Discovery
User Research Introduction Session
Prepare your team for and agree on the best approach to conduct user research such as usability testing.
Length
1 hour
Participants
Core team
Why Do It
- Ensure that we’re building something of value at each step
- Develop deep understanding of how well we're solving user problems
- Research and agree on best practices in order to align the team prior to the first stakeholder
When To Do It
- Early in the project
- As soon as possible after Kickoff in advance of any stakeholder interviews or exploratory user research
How To Do It
- Surface and share previous lessons learned
- Introduce user research methods
- Perform user practice interviews
Step By Step
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Write the agenda on the whiteboard or shared digital workspace:
- Types (10 min)
- Roles (10 min)
- Flow (10 min)
- Dos & Don’ts (10 min)
- Role Play (25 min)
-
First, describe the three main types of research by drawing/showing a three part Venn diagram, complete with a squiggly line representing time beneath it, and explaining how they relate to one another.
- Exploratory — what are the problems?
- Validation — is this solution valuable?
- Usability — is this solution easy to use?
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Next, describe the main roles involved in research, writing each on the board:
Critical:
- Lead Interviewer — facilitates interview
- Note-taker(s) — ideally 1 primary & 1 secondary to help ensure good coverage
Optional:
- Co-Pilot — supports Lead Interviewer
- Media Wrangler — handles recording
- Transcriber — types up interview as it unfolds
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With roles covered, describe the general flow of research by breaking it into discrete steps:
Recruit & Schedule
- Pick days for research
- Reach out to users
- Schedule slots
Prep
- Goals
- Assumptions
- Questions
- Design artifacts (if necessary)
Conduct Interviews
- Facilitate!
- Take notes in an appropriate manner (e.g. sticky notes, transcription, etc.) in voice of user, capturing sentiment using smiley faces
- Record aspects of the session that matter (e.g. audio, video, etc.)
Synthesize Findings
- All types: group like comments across users to find trends
- Usability only: create pass/fail table to quickly see which aspects of the design worked and which did not
- See Research Synthesis for more information
Tip: Drawing these four steps on the board showing a progression can be really helpful to visualize how they flow together
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Share biases to be aware of and key “dos” and “don’ts” when conducting research
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Finally, spend the remaining time role playing to get a feel for what actual research will be like:
Option 1: Pair Role Play
- Break into pairs, giving each person a “Pause” card
- Identify who will be playing each role (Interviewee, Interviewer)
- Interviewer uses one of the team’s discussion guides to ask questions of Interviewee
- Conduct the interview for 10 minutes, pausing whenever one of the pairs shows the “Pause” card to discuss specific feedback
- Reflect on the experience using a plus/delta format
Option 2: Group Role Play
- Identify who will be playing each role (Interviewee, Note-takers, Interviewer)
- Interviewer uses one of the team’s discussion guides to ask questions of Interviewee while Note-takers take notes that, to the extent possible, mimic “real” notes
- Conduct the interview for 10 minutes
- Reflect on the experience using a plus/delta format