Research exercises, tips and reflections from my latest workshop, organised by Richard and Becky @ Agile Sheffield: https://lnkd.in/d_9bw7e

1. A PRACTICAL
INTRODUCTION
USER RESEARCH
Claudio Pires Franco
digital media research consultant

2. COVERING

3. • prep: a bit of theory
• prep: our working example
• 1. discovery (exploration of needs)
• 2. alpha (sketching and prototyping)
• 3. beta (analytics and testing)
• wrap up: teams, tools, processes

4. THEORY
10 MINS

5. WHAT’S THE POINT OF
DOING USER RESEARCH?

6. WHO WORKS IN TEAMS
THAT DO USER
RESEARCH?

7. https://www.interaction-design.org

8. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/user-centered-design

9. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/phases

10. https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2015/05/27/doing-user-research-in-the-discovery-phase/

11. A WORKING EXAMPLE
FOR TODAY’S EXERCISES

12. YOUR MISSION

13. • you have a nice little house in a historic
European city - Porto
• you want to start renting it out as a holiday
home
• you start by listing it on Airbnb and Booking -
but you also want to have your own website
• here you’ll be both the researcher, the
designer and the product owner - very wrong!

14. 1. DISCOVERY
(DEFINING NEEDS)
45 MINS

15. UNDERSTAND
USERS

16. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual

17. EXERCISE:
THE SURVEY

18. CONTEXT
THE SURVEY
• Who is your target audience?
• Are there core targets but also other
potential targets?
• How can we identify the ideal people
to do research with?
• What would you want to know from
potential users / customers?
• What assumptions can you test?
In real life it’d also be wise
to: do some desk research
for reports and stats; talk
to competitors and
stakeholders; look at
competitor and similar
websites
CONSIDER: the sample -
who should answer it? who
should you include or
exclude? e.g. a survey for a
nuts-based ice cream
product could go out to ice
cream lovers, and also to
dessert lovers

19. TASKS
THE SURVEY
1. MAKE A LIST OF QUESTIONS
YOU’D WANT ANSWERING
(MAX. 10, INCLUDE
ASSUMPTIONS TO TEST)
ASSUMPTIONS examples:
people who don’t like
cooking always stay in
hotels;
people rent holiday homes
because they’re cheaper
than hotels.
5 MINS

20. DESIGN
THE SURVEY
• Next you’d design your very own survey
• You can use free tools such as Google
Forms (on Google Drive)
• Google Surveys offers more options
and recruitment too, at a cost
• You’ll now see one I quickly designed
yesterday
If you struggle to think
what to ask, do some
interviews, even ask
some people you know
as a starting point…

21. TASKS
THE SURVEY
2. FILL SURVEY
(AS A CUSTOMER)
5 MINS

22. https://bit.ly/2FXjHH6

23. SURVEY
ANALYSIS

24. • Let’s quickly look at the survey results
• You can start building a picture of your target users
• You can generate more questions for when you do deeper
research with users face-to-face
THE SURVEY
ANALYSIS

25. SURVEY RESULTS
5 MINS

26. CITY BREAKS IN EUROPE
ONLY OUTSIDE EUROPE
BEACH
BREAKS IN
EUROPE
ONLY
HOTELS
ONLY
HOMES
MIX HOMES
& OTHER
Mapping user types /
personas onto behaviour
diagrams/axes is often
productive, and a good
way of explaining to
other people…

27. You can recruit different
kinds of users based on
the survey results - or try
and find them elsewhere,
perhaps using the survey
again as a selection tool.
CITY BREAKS IN EUROPE
ONLY OUTSIDE EUROPE
BEACH
BREAKS IN
EUROPE
ONLY
HOTELS
ONLY
HOMES
GLOBAL
JETSETTERS
HOTELERS
HOME
RENTERS
CITY HOME RENTERS
CITY BREAK MIXERS
PORTO
PLANNERS
GLOBAL
EXPLORERS
MIX HOMES
& OTHER

28. EXERCISE:
THE INTERVIEW
If you rent / consider
holiday homes, if you
like European city
breaks, and /or would
like to go to Porto,
you’ll be a CORE USER
in the interview exercise
It’s crucial to
do research
with the right
people

29. IDEAL PARTICIPANT PROFILE
THE INTERVIEW
Remember your ideal user:
• likes holidays in historic cities in Europe
• prefers houses to hotels - or at least considers houses
• books directly with house owners - or at least looks for info
on the house website even if later books on a large platform
• wants to go to Porto - or at least is considering as an option
CHOOSE ONE RESEARCHER,
ONE USER AND NOTE-TAKERS
BREAK INTO 4-5 GROUPS

30. Start with very
open, generic
questions - wait
for the detail,
the specific
THE INTERVIEW
SOME TIPS
Do NOT ask
leading or very
framing
questions; ask
few, listen loads
Always be polite
and keep your
views (mostly) to
yourself
Bring people
back to the main
line of enquiry -
in a nice way
Take good, clear
notes of what’s
being said -
remember key
questions
Notes: capitals,
short, factual -
what user does
or says - not
your opinion

