How a Team Matures Its User Research Integration
The order came down from high up (or wherever orders come down from): We need to implement an export data function in the app. That’s all we knew. Except there was a rumor of a big deal being held up until someone got their export data function.
The stage of our team’s user research maturity will determine how we’ll handle the user research for the export data function request. The more mature a team’s integration is, they more data and insights they have to make smart design decisions.
Stage 0: No user research integration at all
They design something the way they themselves would like to use it. (A technique we call self design.)
Stage 1: Basic usability testing
As they try to export the fake data we’ve created for them, we capture all the places where the interface confuses them or prevents them from accomplishing the task. When we’re done, we write a report.
When the developers’ initial design didn’t work well for the users, there’s a big discussion about whether we ship what we’ve got anyways. (We do.)
Stage 1.5: Usability test tasks come from support
Stage 2: Interview-based task design
when recruiting participants, we screen them to ensure they’re likely to use the export data function in our design
If we can do this testing early enough in the feature’s development, we can influence a better fit for the design.
Stage 3: Basic field research
We are not trading in our usability testing program for this new field study work. That’s still happening. By doing both, we make our insights richer when we better understanding the contexts around features like export data.
Because the export data function is not something our users frequently need, the chances are slim that we’ll see them use it. However, we may see many upstream or downstream activities.
Stage 4: Focused field research
Because we can focus in on the right users at the right moment, we can see a broader sample of issues that arise.
Stage 5: Longitudinal studies
We now continually study the end-to-end experience of our users. We don’t wait to be told from above that there’s a need for the export data function. We know about it before they tell us.
We improve our ethnographic methods with some deep hanging out with our users and customers. We experiment with storytelling listening techniques, such as collective story harvesting and World Café. We exercise our data science skills, deriving meaning from by crafting custom telemetry from our designs.
Stage 6: Strategic user research
with our deep knowledge and understanding of the full user experience, we now play a strategic role throughout the organization.
The ethnographic field techniques are showing us where we can create a competitive advantage, not just from holes in our own experience, but from gaps competitors haven’t identified either.
It’s team maturity, not organization maturity
We also must learn how to make our research valuable to the teams we work with. They need to feel our research is invaluable to their work.
Research can’t be a separate function
Outsourcing your research is like outsourcing your vacation. It gets the activity done, but it doesn’t realize the value. If only your researchers are doing the research, you’re doing it wrong
Every member of the team needs to observe the research and be part of the synthesis of the outcomes. They need to feel ownership in understanding the problems users have and potential solutions.
Researchers need to be research leaders
Much of a successful research practice is building relationships. Relationships with the gatekeepers to the customers, the customer success team, the customers, and their users. We need to earn their trust and respect their own needs. This, after all, are the key traits of a great leader.
Posted on August 20, 2019