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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Who would you meet… and why?

If you could meet anyone for dinner, who would you meet… and why?

When I was asked that question, my answers were a bit surprising because not much would stop me from reaching out and actually meeting them, but I haven’t done that… yet.

There’s Amy Porterfield, a huge guru in the online education space who has built an empire around how to teach people to create digital courses and launch them. She’s humble and so smart and really approachable. She’s helped thousands of teachers reach the masses.

There's a designer, researcher and author named Erika Hall whose office is about six blocks from my house. She wrote my absolute singular favorite book on user research. It’s called Just Enough Research. I’d love to have dinner with her and her husband, Mike Monteiro, at their Mule Design office or somewhere else in the ‘hood.

I’d also love to meet Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I love her personality and grit. She's got a good hustle, a smart head on her shoulders, she’s super positive and no BS. Now she has a great story!

BTW, this exercise reveals your values and priorities, so give it a try! Name three people you’d love to meet. Maybe they’ll read this and reach out to YOU.

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I need your help!

Today I’d like to try crowdsourcing alternatives to the phrase “user research.” What other words, phrases or descriptions do professionals use to describe the ways we learn about the people we are trying to serve through our design, development and marketing efforts?

For example, a research team might be called:

• qualitative research

• consumer insights

• UX research

• design research

• contextual inquiry

• shopper insights

• customer experience

• consumer experience

It goes on and on. Let’s brainstorm the possibilities in one place (i.e. the comments section of this post).

If you are a user researcher, how do you explain what you do to others?

Let me say in advance how grateful I am for your willingness to indulge me in this little experiment. There are certainly no right or wrong answers.

And with that said...

Ready, set, go!

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How can we lift non-researchers up?

How can we make it easier and more effective for non-researchers to obtain the insights they need?

There are more non-researchers doing research than ever before. And let’s face it, the advancement of free, digital tools is a big enabler. Customer-facing teams are also being asked to think in a research way. Yes, it’s wonderful to have more curious colleagues!

And yet, the democratization of sophisticated tools can lead to misleading or just plain inaccurate data. Just because anyone can do a survey does not mean that everyone should, or understands the right and wrong ways—or times—to do a survey.

For example, a survey is a totally separate function than, say, a card sort. But if you only have access to a survey interface, or you don’t even know that a card sort exists, you're going to use a survey to solve every problem. In contrast, a well-trained researcher knows which approaches are best and will consider where you are in the process, the decision you’re trying to make, type of evidence desired, sample availability, and more.

How can we lift these non-researchers up? Should we, could we, do something more? If so, what? And who are "we"? Researchers? The companies building these tools? Schools? What’s your take?

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Our exciting metamorphosis

It's ironic. Those of us who work in UX, user researchers included, aspire to create terrific user experiences. That’s what we do. But what we have done with our own terminology is to create a mess.

This is because our industry is new. We've borrowed terms from marketing, anthropology, design, human factors, psychology and other domains. We haven’t found a common voice, yet.

We are in the midst of an exciting metamorphosis.

Meanwhile, confusion reigns. Depending on whether you come from marketing, design, product management or marketing research, you likely use language differently. When we try to work together, we’re rarely 100% certain a colleague is using a term or phrase in the same way we would. So it takes more time and effort to get on the same page, and occasionally it might take days or weeks to figure out we are not. This has many negative ramifications.

Who can clearly articulate the difference between a user researcher, a UX researcher, and a design researcher? Let's add in a qualitative researcher and human factors specialist. Are all of these delineations necessary?

The first step to solving a persistent problem is often to admit you have a problem. Many of us are now doing that. Together. It's riveting.

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WOWZERS! Crowdsourcing UX/UI/UXR Design Terms

“Hi Everyone,” I wrote four weeks ago on LinkedIn and in a Google Group, “I have a list of 100 UX/UI/UXR/Design-related terms that often confuse people. I'm looking for several volunteers to help define by them by crowdsourcing.”

The response was AMAZING.

53 people volunteered from around the globe. We divided into five groups, each with a leader. The list swelled to 150 terms. By last Friday, after only 7 days, 100 terms had been defined. Then we played “Musical Terms” with the 50 that remained.

Language matters. The terms we use can be super confusing. If we don’t speak the same language, it's enormously difficult to work together. And precision is extremely important!

Plus, there’s a big difference in how applied and academic research professionals communicate. I hope to create an effective bridge having both on this project.

True confession: I’m blown away we exceeded the goal in our original 10-day timeframe. I’ve never crowdsourced anything and it's been a truly magical experience. Participant feedback is SO positive.

My post also said “my thinking is that we would all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well!”

We're on our way thanks to the many contributors below.

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How to Take Notes

Sure, you take notes in some meetings. But how much thought have you given to HOW you take notes?

Notetaking forms new pathways in the brain, which makes recall easier. On top of that, storing the info allows you to revisit it later and reinforce what happened initially.

In user research, taking notes is an art, a science AND a key process; here are some tips taken from our world that you can apply to your own notetaking:

1. Don’t try to capture every word; instead focus on the big ideas and essential observations.

2. If you need every word, record and transcribe the audio later… but still take notes. It will help you synthesize key points and l the meeting with better retention.

3. Only take notes to the extent you still notice the non-verbal information being shared. If you are always head-down, you’ll miss quite a bit.