31. SCRIPT
THE INTERVIEW
• How do you choose a city to visit? How much do you usually know about the
destination? What do you want to know about the destination?
• How do you choose a place to stay (hotel, house, other)? What websites do you
use?
• When looking at houses to stay in, what factors matter most to you? Are multiple
factors involved? Please order them, show how they interact…
• Who else is involved in the decision process? How much of a say do they have? Is
there a multi-person decision process?
• What kinds of things do you / does your group want to know about a house that you
may consider booking? Are there things that are more important than others?
Please write them down and place them in order of importance.
• Other questions you thought were important - from your list of 10 things you’d
want to know
3. DO THE INTERVIEW &
TAKE NOTES
10 MINS

32. EXERCISE:
ANALYSIS

33. ANALYSIS - SORTING
THE INTERVIEW
Some tips for efficient analysis:
• collective, democratic
• sort notes onto themes / blocks of stuff, e.g. factors
when choosing a home to rent
OUTPUT:
• key info user would need on a website promoting a
holiday home in Porto - split or labelled into 2-3
categories/groups: crucial, important, nice to have
• write these onto separate post-its - these will later be
COMPONENTS of your website’s user journey
IDEA: use your key
questions as a
framework for the
analysis
4. SORT YOUR
DATA
15 MINS

34. HOW DID IT GO?

35. BREAK TIME
15 MINS

36. 2. ALPHA (SKETCHING
AND PROTOTYPING)
20 MINS

37. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/phases

38. CREATE A USER
JOURNEY

43. MAPPING
THE USER JOURNEY
A good user journey should:
• reflect the flow of a user on the website
• be clear, with thorough logical branching
• identify gaps and more questions to ask
• consider how users would get there in first place
• include any offline parts in the journey and other websites / tools
User journeys are
desired routes via a
digital product that
you’re about to design
Sometimes less is more
5. SKETCH A USER
JOURNEY MAP
15 MINS
BREAK INTO SAME GROUPS

44. HOW DID IT GO?

45. PROTOTYPING

46. METHODS AND TOOLS
ALPHA PROTOTYPING
• Paper prototypes
• Balsamiq-type sketches / PowerPoint hyperlinks
• More advanced prototyping tools
• face-to-face testing with users
• remote testing
• unmoderated testing
• accessibility testing

47. User Research
Planning
Design
Update
Prototype
Prioritisation
New
Observations
Ready for
backlog?
Affinity
Sort
User Research
Session
Access to Work : UX Process
We’ve seen…
We believe this
is because…
So if we…
We’ll see…
HypothesisRESEARCH

48. 3. BETA (ANALYTICS
AND TESTING)
40 MINS

49. https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/phases

50. ANALYTICS

59. ANALYTICS
BETA
1. pretend you go all the way to book the house - just don’t do
the payment!
2. find info: how many bedrooms? how many guests in total?
3. find info: can I bring a baby? is there any baby equipment?
4. learn more about Porto and whether it appeals to you
• You can leave FEEDBACK on any page directly from the website
6. CHOOSE A ‘TASK’ TO TRY THE WEBSITE
5 MINS
WWW.MIRADOURO25.COM

60. ANALYTICS
BETA
Let’s look at the data generated
5 MINS

61. ANALYTICS
BETA
Let’s look at the data generated
5 MINS

62. YOU WOULD THEN DO USABILITY TESTING
TO TACKLE ANY ISSUES IDENTIFIED WITH
ANALYTICS - AND ALSO TO TEST NEW
FEATURES, BACKLOG STUFF, ETC.

63. USABILITY TESTING
RESEARCH LABS

64. I NEED A VOLUNTEER NOW TO
TRY A FEW WEBSITES AS IF WE
WERE IN A RESEARCH LAB…

65. USABILITY TESTING
BETA
What to do in a lab:
• focus and take good notes
• all capitals, legible
• what users do and say
• not what you think they are thinking
• or your solutions / ideas (but keep them too)
7. OBSERVE A USABILITY LAB
Be organised; choose
your post-its colours and
stick to them over time.
Colurs have meanings -
you choose which.
10 MINS

