidence but does not replace it.
ResearchShowing target users early concepts (descriptions, storyboards, sketches, demos) to learn whether they understand the idea, see value, and could fit it into their situation. It can also test the riskiest assumption before building. It tests desirability and fit, not usability; stated interest is not later behavior.
Research