Who would you meet… and why?

If you could meet anyone for dinner, who would you meet… and why?

When I was asked that question, my answers were a bit surprising because not much would stop me from reaching out and actually meeting them, but I haven’t done that… yet.

There’s Amy Porterfield, a huge guru in the online education space who has built an empire around how to teach people to create digital courses and launch them. She’s humble and so smart and really approachable. She’s helped thousands of teachers reach the masses.

There's a designer, researcher and author named Erika Hall whose office is about six blocks from my house. She wrote my absolute singular favorite book on user research. It’s called Just Enough Research. I’d love to have dinner with her and her husband, Mike Monteiro, at their Mule Design office or somewhere else in the ‘hood.

I’d also love to meet Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I love her personality and grit. She's got a good hustle, a smart head on her shoulders, she’s super positive and no BS. Now she has a great story!

BTW, this exercise reveals your values and priorities, so give it a try! Name three people you’d love to meet. Maybe they’ll read this and reach out to YOU.

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I need your help!

Today I’d like to try crowdsourcing alternatives to the phrase “user research.” What other words, phrases or descriptions do professionals use to describe the ways we learn about the people we are trying to serve through our design, development and marketing efforts?

For example, a research team might be called:

• qualitative research

• consumer insights

• UX research

• design research

• contextual inquiry

• shopper insights

• customer experience

• consumer experience

It goes on and on. Let’s brainstorm the possibilities in one place (i.e. the comments section of this post).

If you are a user researcher, how do you explain what you do to others?

Let me say in advance how grateful I am for your willingness to indulge me in this little experiment. There are certainly no right or wrong answers.

And with that said...

Ready, set, go!

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How can we lift non-researchers up?

How can we make it easier and more effective for non-researchers to obtain the insights they need?

There are more non-researchers doing research than ever before. And let’s face it, the advancement of free, digital tools is a big enabler. Customer-facing teams are also being asked to think in a research way. Yes, it’s wonderful to have more curious colleagues!

And yet, the democratization of sophisticated tools can lead to misleading or just plain inaccurate data. Just because anyone can do a survey does not mean that everyone should, or understands the right and wrong ways—or times—to do a survey.

For example, a survey is a totally separate function than, say, a card sort. But if you only have access to a survey interface, or you don’t even know that a card sort exists, you're going to use a survey to solve every problem. In contrast, a well-trained researcher knows which approaches are best and will consider where you are in the process, the decision you’re trying to make, type of evidence desired, sample availability, and more.

How can we lift these non-researchers up? Should we, could we, do something more? If so, what? And who are "we"? Researchers? The companies building these tools? Schools? What’s your take?

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Our exciting metamorphosis

It's ironic. Those of us who work in UX, user researchers included, aspire to create terrific user experiences. That’s what we do. But what we have done with our own terminology is to create a mess.

This is because our industry is new. We've borrowed terms from marketing, anthropology, design, human factors, psychology and other domains. We haven’t found a common voice, yet.

We are in the midst of an exciting metamorphosis.

Meanwhile, confusion reigns. Depending on whether you come from marketing, design, product management or marketing research, you likely use language differently. When we try to work together, we’re rarely 100% certain a colleague is using a term or phrase in the same way we would. So it takes more time and effort to get on the same page, and occasionally it might take days or weeks to figure out we are not. This has many negative ramifications.

Who can clearly articulate the difference between a user researcher, a UX researcher, and a design researcher? Let's add in a qualitative researcher and human factors specialist. Are all of these delineations necessary?

The first step to solving a persistent problem is often to admit you have a problem. Many of us are now doing that. Together. It's riveting.

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Elevating the next generation of UXers!

The seeds are taking root! Between starting on a new project (leading a Rolling Research program and at well-known tech company), our “Crowdsourcing Terms” work continuing to take flight around the world, and launching a new Mixed Methods research class tomorrow, things are very exciting and busy. #grateful

WORK WITH US!

