Five Fun Holiday Survival Tips Based on User Research

Just in time for your holiday gatherings, here are 5 fun tips for what to do when someone strays waaaayyyy off topic during a conversation.

These tips are based on what I do when this happens during a #userresearch interview but they work IRL too!

1. Before you engage, take a deep breath, and prepare yourself mentally, physically and spiritually. (Get into character.)

2. Be polite and respectful. Try to mirror their body language and emotional state to make them feel comfortable. (They drink eggnog = you drink eggnog.)

3. Try holding up a finger, like you are politely signaling a waiter. Then say, “Could you please help me understand how that relates to X?” “Please” is the key word. (omit "WTF?!")

4. Channel your beginner's mindset. For example, if someone is telling you about Z, kindly point out you are unfamiliar however you’d like to learn more “later”. (At Uncle Al’s house, it’s ok to not follow up.)

5. Celebrate their passion and enthusiasm, but ask them to briefly summarize what happened. “Briefly” is the key word. KEY WORD.

Most importantly, try to model a calm and welcoming behavior (and avoid shopping malls). If all else fails, revisit your recruiting tactics, and chant “this too shall pass”.

Happy holidays!

Pilot your studies. Period.

I had 14 students in a user research class last week. Eleven of them did not pilot their studies before they went full-speed ahead. WHOA?! That made me realize plenty of others might miss the necessity of doing this.

You should road test your discussion guide, tasks, technology, stimuli and everything else you can simulate ahead of time. Get feedback on whether or not the questions are provoking the right kind of responses, fit within the timeframe allotted, are understandable, in the right sequence, are not redundant, and more. Pilot to get more comfortable with the content too.

If it’s an interview, literally interview someone. Think of it like a beta test.

If it’s a survey, share it with a few folks first. Solicit feedback.

Pilot your study with people who closely resemble your actual recruit. If that’s not possible, get as close as possible.

After you pilot, iterate on what could be improved before spending time and money rolling it out.

I was shocked people weren't doing this. I pilot 85% of my studies even though I'm pretty senior at this point and confident in my skills and judgment.

BTW, I don't just pilot live interviews. I pilot unmoderated sessions, surveys, card sorts and almost everything else.

And now you know.

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Save the Dates!

Wow, thanks for all of the terrific feedback on my last newsletter. Jenny, one of my returning students said, "It was golden. It's something I'll keep for reference and refer back to over and over again." That kind of feedback makes makes it truly worth it! If you missed November's blast, and would like a copy, just lmk. Thanks Jenny!

LINKEDIN TO WEBINAR

Does offering an individual an incentive to participate in a study introduce bias? Does it predispose a participant to tell me what they think I want to hear?

Christina, a four time student, asked these great questions in my Art of the Interview class and it inspired me to write a LinkedIn post about it. Turns out a lot of people have thoughts on the topic too! I am SUPER pumped, proud, and excited to share I’ve been asked to host a webinar to expand on it.

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE AND REGISTER

This is free, remote event is open to everyone. Registering will grant you access to the live session AND a recording to watch on your own at anytime thereafter. The live session is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec 17th at 9am PST/12pm EST. There will be a 30-40 minute presentation and a live Q&A.

Strangely, you cannot register directly without a "business email address". If you prefer to use a Gmail or Yahoo type of email address please email Emily Smith at Remesh, or me, and include the preferred email address. We will register you manually. Additional details are here.

PODCAST DEBUT ON AWKWARD SILENCES

My post about 7 reasons NOT to conduct user research (because not everything is a #userresearch problem people!) also drummed up a lot of interest. The good folks at Awkward Silences, a super cool podcast by User Interviews, invited me on the show as a guest. We recorded my very first podcast episode on November 15th. It was more fun than a barrels of monkeys! We seriously had a blast. Stay tuned for this episode to launch soon!

GENERAL ASSEMBLY JANUARY CLASSES

Use it. Don't loose it! Many of you asked for my January schedule in hopes to invest your "learning and development/professional funds" before the end of the year. Here you go!

• Introduction to User Research (3 hour workshop): Jan 8th, Wednesday @ 6pm-9pm

• Introduction to User Research (Daylong Bootcamp): Jan 14, Tuesday @ 9am

• Art of the Interview (3 hour workshop): Jan 21, Tuesday @ 9am

• Intermediate Mixed Methods (Daylong Bootcamp): Jan 31st, Friday @ 9am

NOTE: These classes may not appear on the General Assembly website until tomorrow end of day.

