Learning From User Research War Stories
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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Learning From User Research War Stories
- 1. 1 User Research War Stories Steve Portigal @steveportigal
- 2. 2 It’s All Going To Burn
- 3. 3 Click to edit Master title style Sameer Chavan Connecting Through War Stories
- 4. 4 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
- 5. 5 Click to edit Master title style www.portigal.com/ category/series/ warstories
- 6. 6 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/
- 7. 7 Click to edit Master title style Survivorship Bias
- 9. 9 Those Exasperating Participants A Crisis of Credibility Cordy Swope stoc.info
- 10. 10 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
- 12. 12 Elizabeth Chesters Nail Polish for Insights
- 13. 13 Erik Moses (Don’t) Go Toward the Light Photo by Erik Moses
- 14. 14 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
- 15. 15 Click to edit Master title style Not Safe For Work
- 16. 16 Click to edit Master title styleThe Well-Lit Redhead David Bacon "Shocking" (CC BY 2.0) by diongillard
- 17. 17 Click to edit Master title style 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
- 18. 18 Click to edit Master title style Judging and Learning
- 19. To Research Is To Be Human
- 20. 20 Click to edit Master title style Thank you! @steveportigal www.portigal.com