UX Watch Parties
No second-hand research report or highlights video alone can deliver the same jolt of insight and impact as when the core team actively observes a full set of customer interviews.
Top reasons your team should gather to watch UX research sessions live
Gets consensus faster on ideas based on their merits.
Watching sessions together creates a shared understanding on a team, and makes it a lot harder for any individual to deny the results when a team has witnessed it together.
Accelerates understanding of users and motivates team.
Saves time and streamlines communication.
Make sure you’re planning a study that’s directly aligned with the team’s and stakeholders’ top priorities. If they’re not interested in your research, you might be working on the wrong thing.
Get stakeholders’ input on your study goals, plan, interview guide, and recruiting criteria.
Schedule interviews in a clump. Whenever possible, I schedule five one-hour interviews in one day. And we ask (require, really) teams to reserve the whole day and attend all sessions, preferably from the same room.
Be careful about taking participants’ comments too literally. Watch what they do vs. what they say.
You can’t ask people what they want, or what they would do in a certain situation. That’s for YOU to infer from observations and data.
Coach your team to be good observers.
Unless your team are experienced interview-watchers, they’ll need explicit instructions about what to look for and how to listen.
Don’t dismiss feedback from participants you disagree with, or who don’t match your assumptions or expectations.
Try to see and understand the world through participants’ eyes. Focus on your observations. Don’t jump to conclusions. (And for Pete’s sake: Don’t make premature changes to the product or prototype during the sessions!)
Give them jobs.
Assigning teammates specific jobs (and rotating roles throughout the day) keeps them engaged, and helps them resist the siren song of their Slack or email.
Debrief together while it’s fresh.
After each interview, help the team fill out one column of your Summary Sheet. Discuss each of the key questions (the rows in the Sheet) while the Facilitator or researcher types the team’s answers.
What if team members can’t attend in real time?
Record audio and video of your interviews (with participants’ permission). Throw a viewing party. If team members can’t attend sessions live, schedule a viewing party to watch a recording of at least one session of your choice.
Posted on September 11, 2019