Emma had this to day about my new Art of the Interview class: "I really loved it and found it helpful. The biggest thing I took away was some really concrete ideas of how to create an interview guide. Your slides about how to convert potentially leading questions into more unbiased open ended questions was super helpful and clear... Your class really opened up my knowledge and now I feel like I have a really great starting place for writing my interview guide... And now I know I need to pilot too! And so, so much more. Thanks for your guidance!"

OTHER EVENTS THAT MIGHT INTEREST YOU

• UX Research conference guide for 2020: A Medium article listing nine, international user research conferences

• The Quirks Event: Gaining more and more traction every year in London, Brooklyn and Chicago

• Top 10 UX Conferences calling you in 2020: A Medium article listing ten, international UX design conferences

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It's 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.

I hope these class and event listings inspire you!

I'm hosting a webinar!

SUPER pumped, proud, and excited! I’ve been asked to host a webinar to expand on my recent LinkedIn post about "participant incentive and bias.“

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE & REGISTER!! Registering will grant you access to the live session AND a recording to watch on your own at anytime thereafter.

This is free, remote event is open to everyone. The live session is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec 17th at 9am PST/12pm EST. There will be a 30-40 minute presentation and a live Q&A.

Thank you Remesh.ai for reaching out and sponsoring this event. Thank you Susan Fader for the referral.

Here’s my original post for context.

How many people do you think you have to speak with to recognize patterns?

In usability, how many people do you think you have to speak with to recognize patterns? Hundreds? Thousands?

Nope. Maybe just four or five.

If, for example, you’re looking to understand how easy or difficult it is for people to book flights on an updated website, 80% of the problems that can be identified will likely be identified with the first four or five people you study. If you don’t identify such problems after five people, you're either asking the wrong question or you're asking the wrong people for feedback.

This assumes, of course, that you have properly defined the segment(s) to gather feedback from. Do you want to talk to people who book 10+ flights a year? Do you want to talk to people who book for entire families? This four or five person rule applies to groups of people with different behaviors, or “usability segments."

Clients are often surprised when I say extraneous participants are a waste of time and resources. Instead of adding more than five participants to any one behavioral segment, my suggestion is to repurpose your budget and invest in either additional segments or additional studies.

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Kill 3 birds with 1 stone

This holiday weekend I enjoyed terrific family time. The conversations ran the gamut and a few of them gave me pause. My nephew, for instance, asked me why I teach and coach. I replied with my typical response. "I love it! The more I teach/coach the better practitioner I become. And the more I practice the better teacher/coach I become. It's reciprocal."

He paused, then asked me what I "really get" out of it. And I looked into his twinkle-y, tween eyes and I said with a genuine smile "knowledge. I'm a learner. I learn from my students every single day. We learn form each other." That response led him to ask me what I learned lately...

HERE ARE THREE OF THE MANY THINGS YOU HELPED ME REALIZE

1) It's hard to know how your user research skills stack up. I was in this boat for a long time also. You are not alone in wondering about this. There is good reason for you to be scratching your head too because:

• There’s no clear or consistent measurement or assessment of UXR

• The definition of “success” is muddy and job titles are inconsistent

• The journey to break into UXR, or level up, feels long and lonely

• There aren’t a lot of people available to give you feedback along the way

• Hands-on learning options are far and few between. (One of my students flew up from Los Angeles to take my classes - on two separate occasions!)

2) It's hard to find ways to improve your research chops. Yep, I've been there too.

• It feels strange to make up a project to work on

• You don't know where to start

• It's hard to imagine that a potential employer would take a factious project seriously

• You can't find the right people to recruit or don't know who you should recruit

• It's intimidating to think about doing it alone

• You don't have time along with everything else on your professional development plate

• There aren't a lot of easily accessible UXR classes or programs

Sound familiar? I could go on and on but I'll put that on hold (for now).

3) A [UXR] portfolio is a foreign concept for many of you. Yes, some people refer to portfolios as case studies. These terms may be interchanged. However a portfolio is different from a resume and CV in that it includes student and or professional project work.

Whatever you call it, it’s important to have one and to maintain it over time. Why? Because resumes and LinkedIn profiles don’t tell a hiring manager or recruiter a lot about you as a [UXR] candidate. A portfolio provides a richer, and more intimate, opportunity to demonstrate how you may fit their needs.

Your portfolio should:

• Be available online 24/7. Yes, you may password protect a portion of it

• Capture your professional essence and breadth of expertise

• Convey your thought process, skills, knowledge, interests, and experience

• Demonstrate how you communicate and collaborate. UX and UXR are team sports!

