You will learn to build better products by researching user behavior, needs, and motivations. We’ll show you a practical guide to integrate these techniques to your Agile development process.

1. PRESENTER
Misael Leon
Product Designer at Nearsoft
@misaello
PRESENTER
Georgie Bottomley
Senior UX Researcher at Atlassian
@bottomley_g
HOST
Kim Lantis
Content Coordinator at Nearsoft
@kimlantis

2. +

3. Misael

4. Design teamGeorgie

5. January, 2017
How to do User Research
in Agile teams

6. Or… busting the myths of user research
with a practical guide

7. Agenda
1. Common misconceptions
2. Integrating user research + agile
3. Create your own research lab
4. Remote teams
5. How it benefits the team
6. Q & A
#NearsoftUXwebinar

8. Wait but… what is User
Research?

9. User Research
A series of techniques that focus on understanding
user behaviors, needs, and motivations through
observation and measurement.

10. Types of
research
activities
you can do
● Interviews
● Usability tests
● Contextual
● Generative exercises
● Surveys
● Analytics
● A/B testing
Qualitative
Quantitative

11. Where does UR fit in Agile?
?
? ?
?
?

12. “Very expensive”
“Going in depth takes too long”
“It’s somebody else’s work”
“It’s very difficult”
“We’re an Agile team”
Common misconceptions

13. Let’s bust the myths!

14. Integrating UR + Agile

15. Validate the idea
● No matter the stage you can test your
idea
● As soon as you have an idea you
should test it — even if it’s on paper!
● At every stage of the development

16. Test small hypothesis
● Evaluate small portions of your
product
● Formulate a hypothesis on how new
design will “perform better”

17. Make validation work visible
● Assign the validation work
● Make it visible in the backlog
● Re-phrase the goals for each sprint
● Prioritize learning above shipping
● Continuous learning spirit

18. Involve the whole team
● Build a shared understanding by
inviting others to witness and take
notes
● Instruct other members of the team so
they can run the sessions themselves

19. Where does UR fit in Agile?

20. How UR fits into Agile

21. User research in practice
when you are on site

22. Build your own research lab

23. 1. Find a Space

24. Nice to have :)
1. Find a Space

25. 2. Invite participants

31. 3. Create your discussion guide

32. Research
session
structure
● Introduction (10 mins)
● Warm-up questions (10-15 mins)
● Body of the session (20-30 mins)
● Reflection questions (5-10 mins)
● Incentive + goodbye (5 mins)

33. 4. Test your work

34. 5. Analyze and communicate your
findings

35. How to
build your
own lab
1. Find a space + equipment
2. Invite participants
3. Create discussion guide
4. Test your work!
5. Analyze and communicate
findings

37. User research in practice
with distributed teams

38. 1. Remote usability tests
through video calls
2. Affinity diagrams using virtual
sticky-notes
3. Recruit using public screeners
4. Use online research tools for
card sorting, tree test,
surveys, etc
Tips for
distributed
teams

39. Usability Testings With 8 UsersThis is the user

40. Wait but… what’s in it for
the team?

41. Benefits of UR for PMs
Build the right
thing
Save time Save money

42. Benefits of UR for Developers
Learn from
watching their
work in the wild
Ideate other
solutions based
on what they see
Develop
empathy for
users

43. Benefits of UR for Designers
Confident about
design decisions
Better
understanding of
the problem
Validate
assumptions

44. Takeaway
s
● Not expensive
● Do it small and often
● Get everybody involved
● Make it visible

45. “Seeing users confused was somewhat
frustrating, but I saw the value in our
assumptions failing ― better to fail while
prototyping than in production.
You gotta get excited about hearing things
you don’t want to hear.”
― Atlassian Developer

46. Thanks!
Contact Georgie
gbottomley@atlassian.com
Want to know More?
bit.ly/atlassian-atlab

47. Want to know More?
Contact Sandra at (408) 890-2115
ux.nearsoft.com
ux-team@nearsoft.com
Thanks!