If you are familiar (enough) with the UX/UXR industry, and have some social media, administration, communication and or community management experience, let’s chat. We’d love some support (hence the inability to keep up with these weekly "Fuel Your Curiosity" updates). We’ll also need some design talent as we begin rebranding as well. Remote workers are welcome.

CONTINUED CONFIRMATION ABOUT OUR CONFUSING TERMS

We're still celebrating! Apparently people in Serbia, Sudan, Lebanon, Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, India, Turkey, Poland, Nigeria, Jordan, Ukraine, most of western Europe and several countries in Asia find our industry’s terms confusing too. We have heard from people in over 30 countries now, all via LinkedIn, and have 75+ additional UX-related micro-volunteers ready to participate in subsequent phases. Check out this post for context if you missed the news about our successful Crowdsourcing effort.

CONVERSATIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Last week my 18 UC Berkeley students started reviewing the 150 Crowdsourced terms for clarity, tone, completeness, ease of understanding, and word count. They also checked them for accuracy via secondary research.

Interestingly, almost all of them struggled with “how to find credible resources” and knowing “which entities were trustworthy”. While they did find a lot of theoretical examples, they much prefer, and continue to look for, “actual use cases”. About half describe the assignment as “a strong or excellent example of applied learning” while others say it’s “just plain frustrating to travel down rabbit hole after rabbit hole” to gather sufficient intel to either confirm the initial definition meets the success criteria and or learn enough to recommended an edit. They also added in “related terms” and an example of the term used in an educational sentence. The terms are shaping up quite nicely!

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS TO INTERVIEW

Help elevate the next generation of UXers! These same UC Berkeley students will be conducting interviews with people in UX-related roles this coming Monday night, October 7th, between 7:30-9:30pm PST and again next Monday night, October 14th, between 7:30-9:30pm PST. The focus will be on our “Crowdsourcing Terms” format, usage and organization. Ideally each student team will conduct two interviews within this time frame. Interviewees will participate in two sessions a piece. We are looking for four volunteers to participate on each Monday night for a total of eight interviewees.

In-person interviews will take place in downtown San Francisco. Remote interviews will take place via Zoom. Please email if you are available and interested. Make sure to indicate if you can participate in-person or remotely.

This week the students are crafting their interview guides based on the goals and key questions and we workshopped in class.

SOCIAL MEDIA AT IT'S BEST

Interestingly, the sketch note Australian UX designer Milly Schmidt created about one of the feedback gathering calls also inspired an incredibly thoughtful, global dialog about whether perception trumps context. The responses, we believe, demonstrate social media at its best. A means to initiate and participate in a literate, respectful, proactive, and engaged conversation. Which raises the questions...

Do you think we have gone too far in trying not to offend anyone? Is this an issue of gender, age, or both? Have we taken a leap forward for respect, grace and dignity? Or have we put so many handcuffs on each other that no one can talk openly anymore? Does it speak to the confusion and the cluster*** around how we speak? And what's appropriate, or not? Do we truly understand each other? Take a look for yourself.

UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO CLASSES

• Mixed Methods Intermediate Daylong Bootcamp 10/4 @ 9am, 11/21 (@ 9am, 12/5 @ 9am

• Conducting User Research Daylong Bootcamp 10/5 @ 9am, 11/16 @ 6pm, 12/14 @ 9am

• Intro to User Research 3-hour Workshop 10/16 @ 9am, 11/13 @ 6pm, 12/16 @ 6pm

• UC Berkeley Extension - Monday nights from 6:30-9:30pm, SF campus

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• Participate in the “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project. All the cool kids are doing it! Email me to get on the list.

• Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.

• Ask me questions related to user research. Seriously, bad research keeps me up at night!

• Share your thoughts about past classes, future topics and your interests in this 10 question survey.