• Document your key accomplishments and industry activities

• Help remove some of the friction during the interview process

• Evolve over time. You and your work are not, and should not be, static

• Be authentic

• Show what is interesting to you, or about you, professionally and personally. Use it to help you stand out

Here are some strong [UXR] portfolios and inspiration:

• Lexi Rohrer UX/UXR - https://uxlex.com/

• Ivy Kehoe UXR - https://www.ivykehoe.com/

• Jacob Brancasi UXR - http://www.jacobbrancasi.com/

• Jessica Floeh UX/UXR - http://patientxdesign.com/

• Bestfolios (great UX portfolio inspiration) - https://www.bestfolios.com/home

If you don't have a portfolio, are confused about where to start, how to handle your NDA protected work, or face other portfolio challenges, let's talk. These are all surmountable. I've been there too! I'm thinking about creating a workshop around this topic specifically. Let me know if this might interest you.

Nope. I am not going to leave you there with three problems. So now what?

TAKE THE PLUNGE. KILL 3 BIRDS WITH 1 STONE AND RUN A STUDY!

That’s right. Build a study and gather feedback on your portfolio, resume and or LinkedIn profile from people that represent your “users.” Hey, this is a great exercise to build your research chops regardless of the industry you currently work in.

Whew to start? Build a research plan. Think about your approach, the timeframe, the resources/platforms you have available and the people best positioned to provide feedback. If you work in UX or UXR consider three segments; recruiters, people who hire UX professionals, and people who teach in UX fields. If you are not in, or aspire to break into these areas, then adapt the segments to your industry.

Some thought starters to inspire a discussion guide:

• How usable and understandable is the [portfolio, case study, resume, LinkedIn profile]

• Are the [positions, companies, methods, industries] you aspire to work in easy to ascertain

• How would you summarize the [work, strengths, opportunities] based what you "see or read"

• Is the [portfolio, case study, resume, LinkedIn profile] experience consistent with what you "know"

• Are the mobile and desktop experiences [delivering a similar story, easy to navigate, consistent]

• Are hard skills [recruiting, interviewing, quant/qual, platform] front and center

• Are the soft skills [passion, collaboration, drive] coming through

• How does the “total package” compare to similar practitioners or students

• What do you think of the “total package” overall

• What’s working well and what could be improved upon

• Who else would you recommend I solicit feedback from

Helpful resources on building UX and UXR portfolios:

• NNGroup: Portfolios for UX Researchers: Top 10 Recommendations

• Matthew Bernius: Building a Research Portfolio

• Tom Cotterill: How to build a UX portfolio

• David Travis: How to Wow Me with your UX Research Portfolio

• David Travis: How to Write a Powerful UXR Case Study

If it feels more comfortable, partner with someone else to gather feedback for each other. You test their materials and they test yours. (BOOM! There's that reciprocity theme again...) Make sure you agree on your specific research and career goals, and a consistent note-taking strategy then gather input just like you would on a new product you're developing for sale. After all, these are your sales tools!

Then analyze and synthesize the data. Create a top-line report (minimum) or a case study with video clips (ideal). Make sure to include "before" images, pull quotes, and recommendations. Then address the feedback (and pat your self on the back).

I guarantee potential employers will find this approach unique and impressive. Passion, resourcefulness, initiative and rigor are terrific skills to demonstrate. Simply soliciting their participation, and asking for referrals to gather feedback from next, will broaden your network! And did I mention you'll also kill 3 birds with 1 stone? Hey, be careful out there.

UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO CLASSES

SAVE 50% WITH CODE DISCOUNT50 AT CHECKOUT! TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY.

• The Art of Conducting User Research Interviews 12/3 @ 6pm

• Mixed Methods Intermediate Daylong Bootcamp 12/5 @ 9am

• Conducting User Research Daylong Bootcamp 12/14 @ 9am

• Intro to User Research 3-hour Workshop 12/16 @ 6pm

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• Forward this email to someone who you think might enjoy it. Better yet, sign them up here. It's 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.

Now help yourself to one more serving and take a nap! You deserve it. I’m thrilled, and grateful, to know you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Stay curious,

Does offering an individual an incentive to participate in a study introduce bias?

Does offering an individual an incentive to participate in a study introduce bias? Does it predispose a participant to tell me what they think I want to hear?

In almost every class I teach, someone raises this question.

