Guerrilla user & design research:
undertaking research on a shoestring
By Ruth Ellison
Twitter @RuthEllison
Edge of the Web 2009 conference

Does this sound familiar?
Dilbert by Scott Adams

Work at Stamford Interactive
Live in Canberra
Chocolate appreciator
Work mostly with
Federal Government
Loves gadgets
I’m Ruth Information architect
‚I help make User experience designer
things easier to
use‛ Loves robots

What is user & design research

Build a deeper understanding of the
problem space* in order to inform
your design process
* people, their activities, context of use, technical
constraints, business needs etc

Guerrilla
research is...
Doing research with
less money and
time!
And sometimes under the
radar...

Formal research
More time & money
Much greater depth of
results
Guerrilla research
Less depth of results
Faster & cheaper

Where does research fit in?
Analyse
Strategy Research Design
Build
Test

Why we don’t do research

Don‘t have
It’s just too enough money
hard
Don’t have Don‘t have
access to the time
the users
We already
know what
We are the
the users
users
want
Barriers to research

Why we should do research

1 in 3 IT projects fail to meet
user expectations (worldwide)
http://www.tcs.com/news_events/press_releases/Pages/ITprojectunderperformanceacceptedasthenormbyglobalbusinessmanagementre
searchreveals.aspx
http://www.galorath.com/wp/software-project-failure-costs-billions-better-estimation-planning-can-help.php

Human error causes most
software project failures due to:
Unclear requirements
Overly optimistic and/or unrealistic
schedules
Lack of user input
Lack of executive sponsorship and
support
Turnover and layoffs
“Software Quality Insights”, published January 2009, http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-quality/why-software-
projects-fail-and-more-will-fail-in-2009/

Culture, not features, drives adoption
Anil Dash

Inform the design
Design build on research rather than
opinions
Lower possibility of building something
that you have to change again

How we do it

Large number of techniques
Website analytics
Focus groups
Surrogates The coffee
Surveys meeting
Interviews
A/B testing
Expert/heuristic reviews Design
Ethnographic studies concept wall
Contextual enquiries
Guerrilla usability
Usability testing Usability walkthroughs testing
Formal Guerrilla
techniques techniques

The projects

Project 1 website redesign
Limited budget & time
Experienced web team
Project 2 web app redesign
Limited budget & time
Limited access to overseas users
Wanted recommendations for
improving UI
Project 3 intranet redesign
Limited budget & time
Limited access to some users

The techniques
Design concept wall
Interviews
Surrogates
The lunch room chat
The coffee meeting
Guerrilla usability testing

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gord99/3583275256/

Design concept wall

It is...
A method of getting feedback from
users & stakeholders
Designs placed on wall
Helps to socialise the designs

Use when...
Want input from a greater amount of
people with a minimal budget
Input from users and stakeholders

A wall
Sharpies
Post it notes
Design concepts on A3 paper
Instructions to passersby

Highly visible wall
Get permission to put up on wall
Leave contact details
Map flow between screens
Allow for anonymous feedback

Things to watch out for
Doesn’t work in all environments
People may not participate
Depends on organisational
culture

Focus groups

Use when...
Limited time with people
Limited access to people
Instead of focus groups

6-8 participants
45 minute one-on-one
interviews
Script & questions
Incentives*
Recording device maybe
* Money, coffee or chocolates work well

Define clear research questions
Start wide then narrow
Listen!
Open-ended questions
People don’t always say what
they mean

Things to watch out for
Underlying political agendas
Leading the interviewee

Surrogates
Also known as intermediaries, proxies, key informants

It is...
Using people to talk to them about the
target audience

Use when...
No direct access to end user
Commercial-in-confidence content or
security concerns
Should not replace research with
actual target audience

Things to watch out for
Another layer of bias
Second hand information

The lunch room chat

Learn about organisation
Build relationships
‘Smokers talk’ conversations

The coffee meeting

The coffee meeting
Informal meeting over a hot beverage
of choice
Need input from stakeholders
Highly politically charged situations

Guerrilla usability testing
Similar technique is cafe testing

It is...
Usability testing on the cheap
Method of finding out what works and
doesn’t works
Involves real people
No formal lab

Source: Brighton Uni Usability Lab, http://www.flickr.com/photos/yandle/3231980616/

Prototypes low-fidelity
4-5 participants 10-60 minutes, one-
on-one sessions
Incentives
Tasks/scenarios
Recording equipment

A step by step guide
Plan
Recruit participants
Conduct usability testing
Debrief & decide with project
team

Test when and where you can
Listen & observe
Any users are better than
none
Use people who reflect target
group but don’t get hang up over it

To design an easy-to-use interface,
pay attention to what users do,
not [just] what they say. Self
reported claims are unreliable, as
are user speculations about future
behaviour
Jakob Nielsen

But wait...there’s more!
Mwhawhahah
There truly isn’t any excuse to avoid doing
research now!

Trade shows, conferences
Airplane neighbours
Reception areas

Bookmarks & favourites,
browser history
User forums & wikis
Website logs

Useful tools

Making sense of the research

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they
would have said a faster horse.“
- Henry Ford

Share the research

Scenarios or user stories
Personas
Presentations
Interesting visualisations
http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/legos-building-block-for-good-
experiences/

http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/legos-building-block-for-good-experiences/

Some research is better
than none
Clearly understand why
you’re doing the research
Use a combination of
techniques
Small wins
Grab opportunities to
research!

Further reading
Mike Kuniavsky’s Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User
Research
Intermediaries in user research, http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2009/01/23/intermediaries-in-user-research
Can’t You Just Ask People?, http://theanthroguys.com/2009/09/17/can’t-you-just-ask-people/
Bite-Sized UX Research, http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2008/05/bite-sized-ux-research.php
Affinity Diagrams, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_86.htm
User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models,
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/user-research-for-personas-and-other-audience-models.php

Ruth Ellison
Email: ruthe@stamfordinteractive.com.au
Web: www.stamfordinteractive.com.au
www.ruthellison.com
@RuthEllison
Find this presentation at www.slideshare.net/ruthellison

Photo credits
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Photo credits
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