WOWZERS! Crowdsourcing UX/UI/UXR Design Terms

“Hi Everyone,” I wrote four weeks ago on LinkedIn and in a Google Group, “I have a list of 100 UX/UI/UXR/Design-related terms that often confuse people. I'm looking for several volunteers to help define by them by crowdsourcing.”

The response was AMAZING.

53 people volunteered from around the globe. We divided into five groups, each with a leader. The list swelled to 150 terms. By last Friday, after only 7 days, 100 terms had been defined. Then we played “Musical Terms” with the 50 that remained.

Language matters. The terms we use can be super confusing. If we don’t speak the same language, it's enormously difficult to work together. And precision is extremely important!

Plus, there’s a big difference in how applied and academic research professionals communicate. I hope to create an effective bridge having both on this project.

True confession: I’m blown away we exceeded the goal in our original 10-day timeframe. I’ve never crowdsourced anything and it's been a truly magical experience. Participant feedback is SO positive.

My post also said “my thinking is that we would all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well!”

We're on our way thanks to the many contributors below.

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WOW what an incredible, nail-biting week!

I skipped last week’s communication but I feel great about it. Here’s why.

FIRST, WE HOSTED OUR DAUGHTER'S SIXTH BIRTHDAY PARTY

For context, her birthday parties are like my Burning Man! Crazy crafting, decor, games, food, yadda yadda. This year she chose a Star Wars theme. Making lightsabers out of pool noodles was one of the preparations. In addition to the typical yearly pre-party craziness, her grandparents planned to surprise her in costume!

A week before her party, while scrolling through Pinterest for “birthday cake inspiration” (like every typical six year old does, right?), she challenged me to make a super complicated cake. I am not a baker but there was NO WAY I was going to turn her challenge down.

Turns out the cake making was a blast and a whole family effort! Turns out fondant is like sticky Play-doh! She made all of the stars and applied them herself. Then she concocted the idea to top them off with circular, modeled, glittery “death stars” and ran with it.

She was incredibly proud of herself. The look on her face was priceless. That experience of making the cake with her may be one of my proudest achievements in life. (The handmade pink flamingo piñata for her luau party is a close second though!) Anyway, here are some fun pix of Sunday’s special guests and other festivities.

ON TOP OF THAT I ORGANIZED AND LAUNCHED A CROWDSOURCING EFFOR

The goal was to define 150 of our industry’s most confusing terms. Fifty-plus colleagues (most unknown to me) contributed from around the world. The target audience is MY MOM (and her name is Princess Leia. LOL). The audience is more accurately described as non-researchers who know something about technology but do not have deep expertise with UX or UXR. While I’d love for my mom to actually understand what I do, it's high time for a comprehensive glossary (with a decent user experience!) of our industry’s cluster**** of terminology, acronyms and slang.

My initial thinking was that we’d all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well! Now I also realize it can serve as a living document to chart the evolution of the industry. That’s pretty cool, right?

Anyway, the deadline to complete the definitions was Sunday (the same day as the party). Yea, you read that right. It was a total and complete nail-biter but wWE DID IT! You can read more about the logistics, goals and surprisingly successful effort and feedback in this LinkedIn post. Please help us celebrate!

Milly Schmidt, a UX designer in Sydney, Australia who I did not know, created this sketch note illustration based on one of the two "kick off" Zoom calls I held. The calls were intended for me share my thinking and gather feedback from volunteers on how to approach this effort (the process, organization, collaboration tools, etc.) before diving in. Her masterpiece captures that design thinking process beautifully. (Hey Milly, can I interest you in some birthday party crafting around this time next year?)

This fantastic accomplishment and body of work would not have been possible without the following incredibly very talented and committed contributors. NOTE each name links to their individual LinkedIn Profile so please send them a virtual high five!

Team leads Roxy Jones, Janet Standen, Kaleb Loosbrock, Danny Spitzberg. A special shoutout also to Rachel Auckland, from South Africa, who blazed the trail with an astounding contribution of nine definitions out of the gate.