The answer is no, not if I’ve done my job properly, which entails selecting the right people and screening out the people who don't fit the criteria.

Then, I set them up for success by creating a safe space, building a rapport with them, clearly explaining what they can expect, and letting them know that whatever we talk about today... there are no right or wrong answers.

We might be testing a hypothesis, a prototype or something else entirely, but we're never testing "them".

I often ask them specifically to talk out loud and to be candid, but I also tell them that no matter what they share, they are not going to hurt my feelings. I'm here to learn from them. The more candid they are, the easier my job will be. So I continue to develop that rapport by looking them in the eye, affirming what they say, using positive body language, digging deeper into their responses, and demonstrating my authentic curiosity about them and their opinions.

Thankfully, most of my conversations are successful & enjoyable!

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Learning paths in user research

I think a lot about user research education. I practice and teach in three camps: 1) At a university 2) In a bootcamp setting 3) At companies trying to upscale their employees .

All three have critics. Some detest bootcamps because “they can’t teach you in 12 weeks how to get a $100k/year UX job.” Others criticize universities because they can’t update their curriculums as fast as the industry changes. Also, companies “are more focused on generating profits than educating employees.”

Learning is a living, breathing and constantly-evolving process. It’s unrealistic to expect a one-stop-shop to meet all learning needs. People with such inflated expectations end up frustrated, sound harsh, ill-informed, and out of touch.

Different educational programs have different strengths and weaknesses. To maximize your skills and career track, you’ll likely need a variety of programs and experiences. For example, a bootcamp can quickly give you an overview of a topic, but it won’t instantly transform you into an expert. You’ll need one or more programs, and lots of applied experience, to accomplish that.

My suggestion: Pursue programs that meet YOUR needs. Don’t judge people’s learning paths. Stay in motion and keep moving forward.

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Does this resonate with you?

I HEAR YOU

Transitioning into user research, and growing these skills, can be a long and lonely journey. There isn't one clear, direct, or "correct" path. If you are anything like me during my transition... you seek feedback along the way to understand if you're heading in the right direction. You're curious how your skills compare to others, what's transferable from your current experiences, and if your resume and portfolio resonate as intended. You wish for a safe place where you can tinker with new "things". Or perhaps a "research buddy" to help banter ideas around or evaluate what approach is best for your unique situation. Does any of this resonate with you? I'd love to know!!

My plan is to prototype a solution to begin to address this gap in Q1. It delves deeper than my one-off classes and has potential to reach more people than my 1:1 coaching. So I am lining up some beta participants. Does this interest you? Please send me a note and include what about this idea resonates the most with you.

By the way, please know that the irony of this "gap" is not lost on me. You seek feedback yet UXR is largely about gathering feedback! The cobbler's children...

NEW CLASS AT LAST!!

Ask and you shall receive. My new three hour workshop, The Art of Conducting User Research Interviews, launches Friday morning, November 8th, at San Francisco's General Assembly. Most user research classes concentrate on important practical and pragmatic tactics. While this scientific approach is necessary, and logistics are super important, unfortunately many key nuances of the “art” are often omitted.

This class addresses that gap by focusing on the personal interactions, soft skills and other subtleties talented interviewers employ to ensure meaningful conversations. I hope to see you there!

RARE JUNIOR DESIGN RESEARCH ROLE

This position is not yet posted! One of my clients, Invoice2go, is looking for a junior researcher to join their team onsite in Redwood City, CA. I've worked on two projects with them and very much look forward to a third one. They have terrific research talent, big ambitions, a great product and a lot of juicy research questions. Here are a few bullet points about the role:

• 1-3 years of research experience

• Identify and communicate high priority research questions and opportunities

• Identify and communicate the appropriate methodology for achieving research goals

• Support recruiting participants for research studies and contribute to a larger participant pool

• Conduct product related surveys, interviews, usability tests, diary studies, and other research methods

• Analyze research data to generate findings and insights

• Organize and participate in impact workshops with product teams and stakeholders

• Create and deliver compelling stories to communicate actionable insights to product teams and stakeholders

If interested, please contact Brandon Randazzo directly at Invoice2go.

SIGN UP TO BE A TESTER

One way to improve your UXR skills is to provide feedback. There are tons of panels out there that you can join as a tester, either by participating in surveys or diary studies or click tests or five-second tests or a variety of other types. This is a great way to get exposure to how people are administering different types of research and to learn about different tools and platforms. Even better, you can get paid to do it!

