Basics of UX Research

1. UX Research
An Introduction

2. Systematic research to understand
user behaviors, needs, and motivations.
data-driven, rigorous, scientific
how, when, where
whywhatwho

3. Who is a user?
External end-users
Data Scientists
Business Analysts
Users - someone who directly interfaces with your system:
Stakeholders - someone with an interest in the use of your system:
Developers
Site Reliability Engineers
Managers of users
Users of products that have dependencies on your system

4. What is a user experience?
Graphic user interface
Command line interface
Programming languages
APIs
Code labs
Documentation
Bug submission
And more!

5. Outcomes for you
Avoid building something no
one will use
Reduce churn and wasted
effort
Reduce user complaints,
questions, and tickets
Reduce confirmation bias to
get accurate answers
UX deliverables
Identify users and their needs
Model user behaviors and
processes
Discover breakdowns in
current systems
Design materials for interacting
with users

6. Concrete example: a new query language
Original design
Combination of 2 languages
will make learning easier
Visual Studio experience will
increase ease of use
Provide documentation up
front to improve learning
Document methods in
concrete examples to speed
up development
UX findings
Language knowledge created difficulties
because of unexpected behaviors
Breakdowns in understanding cloud vs. local
operations
Non-linear reading process creates mental
model breakdowns
Non-linear reading process makes
documentation unfindable
Skip to next
document
Skip to next
code sample
Read 1-2
surrounding
lines
Skip to code
sample

7. Concrete example: a new query language
Recommendations & Changes
Provide visually distinct syntax
highlighting
Map cloud behaviors to local
operations
Provide help and
recommendations
Increase code samples and
provide explanations in
comments
UX findings
Language knowledge created difficulties
because of unexpected behaviors
Breakdowns in understanding cloud vs. local
operations
Non-linear reading process creates mental
model breakdowns
Non-linear reading process makes
documentation unfindable
Skip to next
document
Skip to next
code sample
Read 1-2
surrounding
lines
Skip to code
sample

8. Sample Timeline: When do you bring in UX?
Problem
Idea
solution/
new products
Design
specs/prototypes
docs/etc.
Implementation
Release
Modification
features/maintenance

9. Sample Research Timeline
Problem
Idea
Design
Implementation
Release
Modification
Ethnography
Contextual inquiry
Exploratory interviews
Field study
Cultural probe
Personas
...
Scenarios
Exploratory interviews
Storyboarding
...
Participatory design
Usability testing
Prototyping
Iterative testing
Think-alouds
Heuristic evaluations
...
Usability testing
Iterative testing
Behavioral testing
...
Log analysis/telemetry
User feedback analysis
A/B testing
...
Repeat from beginning!

10. Examples of questions you might have
How do users think about provisioning resources?
Who’s even using our stuff?
Why do our users write crappy queries?
What problems are users having with the current process?