 Have you ever felt like you're designing a product in the dark? Have you ever had people say that they want a feature, but then don't actually use it? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? If the answer is yes, let's uncover some hidden user behaviors that can make or break your product. I'm Chris, a product designer to an entrepreneur. For the past three years, I've been on my own journey to build awesome products for myself. But I recently stumbled across this quote and it stopped me in my tracks. Alan Poe said, believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. This cannot be more true when it comes to user research. How often have we been warned not to ask, would you pay for this product? Why? Because humans often say one thing and then do another. That's why it's important to ground our research through interviews and observations. Take this as a sign for you to start using contextual increase to gain an understanding of how users engage with complex system processes as well as perspectives of expert users. I'll break down how to do contextual increase step by step later in this video. But first, let's define what contextual increase actually is and why we use them. Contextual increase are user interviews and observations to learn how they use the product or service and why they do what they do. One of the advantages of this methodology is this ability to help you see things you wouldn't normally see. And unearthed minute nuances that have become habitual and invisible. You get to observe the interruptions, superstitious behaviors and illogical procedures that have a direct impact on your UX work. Contextual increase can help clarify pain points, help you guide design decisions moving forward. Once you understand these pain points or the things that worked well, you can design a solution to help improve the existing journey of the customer. So let's dive into how you actually plan your session. Step one, introduce this ethnographic research method to your stakeholders and help them understand the importance of contextual increase. Explain why this approach is suitable and what you hope to uncover about the users. Step two, create a contextual inquiry guide. A good interview guide paves the way for deep flowing conversations with participants. Your guide should include open-ended questions to encourage participants to tell their stories. Step three, recruit participants. Reach out to five or so users or customers and ask if they're willing to be interviewed at their workplace. Step four, plan an agenda with all the allocated slots for the intended activities. Here's a recommended agenda for your team's contextual inquiry on-site visit. The first thing that you should do is have a tour of the workplace. Then, a group interview. Individual interviews and observations. This is essential to include so you can observe how the users use your product in real life. And finally, a team debrief session when you're done. Step five, brief your team. Make sure to tackle the following topics. The research context and goals. The on-site agenda. The four principles of contextual inquiry. What to watch out for. Contextual inquiry guide. And finally, roles and responsibilities. So what's the danger of not using contextual inquiries? I hear you ask. Well, remember Quibi? I'll let that sink in. Yes, Quibi. Quibi was one of the most hyped startups in 2020. It raised 1.75 billion and had a lineup of A-list actors and producers for its content. So why did they fail in spectacular fashion? It's the inability to share content on other social media platforms. Something as simple as adding a share button was totally overlooked. Other examples like this and not considering user behaviors ultimately led their business to bankruptcy. So if your team keeps struggling to understand users' habitual activities and failing to define the root problem of your product and service, then you need to start rethinking the approach you take to learn about your users. So here's a different way to look at contextual inquiries. Imagine you're starting a new job and it's your first day. Everything is new. You observe how people interact, how people behave, and how things work. Imposing your will and how you did things previously won't go down too well, especially immediately with your new colleagues. The key takeaways that you can get from my hypothetical example reveals the advantages of using contextual inquiry in your user research. The method gives you detailed information gathering, is user-centered, increases the chance to gather highly accurate information, and is performed in the participant's natural environment, giving you real-world insights. Contextual inquiry is one of the most insightful research options available. It provides a wealth of information to support product development. However, contextual inquiries are time-consuming and are more costly than other research methods, so it's paramount you get it right. If you're interested in learning more about contextual inquiries with a detailed guide and template, check out the link in the description. Or you can hit the big red button for another play-by-play breakdown of UX frameworks. Buh-bye!