That said please do not, under any circumstances, submit responses for any study in which you do not meet the criteria. In other words, don’t mess with other researchers’ data. Only take part in studies you are qualified to participate in. Google “user research ethics.” This is important.

(Karma is real. This industry is small.)

IN THE CLASSROOM

Considering the above... if you are receiving this email you are likely qualified to participate in my UC Berkeley students' evaluative interviews. They are gathering feedback from people in UX-related roles on their "Crowdsourcing Terms" website prototypes and use cases. Please consider participating in a 30-minute remote interview via Zoom his week or next week. Complete this simple, five question screener to participate. Trust me. Helping aspiring UXers improve their skills feels rreeeeeaaaallllyyy good!

This week the students are also learning about card sorting with our 200 terms. Some of you are probably thinking "How did they card sort 200 terms?!" Good question! First they categorized all of the terms that were not familiar to them and moved them aside. This eliminated at least 30-50% of the terms off the bat. It's interesting in itself to see which terms fell into this category. Some were pretty surprising (to me).

UPCOMING SAN FRANCISCO CLASSES

• The Art of Conducting User Research Interviews 11/8 @ 9am, 12/3 @ 6pm

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

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

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

SPEAK UP, GET INVOLVED, SHARE THE LOVE

• 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.

If I won the lottery tomorrow

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I wouldn’t change a thing about my career, but I would get cleaning help more frequently!

After spending many years in the design space, I discovered design and user research and have remained in love with it ever since. Being genuinely curious about what makes people tick, I feel so lucky to be able to explore this subject every day. It enables me to help others while also filling my own “curiosity tank.”

My research tends to fall into two camps:

1. Understanding how/what people think and why

2. Understanding what they are doing and how they are behaving… and what is motivating them to behave that way.

To me, this work is the perfect mix of art, science and improv. It’s perfect for someone like me who loves gray areas and never felt comfortable in a box.

One of my great joys is to tear down the (mis)perception that research—and researchers—are stuffy, formal and take a long time. I can and will talk to anyone, and have more interests than time! Some say my superpower is my ability to have a meaningful conversation with literally anyone. People fascinate me.

If you care deeply about others, you have the ability to become a good researcher. And that’s the exact opposite of being stuffy or formal.

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7 reasons NOT to conduct user research

Here are 7 reasons NOT to conduct user research. Not everything is a #userresearch problem people...

• 1. If you can better answer a question with analytics, use #analytics. How often does someone abandon their shopping cart? Analytics can tell you.

• 2. If time doesn't permit it, don’t rush into user research. Example: in two days, you cannot conduct a diary study about the college application process.

• 3. If you’re only trying to sell your #design, don’t mask it as user research. That’s unethical and largely ineffective. We do research in service to the user, not ourselves.

• 4. If the #research question is too broad/narrow, given the type and scope of the information that you need, don’t proceed. Right size the question(s).

• 5. If you don’t have a good idea of the type of people you should gather feedback from or about … ’nuff said.

• 6. If you don't know WHY you’re doing the research, and HOW and WHEN the learnings will be applied. Pause right there.

• 7. If you don’t have stakeholder buy-in. IMHO, this is the #1 indicator whether you’ll move successfully from insights to action, or not. Remember #userresearch is a team sport!

Help me out here… what circumstances have you encountered in which others wanted to do user research when it didn’t make sense?

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Greetings from Adobe MAX in Los Angeles

Greetings from Adobe MAX in Los Angeles! WOWZERS. Talk about experience design. 15,000 creatives are here and it's ah-mazing.

Who knew this conference was this enormous, fun and, well, creative?! Food, art, music and more. #Mindblown.

Dear Adobe,

I’ve been loyal to you since the Macromedia/Studio 8 acquisition. That’s a lonnnggg time. Now I am an even bigger fan. You are way cooler than I thought you were (and you already had high marks).

Huge thanks for inviting me to participate in the UX Leader Summit and Educator Series. I appreciate the full conference pass, hotel, food and goodies. The inspiration, inclusion and excitement is definitely the cherry on top.

The experience has been very thought provoking. Motivating. Just “wow”. Design is my first language (ahem, Studio 8). And MAX helped me remember that and get back in touch with my #tribe.

I salute you for your thought leadership, inviting user researchers like me to the table, AND harnessing your reach, impact and expertise to celebrate and inspire #creativity.

PS. I also developed a new but serious crush on Premiere Rush. We met during a morning session. I made this video using it on my iPhone. I foresee a happy and healthy burst of video in my future. We will be happy together.

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