This article lists concepts that UXRs in the tech industry should know, including:
Also known as the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, the best explanation I have heard is from Jan Chipchase (Hidden in Plain Sight, 2013), which I have rewritten as follows:
Imagine 100 people, numbered 0 to 99. They are all standing on a street in LA, looking at each other. Each person has a "riot threshold":
Person 0 has a threshold of 0, which means they need to see 0 people rioting before they will riot; Person 1 has a threshold of 1, which means they need to see 1 person rioting before they will riot; Person 2 has a threshold of 2, which means they need to see 2 people rioting before they will riot; ... Person 99 has a threshold of 99, which means they need to see 99 people rioting before they will riot.
Person 0, not needing any encouragement, throws the first stone and smashes a store window. Person 1 sees one person throwing stones, and joins in by throwing the second stone. Person 2 sees Persons 0 and 1 throwing stones, and joins in by throwing a stone, and so on, until Person 99 throws a stone and all people start rioting.
If we were to raise Person 1's threshold to 2, everyone would watch Person 0 throw a stone and not join in. (Which is the so called Adoption Chasm)
If we were to raise Person 98's threshold to 99, 98 people would riot and the remaining two, 98 and 99, would watch. Therefore, the makeup of a group affects whether a behavior is accepted by the entire group.
Thinking about tech adoption in this way helps us understand the primary difference between people who belong to different "tech adopter" categories: whether they are more influenced by social trends or by their personal networks.
Innovators will try a product even if no one around them has it, whereas laggards will not buy or use a product even if everyone around them has it. Sometimes, some people actively resist new things (e.g. I refuse to buy NFTs not because nobody around me uses them, but because I believe they do not align with my values).
We can also see that some people are late adopters in a larger social context, but they may be innovators in their own small circle.
PEW Research Center
Q: Which of these describes you well when it comes to technology? **[Check all that apply][RANDOMIZE ITEMS]**
Scoring of new technology preferences index
Mean score (on 0 to 6 scale) 2.5
Note: The index has values from 0 to 6, with higher values indicating a greater willingness to try and share experiences with new technology and lower values indicating a preference for the familiar and to gather information before making a technology purchase. A series of factor analyses and item-response theory analyses of the six items is conducted to evaluate their use in a single index. The alpha reliability coefficient for the technology adoption index is 0.59.
Source: PEW. URL: https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2016/07/FT_2016_0711_TechAdopters_MethodologyTopline.pdf
Cultural Influence on Trust
In a society with high consumer trust, it is assumed that all products on the market are trustworthy until a red flag is raised.
Taiwan is a society with high consumer trust. People usually don't need to do too much research when shopping for new products and will buy if they want to.
In a society with low consumer trust, it is assumed that all products on the market are untrustworthy until there is evidence to show otherwise.
China is a society with low consumer trust. It is very possible to buy fake food products and more. So e-commerce sites like Taobao have a culture of strong communication between sellers and buyers. They often chat before placing an order. If a buyer doesn't trust the seller after chatting, they won't place an order. This is also the reason why eBay failed in China.
Marketing in high and low trust consumer ecosystems requires different strategies.
Source: Jan Chipchase, Hidden in Plain Sight (2013)
What is the essence of a product? What elements must a product have to be considered a product?
For example, the essence of a gas station is: gasoline, a way to put gasoline into a customer's tank, and a way to collect payment. Everything else can be swapped or changed.
Although this core essence is very simple and elegant, there are still opportunities to provide this type of product. However, true insight comes from starting with the essence and developing a roadmap for opportunities. This roadmap is like a cone, developing outward from the starting point of the essence.
This core can also be swapped. If there is a change due to technological development, what other core values can we offer with the branches we have developed?
Source: Jan Chipchase, Hidden in Plain Sight (2013)
The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed. – William Gibson.
To look for the next thing, Tim Ferriss recommended innovators to looks for: the new, the old, and the orphaned
Source: Tim Ferriss Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doupx8SAs5Y)
The following are some highlights taken from the book Inspired by M. Cagan.
Source: Marty Cagan, Inspired (2018)