And every single contributor on each of the five teams Maxwell Wolf, Rachna Tiwarya, Frances James, Jennifer Epps, Liberty Matias, Mary Denise Robertson, Shane Nehring, Eddie Y. Shieh, David Beckley, Jasmine Gutierrez, Aileen Liu, Siddhant Patel, Quinne Fokes, Amit Sathe, Caleb Sexton, Ashley Gardner, Adriana Varisco, Julie Keenan, Eva M. Durazo, Masha Bell (Mary), Stephanie Krieger, Ujala Anis, May Reid-Marr, Shadi Aljazzar, Nhu-Anh Le, Sheila Manhães, Michael T Lombardo, Andrew Maier, Michael Long, Mary Denise Robertson, Sujit Tulcidas, and Betty Troy.

Thank you also to everyone else receiving this communication who provided support and showed interest and but may have been sidetracked due to life and other unexpected circumstances.

NO FEAR! There is much more work to do so stay tuned for how you can still participate! For example, I’ve already amassed 75 more terms to add to our initial list, and we need to turn it into a useable format (with good UX)! Luckily, in this next phase it looks like we will have additional contributors from India, Italy, Croatia, the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, Canada and more. People continue to reach out to me from all over the world! It's thrilling this work has generated so much dialog and excitement.

SO THOSE ARE MY TWO EXCUSES FOR MISSING LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

I hope you'll agree it was worth it too! Next week I'll do my best return to my regular format and intended schedule. In the meantime, please forward this communication to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up to to receive future versions here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving..

How to Take Notes

Sure, you take notes in some meetings. But how much thought have you given to HOW you take notes?

Notetaking forms new pathways in the brain, which makes recall easier. On top of that, storing the info allows you to revisit it later and reinforce what happened initially.

In user research, taking notes is an art, a science AND a key process; here are some tips taken from our world that you can apply to your own notetaking:

1. Don’t try to capture every word; instead focus on the big ideas and essential observations.

2. If you need every word, record and transcribe the audio later… but still take notes. It will help you synthesize key points and l the meeting with better retention.

3. Only take notes to the extent you still notice the non-verbal information being shared. If you are always head-down, you’ll miss quite a bit.

4. To gain multiple perspectives, consider swapping notes afterwards with other meeting attendees.

5. For more nuanced takeaways, try capturing feelings, stories, thoughts, observations and behaviors in your notes.

6. To speed your notetaking and the actions that follow, assign codes to different categories or topics. Eg a +/- for positive/negative remarks, check boxes for followups, all caps for a-ha’s, etc

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When does it NOT make sense to do user research?

My new project is delayed by a few weeks and I have to say my happy dance is looking pretty good! I totally admit it. I’m excited to have some unexpected non-project-work time. Found time. In between time. Time to work on my daughter's Star Wars birthday party (can you say Obi-wan-Kabob-bies?) and of course craft and share user research-related news and inspiration with you. I hope you find them helpful...

CONVERSATIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

STUDENT: Does it ever NOT make sense to do user research on something you want to build?

ME: YESSIREE BOB! Here are some examples when I don't think it makes sense, may not be appropriate, or at minimum should give you pause:

1. When there is a better way to answer the question (for example, with analytics). E.g. How many people ______? How often does _____ occur?

2. If the timeline doesn't permit it. E.g. We need to understand the customer journey by tomorrow

3. When people are looking for evidence to "support" a hypothesis or prove a point. E.g. I know this is the best way to move forward and research will prove it.

4. The question is not defined enough to explore or answer. E.g. There are competing goals and objectives at play, the question is too big

5. When something is broken, doesn't function, or past its expiration date. E.g. A dead link, visual or behavioral consistency. Just fix it.

6. To check the "research box". E.g. Yes we totally conducted research. We spoke to the founders/ investors/ our team this morning!

