Stories make the world go round. As people who do user research, we love stories. At its simplest, our job is to gather stories and to retell them. War Stories are stories about contextual user research (research out in the field) and the inevitable mishaps that ensue. These stories are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic and generally astonishing. In this presentation, drawn from years of gathering war stories and his book “Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries”, Steve will share some of the best stories, examine the patterns revealed by the stories, and articulate the different lessons revealed by this large collection of stories. Steve’s collection of stories fills a longstanding need for the design and research community; to share what can go wrong, because that’s the reality. For a practice that is not always well-understood or trusted, there’s pressure for us to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community.

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User Research War Stories
Steve Portigal
@steveportigal

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It’s All Going To Burn

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Sameer Chavan
Connecting Through War Stories

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Click to edit Master title style“We’re wired for story. In a culture of scarcity and
perfectionism, there’s a surprisingly simple reason we
want to own, integrate, and share our stories of
struggle. We do this because we feel the most alive
when we’re connecting with others and being brave
with our stories.” Brené Brown, Rising Strong

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www.portigal.com/
category/series/
warstories

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Click to edit Master title styleDoorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/user-research-war-stories/
Interviews with in-house user research leaders
portigal.com/podcast/
Interviewing Users
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users/

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Survivorship Bias

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Those
Exasperating
Participants

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Those
Exasperating
Participants
A Crisis of Credibility
Cordy Swope
stoc.info

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Good recruiting is essential
The more you invest in fieldwork, the more
you need backup
Accept that failures will happen
If you can’t engage, change the topic
If an interview is going badly, stick with it
Don't assign blame when you meet a
dishonest participant

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Cracking
the
Code

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Elizabeth Chesters
Nail Polish for Insights

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Erik Moses
(Don’t) Go
Toward the Light
Photo by
Erik Moses

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Prepare for the experience of the interview
Consider your assumption about the
environment
Be present in your surroundings
Include the rich data from the environment
Learn from your mistakes

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Not Safe For Work

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Click to edit Master title styleThe Well-Lit Redhead
David Bacon
"Shocking" (CC BY 2.0) by diongillard

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Know your organizational rules/culture
Provide trigger warnings
Just because your work involves a body
part, you don’t have to act like one
Do fieldwork in teams
Consider a range of controversial content

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Judging and Learning

19. To Research Is
To Be Human

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Thank you!
@steveportigal
www.portigal.com