What Bobby Flay Can Teach You About UX, Round 1.
Full disclosure: I have been watching Beat Bobby Flay on Food Network recently. I love it. Also, I don’t work for Food Network or Bobby Flay.
If you have never seen this show, watch it. It’s only 22 minutes long, when you DVR it. And let me say that I think Ol’ Bobby is a great chef and he seems like a nice guy. Here’s the premise of his show: “Two talented chefs go head-to-head for the chance to Beat Bobby Flay. To get to Bobby the chefs must first face off against each other, creating a spectacular dish with a secret ingredient of Bobby’s choice. In round 2, Celebrity Judges who know Bobby’s strengths and his weaknesses: Pick the chef who has the skills to take down Bobby Flay in his own arena. The winning chef gets to challenge Bobby with his or her surprise signature dish. If Bobby goes down, the winner can tell the world, “I beat Bobby Flay!”
In Round 1, 2 chefs compete against each other to see who will take on Bobby. The chefs come out ready to take him down, dishing insults, awful puns, and random trash talk.(Side note: chef insults are very weak. They say things like, “I am going to boil you.” Or, “I will filet you like this fish.” As I said, awful puns. ;)
There are 2 catches to the first round: 1) Bobby’s 2 celebrity friends will judge the food (and trash Bobby), 2) Bobby picks the secret ingredient.
Lesson #1: Get the Primary Stakeholders on your side.
In this first round, the 2 celebrity friends (primary stakeholders) have to choose the winner. This means that the chefs (UX-ers) have to create a great dish to prove to the friends that they can do the job of beating Bobby Flay. To do this, they have to know how to cook a large variety of foods, styles, and techniques — all of this in under 15 minutes.
This first round is important because (now I am switching to metaphor) we as, UX-ers, have to do our very best job to make sure that those who are funding us; get the best ideas/assumptions/wires, etc.
In other words, we have to prove that we are capable of taking this product and bringing it to the hardest competition out there…the users!
To be able to advance to the 2nd round, we have to call on our wide experience and empathy to get us moving in the right direction. In this TV show, the celebrity friends/judges have chosen the 2 chefs based on their perceived ability to beat Bobby. They also are the first ones to judge the food and pick the best chef to advance.
Our first job is to get the stakeholders behind us, this will show up in round 2 also and we’ll get more in-depth on it. If the stakeholders are behind us, they will help drive the product to completion and remove the roadblocks that will keep us from success.
So, get your stakeholders on your team!
Lesson #2: The Secret Ingredient.
Continuing on with Round 1, we have the second catch: Bobby picks a special ingredient. This ingredient has to be the highlight of the dish. Each chef will be rewarded or penalized by how strong or weak the ingredient comes through.
The secret ingredient can be steak, ice cream, veggies, fruit, fish, anything he chooses! And the chefs do not know what that ingredient is until he announces it.
Which leads me to one of my favorite UX sayings…
Design what they want, build what they use.
Initial design comes down to assumptions. We are assuming this is what our users want and how they want it to look. That’s great. We need to start somewhere! Building is where UX comes in even stronger. We now know what they like and they have even announced to us (through usage) what they want. Only a fool ignores this! It’s the secret ingredient. Build the dish around the users feedback and usage.
Let’s get back to our show. For metaphor’s sake, let’s call Bobby the user and his special ingredient is the job he wants to get done. It does not matter what pedigree or how many years you have been a chef if you do not shine a spotlight on the secret ingredient…YOU WILL LOSE. Give the users what they want.
I have seen it over and over again on this show. The chef who ends up adding crazy ingredients (over-used interactions) and outrageous spices (too many CTAs) and flavors that don’t complement each other (design that doesn’t work) — always goes home first. ALWAYS.
If we know what the user wants…give it to them. In this case, Bobby tells them what he wants to see. You can make any dish you want, any style — just give them this as the main thing. I think this happens a lot in UX. We try to over flourish and over design and over think, rather than just giving our users what they are using. Give them the tool to get the job done, whether that job is buying something, tracking fitness, or playing games. Let the secret ingredient shine.
The chefs (UX-ers) who can get the stakeholders on their side and make the secret ingredient standout are the ones who go on to produce amazing products! These are the ones who become a great success and create a great experience.
Stay tuned for part 2 of: What Bobby Flay Can Teach You About UX. We will get in to UX-ers v. the Users and see who “wins.” ;)
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