(Book Review) Think First, 1st Edition

Overview

Review Published: November, 2016.

From UX Design teacher and practitioner, Joe Natoli, comes a comprehensive examination at the importance of UX strategy to project success, and how to begin to form that strategy.

From initial research involving stakeholder and user interviews, to prioritizing your product ideas, this book offers insight into a crucial area of user-experience design that is often tragically overlooked.

Rating:

4 / 5

(Great Content, Presentation is Clear)

What does this score mean?

Difficulty:

Beginner to Intermediate (Mostly accessible, some sections are a bit unclear).

Length:

208 pages.

Where to Buy It:

(Quick Note) To maintain editorial integrity, I do not use affliate links or any other kind of affiliate marketing in my reviews.

Check your Local Library:

In addition to books and periodicals, many local libraries give their patrons access to a wide array of video and instructional resources. Check with your local library for details.

What's Good

Strong focus on UX Strategy basics; the author lays out very simply why UX strategy (based upon thorough research) is vitally important for project success (i.e. supporting user-centric design, avoiding scope creep, etc.) and how to avoid costly mistakes for the project team/organization.
Lots of references & resources; the book provides a general templates for interviewing business stakeholders (B2B & B2C) and users, and provides a healthy list of books and articles for further reading.
A common-sense introduction; those new to UX & Product Strategy will find a lot to love here, and it's written in a no-nonsense way with those readers in mind.

What Can Be Improved

Some sections could be a little clearer; while the content is very good, some of the text could be made bit more concise for greater clarity (i.e. the section on feature/content trade-offs) and a few minor editing gaps (only 1-2 by my count) create moments of confusion for readers tackling the subject matter for the first time.
Missing UX research methods; while stakeholder and user interviewing techniques are covered in detail, some readers may need additional resources that show a broader array of UX research methods (check out my review of "Just Enough Research" for a great overview).

The Bottom Line

A good starting point for UX strategy; this book explains the virtues and pitfalls of UX strategy very well and offers invaluable interview templates for filling out that strategy, but you'll need to reference other resources for a complete picture of UX research methods you can use.
For UX beginners & those curious about Product Strategy; a great way to dip your toe into the deep waters of UX Strategy, there's also enough here for mid-tier UI/UX designers to gain a deeper understanding of what makes the great products they work on.
A solid value for beginners ready to take that "next step"; for around $20, you'd be hard-pressed to find a book that populates the strategic framework of UX design this well (if you are still a bit fuzzy on the overall framework of how UX design works, I would recommend reading this book along with "The Elements of User Experience").

(Book Review) Think First: My No-Nonsense Approach to Creating Successful Products, 1st Edition