4. To gain multiple perspectives, consider swapping notes afterwards with other meeting attendees.

5. For more nuanced takeaways, try capturing feelings, stories, thoughts, observations and behaviors in your notes.

6. To speed your notetaking and the actions that follow, assign codes to different categories or topics. Eg a +/- for positive/negative remarks, check boxes for followups, all caps for a-ha’s, etc

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Crowd-Sourcing Design-Related Terms

Hi Everyone, I have a list of 100 UX/UI/UXR/Design-related terms that often confuse people. I'm looking for several volunteers to help define by them by crowd-sourcing. My thinking is that we would all benefit from a shared vocabulary and our teammates and clients would reap the benefits as well!

QUESTIONS:

1. I'm thinking of dividing the list of 100 into 4 or 5 smaller lists of 20-25 terms. Then gathering feedback from small groups of people in a Google doc, for a week or so, until they are fleshed out. I originally thought of a wiki but that doesn't seem very viable right now. Anyone have a better suggestion?

2. Are you interested in defining one or more terms? Taking a first pass at a term (or twenty)? Adding to the list of 100? GREAT! Please add your email address below, send me a DM, or email me at michele@micheleronsen.com and we'll go from there!

OTHER THOUGHTS: I'm interested in people contributing that represent various experience levels. This will create a richer experience and provide an opportunity for new practitioners to learn from more established talent as the definitions unfold, and vice versa.

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Which languages do you speak?

Years ago, I moved back to San Francisco to work for Bank of America, in my first exposure to finance. “I'm going to get me some of this,” I quickly thought, meaning 'equity'. So I bought my first place, a COMPLETE DUMP in the Mission.

Then I redesigned it from the ground up, expanding it in two directions. I excavated and added a third unit. I was in complete heaven! For the first time, I brought together my father's architecture influence, my mother's interior design insights and my new-found finance knowledge.

I loved thinking about how people would walk through those spaces. Where would they put their keys? What types of molding are appropriate? Then I designed each unit in a totally different style because I figured, OMG, I'm never going to have a chance to do this again! And I just fell in love with what turned out to be my first foray into experience design and the built environment.

Since then, I like to say I'm multilingual. Design is my first language. Banking is my second (having spent 13 years as a creative in financial services). And now research is my third. I'm fluent in all three and together they allow me to enrich my projects and relationships with unique perspectives.

Which languages do you speak?

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Checklist to Launch a Study

I’m drafting a checklist for my General Assembly students to assess their own readiness to launch a user research study. Looking for input from people who have context about what's missing, confusing, helpful to add/remove, clarify etc.

1. Do I know the business-driven reason to conduct this study?

2. Which performance metric does this research tie into, specifically?

3. Do I understand how the learnings will inform current and future business decision-making and when the learnings will be applied?

4. Am I clear on the big questions, goals and assumptions?

5. Are my stakeholders with business impact included and significantly invested?

6. Am I clear on who will support the project, in what capacity, and when?

7. Have I gathered the information and past learnings related to the topic that already exist?

8. Is the timeline, budget and resource allocation aligned with the overall approach and the format and timing of the expected deliverables?

9. Is there a way to supplement or complement previous, current or future research?

10. Are there any specific client or participant cultural considerations?

11. Am I asking the right people the right questions, in the right way?

12. What are the biggest risks and how can I mitigate them?

Visit www.ronsenconsulting.com/resources to download the beta version of this checklist!

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Make Each Other Better

I am a firm believer that conducting user research is and should be a team sport. Last month I spoke at a LTUX event about this topic, specifically on the importance of including your stakeholders throughout your user research process and how to do it every step of the way.

Your user research will be better as a result of this inclusion and diversity of thought. It will also lead to deeper buy-in earlier in the process and in turn allow you to move faster from insights into action.

Last night I went to the CascadeSF Growth Design event at Thumbtack.com. In the lobby sat four of Thumbtack’s brand pillars. This one really struck a chord:

“MAKE EACH OTHER BETTER We only realize Thumbtack’s potential if we realize our own. So we’re humble, encouraging and transparent with each other even when it’s hard.”

It immediately reminded me of my LTUX talk with a terrifically simple, aspirational and attainable message. I may just rename my talk about including your stakeholders in user research to simply “MAKE EACH OTHER BETTER.”

That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day, right?

Lifting each other up and MAKING EACH OTHER BETTER.

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User Research is Part Art, Science and Improv.

To me, user research is part art, part science and part improv. Yep, improv. But—let’s face it—not many people think of researchers as being good at improv.

In truth, we frequently have to get into character, switch roles, and channel our beginner's mindset (and quickly). We have to loosen up in order to think on our feet. We improvise when a prototype isn't done or doesn't function properly... we have technical issues, a stakeholder moved the goal post, we can’t recruit the right people, our subjects aren't responding in ways we expected. I could go on and on. Trust me, I think on my feet a lot in my work!

The improv aspect of user research is partially what makes the practice super fun too.

To me, decent research work involves a mixture of art and science, but to produce great, truly inspired work, you need to also add in the ability to improvise. There are opportunities to do so from the first meeting with a new client, during each stakeholder interaction, when conducting (or performing!) the research with the people we’re studying, and after.

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