OUR TERMS CAN BE SUPER CONFUSING

• Yea, I’m still on my “words really matter” war path. This one might last a while. Why? Because user research terms are super nuanced and precision is extremely important.

• The term of the week is Card Sort: It’s a user research method where participants “sort” items or topics into categories that make sense to them. The results uncover how they organize their thinking which is instrumental in building an intuitive structure for whatever you want to create (a product, service, cookbook, you name it). Card sorts can also help you prioritize, label information and develop an intuitive information architecture. They can be conducted in-person and online. My favorite online tool for card sorts is Optimal Workshop’s “Optimal Sort”.

• There are three types of card sorts: Open, closed and hybrid. Each has pros and cons. Happy to answer any questions.

SO MUCH TO LEARN, SO LITTLE TIME

• NEXT WEEK I start teaching user research in UC Berkeley’s UX Design program. This class is great for those who have some understanding that user research is a great skill to add to their arsenal but aren’t sure where to start, how to get hands-on experience or where to go for mentorship. Trust me. Knowing how to find answers to your own questions (correctly) is incredibly empowering.

• PSYCHE! My two new General Assembly classes are getting traction.

• A Mixed Methods session called “Conducting User Research Intermediate Bootcamp." This hands-on class explores a variety of generative and evaluative methods. Learn which ones best inform specific types of research questions and phases. The first session will be on Friday, October 4th at 9am. >> Register here.

• The Art of the Interview (not yet posted but is slated to launch October 3rd.) You’ll see, practice, and get feedback on how to successfully begin an interview, develop rapport with participants, dig deeper, create sound bites, get out of difficult situations, and wrap up, while leaving the door open for future correspondence.

• NOTE: All General Assembly details (about my class sessions, dates and times) are always listed on my website. Shortly after you land on the homepage, a pop up will appear with all the deets. I update this regularly.

• The offer still stands too. If you completed one of my User Research Workshops or Bootcamps at General Assembly prior to June 1st, you’re invited you to audit an upcoming class of the same type. I’d be thrilled to have you back in the saddle and reap the benefits of the feedback you provided to help improve the class materials and tools. They've evolved tremendously thanks to you! Just email me when you'd like to come.

COMING SOON!

• This week we kick off the “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project. I have four team leads ready to go. If you’re interested in being a co-lead or contributor please send me a note. Buckle up - this might be a crazy fun ride.

• My “How to Break into User Research” article is on hold while I finish up the UC Berkeley curricula. Stay tuned.

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• Ask me questions related to user research. Seriously, bad research keeps me up at night!

• Share your thoughts about past classes, future topics and your interests in this 10 question survey.

• Participate in the “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project. The kick off will be next week. Email me to get on the list.

• Come audit a future class you already took. Email me the day and time the day and time.

• Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.

And that’s a wrap! My third official newsletter-y-email-communication-musing-thingy! I'll stop counting now. They say it takes 21 days to develop a habit. I have my fingers crossed. Regardless, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Crowd-Sourcing Design-Related Terms

Hi Everyone, I have a list of 100 UX/UI/UXR/Design-related terms that often confuse people. I'm looking for several volunteers to help define by them by crowd-sourcing. My thinking is that we would all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well!

QUESTIONS:

1. I'm thinking of dividing the list of 100 into 4 or 5 smaller lists of 20-25 terms. Then gathering feedback from small groups of people in a Google doc, for a week or so, until they are fleshed out. I originally thought of a wiki but that doesn't seem very viable right now. Anyone have a better suggestion?

2. Are you interested in defining one or more terms? Taking a first pass at a term (or twenty)? Adding to the list of 100? GREAT! Please add your email address below, send me a DM, or email me at michele@micheleronsen.com and we'll go from there!

OTHER THOUGHTS: I'm interested in people contributing that represent various experience levels. This will create a richer experience and provide an opportunity for new practitioners to learn from more established talent as the definitions unfold, and vice versa.

