My UX Researcher Process

The very existence of a new user research brief should be cause for joy and celebration. It means that someone has stuck their neck out and said, ‘hey, we’re all experts here, but maybe we’re too close to this’. 

It takes a lot of confidence to show a loss of confidence. And besides, user research slows things down, asks questions and sometimes get difficult answers.

I have around 30 years of representation of many types of propositions, including a couple I knew were just total garbage but blasted through regardless. The most recent 10 years, give or take, have been about becoming curious again. Age does that.

When I get the brief, I give thanks to the stakeholders who have reached out. It doesn’t have to be deeply thought through ... heck, it doesn’t even need to be written down. It might be before any design work has started, it could be that they’ve made a thing but don’t know if anyone will want to use it.

Working out the real research problem is a shared experience and I’m totally up for it. Establishing that the thing is potentially useful to potential users is much more important than whether the thing is usable.

MIT/Harvard/McKinsey estimate that between 70-95% of all digital products fail to meet their business objectives. Many of those would have made a claim of usefulness that overestimated the user universe but got into the world anyway through stakeholder enthusiasm and a little stubbornness, and then just withered away.

Usability Testing is fun. I like doing it. It pays the bills. But proving usefulness through discovery, by checking the competitors, by talking to the SMEs, the people who tried something like it, by letting the stakeholders know that their idea isn’t original or unique (they never are) but there’s a strong case for making it for the following reasons ... now that’s the role of a good user researcher.

Erika Hall (rockstar user researcher) promotes the need for rumination. The ability to process large inputs of data and contradictory user views comes with a lifetime of experience, access to some quality thinking time and caffeine. Less rushing, more progress.

I am good listener, a trusty companion on the development journey, an articulate presenter and an advocate for getting towards the truth.

Thank you for reading this far.

You’re probably thinking ‘show me your work’, or ‘prove it’.  

I signed confidentiality agreements with Vodafone, HMRC and with Brambles Digital and must abide by them. And besides, I’m a behavioural qualitative, so many of my most important tasks are illuminating and guiding. I can’t take credit for what happened months or years after I was involved.

I’m told that puts recruiters off. It’s the truth, though. I’m all about my process.