Running a Focus Group

Focus groups are a popular tool in market and user research. You can think of a focus group as a large scale interview as they typically consist between 5 and 10 users in a group. 

When running a focus group, the focus group moderator asks questions of the group and encourages discussion among the participants. As participants build upon each other's ideas, thoughts and memories of their own experiences are triggered, allowing useful insights to surface. 

Focus groups help the Scrum Team learn more about the opinions and impressions multiple people have about a brand or product in a time efficient way.And although they can surface valuable new information, there are a few aspects you should be aware of:

  • They tend to be less suitable for testing the usability of a product
  • Group dynamics can play a negative role. Be sure to facilitate the session well to avoid  the group suffering from groupthink
  • Customers and users often don’t do what they say they do. Follow focus group sessions with other techniques such as observation. 

Keeping these factors in mind, focus groups are a quick and effective way to gain insights and valuable feedback to improve your product for customers and users.
 

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