Hi, my name is Lukas and I am doing a study called
"Role of Human Centered Design in Startups" 

I need your help with answering a few questions (5-10min). What is in for you? I will share my results with all participants. You will be able to see which design methods are most useful for startups.
Yes! Let me start
What was your motivation in the very beginning? *

Initial momentum for creating a startup

What is most important to you right now? *

Research activities and methods

People and the world they live in - mark applicable *

Are your users different from your payers? *

Interviews *

Research method for direct contact with participants, to collect firsthand personal accounts of experience, attitudes, and perceptions.

Questionnaires *

Survey instruments designed for collecting self-report information from people about their characteristics, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, behaviours, or attitudes.

Observation of users *

Collection in a precise and system way of information about the behaviour and the perfomance of users, in the contextof specific tasks during user activity.

Personas, User Archetypes *

A description of the customer with the job he or she wants done is called a persona. Popularized by Alan Cooper in 2004, personas are a description of pretend users and what they wish to accomplish. Wish to accomplish is another way of saying “job hired for.”

Use cases, user stories *

A use case is a written description of how users will perform tasks on your website. Each use case begins with a user's goal and ends when that goal is fulfilled.


User work-flow map *

Work flow map of the prototypical customer that diagrams how customers do their jobs or live their lives both with and without the new product

Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, ... *

Strategic management template for developing new or documenting existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a firm's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances. It assists firms in aligning their activities by illustrating potential trade-offs.

Design activities and methods - mark applicable

Producing design solutions - mark applicable *

Sketching *

Quick way to play with an idea. It communicates the proper stage of the idea to the viewers. Early, rough sketches just scream, “This is an idea! I’m not done!”

Scenarios / Storyboards *

Storytelling technique that explores the future use of a product from a user's point of view, helping design teams reason about its place in a person's day-to-day life.

Prototypying *

Tangible creation of artifacts at various levels of resolution, for development and testing of ideas within design teams and with clients and users.

Collaborative design and evaluation (Card Sorting, Design Studio) *

Methods which allow different types of participants (users, developers, designers, ...) to collaborate in the evaluation or design of systems.

Evaluation activities and methods - mark applicable

Evaluation - mark applicable *

Web analytics *

Web analytics are a gateway to become invested in what your customers are doing online, and why.

Expert based evaluation *

Evaluation based upon the knowledge, expertise and practical experience in ergonomics of the usability specialists.

User based testing *

Technique used in user-centered  design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. It gives direct input on how real users use the system.

Thinking-aloud protocol *

Think-aloud protocol is a method that requires participants to verbalize what they are doing and thinking as they complete a task, revealing aspects of an interface that delight, confuse and frustrate.

Almost done, just few more questions

Agile methodology used: *

What skills do the founders have? *

In which areas did you hire consultants, service providers or search for mentors? *

Where does your product or idea fall on the innovation spectrum? *

How many months have you been working on it full time? *

What type of investors do you have on board? *

For how long have you been profitable?

Thank you for your answers and time spent filling it out!
used sources:
Brant Cooper; Patrick Vlaskovits (2013)
Blank, Steve; Dorf, Bob (2012)
Bruce Hanington, Bella Martin (2012)
ISO/TR 16982:2002
ISO 9241:210

Would you like to have more precise results in the study?
Then you should pick a network and share.
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