Your Brain is Out to Get You

The Lean Event, Brighton

Cindy Alvarez

Your brain is out to get you.

Photo credit: Michael Robinsonhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/faceleg

You can tweet things: @cindyalvarez

Test with rigorInvalidate hypothesesFail fastPivotAvoid waste

Use shortcuts and fill in gapsPreserve sense of selfPreserve normalcyStick with the familiar

vs.

Our customers –and ourselves – are only human.

“Now, let’s talk past each other…”

Cognitive dissonanceOur brains don’t like to hold two conflicting ideas at once

Confirmation biasOur brains like to prove us right, so it ignores/listens to information accordingly

AnchoringOur brains (irrationally) fixate on first piece of information and it affects later opinions

Choice-supportive biasOur brains like to defend the decisions & behaviors we’ve already made

Aspirational selvesWe like to think of ourselves as better, fitter, more diligent, stronger-willed (and upholding social norms)

…but mastering customer interviews isn’t enough…

“…seriously, this is what the customer needs!”Photo credit: Herval

https://www.flickr.com/photos/herval

We don’t like being bad at our jobs(even temporarily)

Photo credit: 52 Weeks of UX

We’re lonely when our peers are still doing something else

Photo credit: Omer Unluhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/55293400@N07

We might not have felt our concerns heard

Pearls Before Swine comic by Stephen Pastis

Every action leads to (lots of) reactions

What do we do?

Be MORE human!

Know your bias.

Write it down.

Create checks & balances

Listen to people.

Make it okay to talk about what they dread.

Make connections.

Give credit (for the right things) Photo credit:Bryan Ledgard

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ledgard

Share what you do know,early and often.

Keep fighting!

@[email protected]

Thanks Brighton!