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If, if, if...

How was your weekend ? Yea, I could use another day too! I cannot believe my daughter is starting kindergarten this week and summer is almost over. ARRRGGG! Anyway, here is some exciting user research-related news and inspiration. Might as well jump back into the saddle, eh?

CONVERSATIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

Last week someone asked me the difference between design thinking and ethnography. Earlier I had a fascinating conversation with two very senior practitioners about whether Journey Mapping was a user research method or not and this sparked a heated debate about whether "gathering" data is required criteria to be considered a UXR method? What do you think? Talk to me people.

The bottom line is that almost everyone I know, regardless of level, is perplexed by some UX/UI/Design/User research-related lingo.

So I compiled a list of nearly 100 terms! This week I solicited micro-volunteers to help define them through crowdsourcing. I posted in my google group and on LinkedIn. The response was terrific. I’ll host one more kick off call today at 3pm and then release this puppy into the wild. Talk about prototyping, iterating and dogfooding! (Yep, dogfooding is on the list too!) I’ve never crowdsourced anything. It's exciting though! Not a LinkedIn fan? You can read about the effort, and see my other posts, on my website too.

SO MUCH TO LEARN, SO LITTLE TIME

• WOOT WOOT! In September I’ll start teaching user research classes in UC Berkeley’s UX Design program. My class will run on Monday nights, in downtown San Francisco, for 10 weeks. You do not have to be enrolled in the certificate program to take it. Here is the existing course overview. I’ll be tweaking it but it will be jammed packed with actionable goodies for people who want to go both deep and wide. We’ll be building UXR portfolio pieces along the way too.

• WAHOO! General Assembly will also feature two new classes of mine this fall (in addition to my existing User Research 3 hour Intro workshop and Conducting User Research day-long bootcamp). Please continue to refer your friends and colleagues to those foundations. After 25 classes year to date (yep, seriously) they are REALLY TIGHT NOW! Drum roll please…. My new classes are:

• A Mixed Methods session called “Conducting User Research Intermediate Bootcamp”. This is where you can really roll up your sleeves and get hands-on with a variety of generative and evaluative methods. Learn which ones best inform specific types of research questions and phases. The first session is October 4th. >> Register here.

• The Art of the Interview (not yet posted but slated to launch October 3rd.) Here, you’ll see, practice, and get feedback on how to successfully begin an interview, develop rapport with participants, dig deeper, create sound bites, get out of difficult situations, and wrap up while leaving the door open for future correspondence. We’ll also discuss when it’s appropriate to deviate from your guide (gasp!) and why.

• NOTE: All General Assembly details (about my class sessions, dates and times) are always listed on my website. Shortly after you land on the homepage, a pop up will appear with all the deets. I update this regularly.

• FORMER GA STUDENTS: The offer still stands. If you completed one of my User Research Workshops or Bootcamps prior to June 1st, you are invited to audit an upcoming class of the same type. I’d be thrilled to have you back in the saddle and reap the benefits of the feedback you provided to help improve the class materials and tools. They've evolved tremendously thanks to you! Just email me when you'd like to come.

OUR TERMS CAN BE SUPER CONFUSING

• Heads up. I’m on a warpath to bring some definition sanity to terminology in our space. Do you know the difference between UI, UX, CX, UXR? If you don't, look ‘em up. There’s a very big difference. I can tell immediately how seasoned you are by the way you use our terms. Precision is extremely important.

• Here’s a term for you to ponder this week. Prototype: A concept or idea turned into form (a storyboard, video, 2D or 3D mock up, a blurb, interaction design, etc.) that allows us to gather constructive and timely feedback during the concept and development phases. You can learn more about prototyping in this article I authored for Autodesk Academy. And check out the accompanying practice assignments to improve your prototyping skills.

COMING SOON!

• I’ll share an update about the “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project.

• A new course and article called “How to Break into User Research”. Eventually I’ll be looking for a few beta participants so keep an eye out!

