PRODUCTHEAD: Personal user manuals
» Written well, personal user manuals can build psychological safety
» However, they can also be abused to excuse certain counter-productive behaviours
Search Results for: user
PRODUCTHEAD: How to transcribe and analyse your user research recordings
» Thematic analysis identifies the main themes emerging from qualitative data, such as interview transcripts
» It can be a great activity to do with your team for establishing empathy with the users and their context
» Good research means being intentional, conscientious, and ethical at every step
PRODUCTHEAD: How to record your user research interviews
» A mobile phone may be all you need to record an interview
» For in-person recordings, keep your setup simple and portable
» The simplest way to record video calls is to use the local or cloud recording option
» Consider carefully whether to record an interview or to have a dedicated note-taker
PRODUCTHEAD: How to plan a user research interview
» Ask your team: what do we actually need to know, by when, and how confident do we need to be?
» Don’t ask users what they do. Ask them for an example of a time they have done something, and then ask if it was typical
» When recruiting participants, say what the study is for, how long it will take, and what’s in it for them
Why can’t I rely on user research from other departments?
“Hi Jock, You talk about doing user research directly with users – does it matter that the Operations and Process tracks are telling me what their users want instead?”
PRODUCTHEAD: Understanding the user’s perspective
» A common language about research is vital for building a team’s capability
» Customers are only reliable sources about their own experiences
» The way we think about product is determined by the language we use
PRODUCTHEAD: Bad communication — how to annoy and alienate your users
» Celsys are going to start charging for software updates to their popular Clip Studio Paint product
» The way Celsys communicated this to their users caused outrage — some of which was justified
» Fog Creek found themselves trying to monetise their viral product Trello, which it had promised would be free forever
» Fog Creek had first mover advantage on an easily copied product, which it exploited by a timely sale to Atlassian
PRODUCTHEAD: Working well with user researchers
» More specific questions yield better user research findings
» User research works well when the team collaborates with a specialist user researcher
» Increased team user exposure hours correlates with more successful product improvements by the team
» The sooner you start user research, the greater impact it will have on your product
» A Kanban board helps the team to collate and track the questions to be researched
PRODUCTHEAD: User personas or creepy caricatures?
» Avoid waste by by first researching “shallow” user personas then progressively elaborating as needed
» Product managers can and should conduct user research when demand outstrips the researchers available
» Connect user personas to people’s actual goals for more emotional impact
» Good interviewers listen, not talk
PRODUCTHEAD: The what, why and how of user research
» User research needs to be proactive as well as reactive validation
» Some research techniques are more useful than others at different stages
» You must safeguard the welfare of your user research participants
» There are many ways to recruit participants for your research without outsourcing
» Use a simple format for sharing research findings memorably
