Start building things from a place of purpose

By Jenny Grinblo
UX practitioner at Future Workshops

When starting to build a new product, teams and businesses I work with often rush to address the nitty gritty of the product first.

As users of technology, looking at screens and visual details is more tangible for us. But starting with technology often comes at a cost of ignoring assumptions we have about what our users need, what we should build, and how it should all come together.

Our users needs shouldn’t be an afterthought. Technology and the user’s experience should go hand in hand.

Startups should begin to build new things from a place of purpose.

It’s easy to throw budget or hack technology to create something new, but entrepreneurs need to use their resources; people’s time, creativity and passion to come together and say:

“We see this problem. Now, what can we do about it?”

I’m a UX practitioner with a background in qualitative research and visual design. I’m dedicated to leading and growing the design team in London-based mobile app development agency, Future Workshops. In my practice, I often work with startups, enterprises, and established brands to define the right user experience for new products.

I am passionate about exploring the intersection between people, design, and technology and building bridges between people to produce solutions greater the sum of those who created them.

I often tell startups I work with:

• Keep your focus tight when it comes to deciding what and how to design or build something in your product.
• Pick one thing that really matters and solve it well.
• Make your priorities based on what will serve your customers best: they’ll appreciate it more if you solve a big pain point for them in a simple way than if you build something elaborate that only marginally matters to their daily life.

Entrepreneurs have a lot on their hands and often lack time, help and money, so I run workshops to bridge the gap — empowering entrepreneurs to create a focused, user-centered starting point for their product from which to start building, learning, and iterating. My workshops give guidance to startups when they can’t (yet) afford a senior UX person to come on board.

In September 2015, I’ll be running a 90 min workshop at the Happy Startup Summercamp exploring some simple hands-on tools from the UX toolkit with fellow campers.

It’ll be a chance for new entrepreneurs to begin thinking about the user experience for their products (such as a website or an app). We’ll be doing hands-on exercises to define a product from scratch, and campers will be able to learn methods to start using right away in their businesses and teams when making decisions about the details of their products.

But, what can you do right now to get ahead?

If you’re in the early stages of building a site or app, or even 10 years in, do this:

Go out and speak with some potential customers. Ask them to tell you stories about how they are already making do without your product and write down all the nagging pain-points you hear (we’ll explore this more during camp, too!)

Can’t join us at camp? Learn the path from passion to profits with a community of likeminded people online with The Happy Startup Home School — our groundbreaking 4 week program for budding entrepreneurs and changemakers. More info and how to apply at thehappystartupschool.com/homeschool