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• Have questions that relate to user research. Seriously, bad research keeps me up at night!

• Want to provide feedback on the Checklist to Access Your Readiness to Launch a Study. Email me. There’s still time.

• Choose to provide a testimonial to support the promotion of the new classes in this 10 question “in hindsight” survey.’ Share what you learned, what was most memorable or helpful, something about the vibe, other takeaways, you name it. I’d be so appreciative. It will also give me a chance to get to know you better so I can tailor the samples I share in class and new activities I create around your interests!

• Know someone who might enjoy this email please pass it onto them. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.

And that’s a wrap! My second official communication! I promise I’ll stop counting. Soon. Regardless, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Musings for aspiring, temporary, accidental and other user researchers

How are you? It’s been a while since we chatted but I bet you’ve been working on some cool stuff. To make sure you’re gonna rock all of your projects, and keep your head in the UXR game, I wanted to share some exciting user research-related news and inspiration with you.

FIRST AND FOREMOST

If you completed one of my User Research Workshops or Bootcamps at General Assembly prior to June 1st, I'd like to invite you to audit an upcoming class of the same type. I’d be thrilled to have you back in the saddle and reap the benefits of the feedback you provided improve the class materials and tools. They've evolved tremendously thanks to you! Just email me when you'd like to come.

CONVERSATIONS FROM THE CLASSROOM

A few weeks ago my students and I were talking about how to evaluate when you’re ready to actually start conducting a study. So, of course, I drafted a checklist of sorts and posted it on LinkedIn to gather feedback. I’ve got a decent working draft now and I’d love your thoughts on it too. Shoot me an email if you’re interested, please. Not a LinkedIn fan? I repurposed all of my posts and they are now on my website too.

OUR TERMS CAN BE SUPER CONFUSING

• Let’s face it, the terms we use can be a cluster****. But they are important. Do you know the difference between user research, user testing and a usability test? If you don't, look ‘em up. It's a very big difference. I can tell immediately how seasoned you are by the way you use our terms. Precision is extremely important.

• Here’s a term for you to ponder this week: Diary study. It’s a research method where people report on their behaviors and or actions over a period of time. It’s useful to get a sense of how a product, service and experience plays out over an extended period. We call this a longitudinal study.

VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITY

• And speaking of confusing, I’ve compiled a list of 100 UX/UI/UXR/Design-related terms. I'm looking for several volunteers to help define by them by crowd-sourcing. We’d all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well!

• Are you interested in defining a term? Taking a first pass at a term (or twenty)? How about working on a team with other user researchers and designers to grow that network? GREAT! It’s kicking off next week. Email me to get on the list, stat!

• NOTE: I'm interested in people contributing that represent various levels of expertise. This will create a richer experience and provide an opportunity for new practitioners to learn from more established researchers as the definitions unfold, and vice versa.

COMING SOON!

• Awesome teaching updates. New fall classes, programs and venues, oh my!

• Meanwhile, I’ve been asked to collect testimonials to help promote the new classes. Please take a moment to share your thoughts on your class or other experiences with me. Share what you learned, what was most memorable or helpful, something about the vibe, other takeaways, you name it. I’d be so appreciative. You can add those thoughts in this 10 question survey. It will also allow me to get to know you better so I can tailor the samples I share and new activities I create around your interests!

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED AND SHARE THE LOVE

• Provide feedback on the Checklist to Assess Your Readiness to Launch a Study. Email to request a copy.

• Participate in my “Defining our Confusing Terms” crowdsourcing project. The kick off will be next week. Email me to get on the list.

• Share your thoughts about past classes, future topics and your interests in this 10 question survey.

• Come audit a future class you already took. Email me the day and time.he day and time.

• Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It will be the gift that keeps on giving.

And that’s a wrap! My first official newsletter-y-email-communication-musing-thingy! I’d love to hear your thoughts.