66. [PROVIDE A SCENARIO / CONTEXT]
Imagine you decided to go to Porto with friends…
you’re in a group of five adults, and want to go any
time in May for 6 days. You googled ‘Porto holiday
rental’ and found the website
[START WITH A FAIRLY OPEN QUESTION]
How would you ensure the house is a good choice for
you?
[LISTEN, TAKE QUICK NOTES OF STUFF TO PROBE
ON; PROBE; ASK USER TO EXPAND INTERESTING OR
UNCLEAR POINTS]
[IF THERE ARE SPECIFIC FEATURES / COMPONENTS
THAT YOU ARE PARTICULARLY WANTING TO TEST -
AND IF THE USER HASN’T ALREADY TRIED THEM
WHEN NAVIGATING THE WEBSITE SPONTAENOUSLY -
YOU CAN GIVE THE USER SOME TASKS]
Imagine that you:
• Have a baby and want to make sure the house is
suitable
• want to know how you could get to the house from
nearest airport
• want to know whether you could invite another 5
friends
• want to know what attractions can be found near the
house
[BY THIS POINT YOU SHOULD HAVE GOT SOME
IMPLICIT OR EXPLICIT COMMENTS AND
SUGGESTIONS FROM THE USER ON THINGS THAT
CAN BE IMPROVED… BUT YOU CAN ALSO ASK
AFTER AN INITIAL PERIOD OF OBSERVATION AND
PROBING]
How could we improve this website? Is there anything
missing? Anything that could be better? [GO BACK
THROUGH THE JOURNEY IF EASIER, SHOW SCREENS
AGAIN]
[THEN YOU CAN ALSO TEST YOUR VERY OWN IDEAS
FOR IMPROVEMENTS - SOMETIMES SHOWING
MOCK-UPS OR ALTERNATIVE PAGES / DESIGNS…]
Would these make the website better? Tell me how
better in a scale of 1-5 where 5 is the maximum (i.e. a
lot better)
• ratings and more reviews from guests
• map with nearby attractions
• a way to request personalised suggestion for your
trip - even before you book
Can you think of any other improvements?
A POSSIBLE INTERVIEW SCRIPT

67. “USER RESEARCH
IS A TEAM SPORT”

68. BETA
“USER RESEARCH IS A TEAM SPORT”
https://userresearch.blog.gov.uk/2014/08/06/have-you-had-your-
recommended-dose-of-research/user-research-is-a-team-sport/

69. USABILITY TESTING
BETA
• sort your notes
• draw key findings in ORANGE
• derive key design challenges / ideas in GREEN
• discuss a few ideas for solutions / improvements
• define hypotheses and how you’d measure success
8. ANALYSE YOUR LAB NOTES
Clearly define key
findings - but stop
yourself from
solutionising straight
away - create design
challenges that clearly
set goals
10 MINS
BREAK INTO SAME GROUPS

70. ANY OPPORTUNITIES
FOR IMPROVEMENT?

71. LET’S WRAP UP NOW…
WITH SOME EXAMPLES OF
TOOLS AND PROCESSES…

72. TEAMS, TOOLS
AND PROCESSES
RESEARCH IN PRACTICE
10 MINS

73. TEAM

74. CONTENT
DESIGNER
USER
RESEARCHER
INTERACTION
DESIGNER
BUSINESS
ANALYST
PRODUCT
OWNER
DEVELOPERS
AND QA
TESTERS
UX TEAM

75. TRACKING
RESEARCH FINDINGS

76. EXAMPLE
Welcome
(and Map)
Some users
thought the text
about nearby
attractions
wasn’t easy to
follow
A user suggested
it’d easier if also in
a map
How can we
clearly (perhaps
visually) show that
the house is near
lots of attractions?
How can we cater
for different
tastes?
If we add a
more visual
way of
representin
g nearby
attractions
users will
get a
clearer
idea - and
more likely
to book
concentric
circles with
distances
to some
10-15 key
attractions?
map with
places to
go, with
icons for
different
kids /
tastes?
organise a
design
huddle with
designers,
product
owner and
front-end /
backend
devs (at least
to check
feasibility
and
technical
difficulty of
any
solutions)
PT-21-
improve
attractions
info

77. ONTO JIRA

79. ^ INCLUDE ANY SCREENSHOTS, DIAGRAMS, SKETCHES,
ETC. THAT HELP DEVELOPERS AND OTHERS WHO’LL PICK
THIS LATER - BE CLEAR, CONSISTENT.

80. WHEN HAPPY WITH
DESIGN > PASS ONTO
DEV TEAM

81. ^ working on it,
doing discovery,
interviews, design
workshops, sketches,
desk research,
whatever… then
more proper designs
ready to test
^ designed, ready to
test
^ tested well, let’s pass
to devs, but first 3
amigos sometimes,
and then refinement
session (look ahead)
with devs prior to
sprint planning
^ here leave any tickets
that have gone to
refinement / passed onto
devs, but that contain
elements of analytics that
need to be discussed with
digital analyst… then
move onto done
(analytics tickets can be
created to ensure the
analysis gets done and
reported later, to measure
impact of changes…
^ yeah, done
although analytics
may show that a
change we thought
would be good
actually is negative,
and we need to go
back to the drawing
board… do constant
iteration to a point
where improvements
are too small to
justify the effort /
cost

82. AND THAT’S HOW RESEARCH
(AND UCD) CAN FEED INTO THE
LIFECYCLE OF A DIGITAL PRODUCT

84. GET IN TOUCH

85. zoomkind.co.uk
Claudio Pires Franco
claudio.pires.franco@gmail.com