A cognitive bias is a shortcut your brain takes to make decisions. Cognitive biases can impact our decision making, our memory, the way we interpret research and more.
As product managers need to understand our customers & their needs, motivations, problems (etc), it is a ‘mistake’ to let your lazy brain fall prey to the cognitive biases that make you hold onto your own preferences or beliefs, no matter what evidence is presented!
when we have an idea in our head we try to confirm it… in mtgs, in research etc. we should try to disprove our ideas as a way to not have confirmation bias… #prodanon
— product anonymous (@product_anon) May 24, 2018
Our speaker was David Di Sipio, a registered Psychologist and currently working at Squiz as a UX Consultant. David creates great experiences by focusing on what makes people tick. His approach is grounded in academic research, big-data and best-practice.
Our questions shape the solutions. Great turn out at “Check your Bias at the door ” by @product_anon #prodanon #cognitivebias pic.twitter.com/PaevM2z9iV
— Li (@geyser9) May 24, 2018
David ran us through some great examples & how to manage the 6 most common biases:
- Selection Bias – who are you talking to?
- Framing Effect – the words you use & way you present your questions
- Confirmation Bias – focusing on the information that reinforces your ideas & ignoring the ones that disprove your idea
- Observer Effect – subconsciously influencing someone with your body language
- Anchoring Bias – putting too much emphasis on the 1st bit of info we receive
- Clustering Illusion – seeing patterns when none exist
Word of the day: Apophenia. Seeing patterns and connections in meaningless data. E.g. Jesus toast.#ProdAnon#cognitivebias#ProdMgmt pic.twitter.com/ZcgBQwbty2
— Dipanjali (@dipanjali) May 24, 2018
After walking thru these biases, David gave us time to talk thru some of the biases we’ve fallen for & there was a bit of conversation regarding which is our favourite bias!
Want more info? You can view David’s slides or read his article on Medium which also contains the links to all the great videos he showed.
Full house at #ProdAnon @product_anon pic.twitter.com/DWzi0spICd
— Koen 🇳🇱🏳️🌈🇦🇺 (@KoenLex) May 24, 2018
Thanks again to Origin for hosting us.
Origin Energy
We’ve announced our June session – RSVP now for a collaboration between Product Anonymous and Service Design Melbourne discussing ‘every product is a service’.