Product Research
Research in the UX process
UX without talking to your user is no UX — As an industry professional, I treasure the value of methodically correct research. Over the past years I began to support UX teams by planning, conducting, and analysing their user research. This is not a project but my manifesto on user research.
The problem
Generally speaking the problem lays in a limited budget or a lack of understanding about the value of research in product development. The challenge often lays in helping the client to understand that the base of all user-centric design is to understand their users challenges and circumstances. This doesn’t come from assumptions but from data.
My role
Having worked in different research roles over the years I gained expertise in the field. Planning the UX Strategy and conducting simple usability test have been part of my career from the start. I want to share my passion and have everyone benefit from data in their work.
After having failed in projects to produce an effective design, during my studies, I had to learn to approach design from a user-centric view.
How do people perceive my designs? Does this work as I thought it would? The answer to these questions come with prototyping and testing. Having adopted a rapid-prototyping mindset helped me in starting a career in User Experience design.
During these past 5 years in the field of UX (3yrs full-time, after my studies) I encountered user research and it’s tremendous effects on product development. My knowledge of UX research stems mainly from experience in the field. Having worked with colleagues at sovanta AG, whom are certified experts, I was able to pick up their methods and workflow quickly.
Planning research projects & developing material such as questionnaires or evaluation tables are at the core of the skillset of a good UX researcher. After having conducted numerous usability tests and research methodologies I became a big advocate for the field of research.
Research and its effect on product development
At the beginning of every project stands the planning of strategy and research. This can only be achieved with a clear understanding of the situation and challenges at hand.
Approaching a project with provisional personas and an unclear vision is common. I encountered many clients over the past years to mainly struggle with the endeavour of software development itself. Sure their vision can be too big for a close deadline, but helping them with a lean approach to their product will eventually lead to success. One of the core elements of the build-measure-learn cycle are decisions based on validated user research — measure the success of differing user behaviour within your product and your can create a Killer UX!
And even earlier in the process can user research shine light into many issues. Trying to understand all aspects to a problem is key in solving them. By gathering data and using it to analyze an issue will give everyone on the team an advantage to get to the root cause faster. I believe by including everyone into the research process will enable them to empathize with users and understand user needs. I also believe that conducting research and analyzing rich data can be learned by anyone.
Result
Through my experience with user research I learned to involve everyone in the process. It helps stakeholders to understand the actual issues at hand if they don’t just read a report about their users but to be part of the study. Joining the interview, hearing and learning about their users is what builds their empathy. Most importantly tho, it creates an understanding towards what product they need to build.
Success factor
Creating a strategy to correctly plan, execute research and use its’ data. By defining metrics and deliverables your work will gain focus. Achieving these metrics through conducting the right methods will give you a sustainable product.
Learning
Include everyone to value research and their users, because in a digital world the user is the customer.