"Considering Research" - Dave Hora @ User Research London 2019

… what happened?
…why didn’t that work?

considering
research
Dave Hora
Research @ N26
@stonecrops_
davesresearch.com/resources
@ User Research London 2019: 28 June

1. Impact starts with intent:
asking and answering
useful, relevant questions
@stonecrops_
Considering Research
User Research London 2019

“run a really good
usability study”

“talking to customers”
“doing research”
“learning a lot”

“learn & explain X
to decide on Y”

questions approach execution analysis synthesis follow-
through
@stonecrops_

through
impact
@stonecrops_

through
impact
starts here
@stonecrops_

Impact starts with intent:
Our job is to figure out what the team
needs to learn to push the work forward.
Our language & mindset needs to be
focused on impact: how will learning
[this kind of thing] help make decisions
or change how we act?
@stonecrops_

2. We work with “experience,”
of the messy human variety
@stonecrops_

Page: The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design

We work with experiences:
When people ‘do activities’ through the
systems, products, and services we
offer, a “user experience” happens.
Consider: what types of data must we
gather to understand, support, and
improve these experiences?
@stonecrops_

3. Experience is a complex,
layered, dynamic system
@stonecrops_

mutually co-developing,
subjective, ephemeral

Intent
Action
Emotion & Expectation
Culture
& Context

What actually
happens in the
world? Why?

• Usability testing
• Prototype testing
• Field observations
• Experience sampling
• User interviewing

What are
they trying
to achieve?

• Persona development
• Card sorting / tree testing
• Design synthesis
• JTBDs
• Conceptual modeling

How does
it function?
What are
we trying
to do here?

What do
they need
to succeed?
What is their
context?

• Contextual inquiry
• Field study / ethnography
• Product strategy
• Cultural probes / diary

How do we
believe the
world is?

How do they view / expect
the world to work?
What do they think, feel?

• Concept testing
• Mental models
• Conceptual models
• Alignment workshops
• Product/design vision

Experience is a complex,
dynamic system:
Experience arises from peoples’
experiences of interaction.
A map of this terrain will allow us
to be effective: to move forward
with intention and awareness.

4. The people who produce
experiences (all of us)
lose sight of reality
@stonecrops_

screenshot: Peter Merholz @ ConveyUX 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3zM6KWfXpU

“User research”
user
experience
happening at the exact moment you read this: Me @ User Research London 2019
User Experience in reality
UX
Design
Research

Intent
Action
Culture
& Context
Emotion & Expectation
@stonecrops_

Intent
Action
Culture
& Context
Emotion & ExpectationYes: this can be too much for
product management and
user experience to handle:
@stonecrops_

@stonecrops_

A need for user research:
The complexity of our experience-systems
increases—at an increasing rate.
Creating ‘good’ experiences is a huge
effort: Eng, PM, UX are not primarily
oriented to generate [useful] knowledge.
We have the tools and mindset to produce
actionable insight about the complex &
reality of human experience.
@stonecrops_

5. Our process is designed to
help our teams change how
they think: to see reality
@stonecrops_

through
@stonecrops_
 

What research does:
We understand where the system is out of
balance, or our picture doesn’t match reality.
We ensure teams are aligned on useful
questions that frame those mismatches.
We Ask questions that, when answered, will
change how we think & what we produce.
@stonecrops_

6. E.g., a simple visualisation
of reality is a powerful
tool for change
@stonecrops_

through

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash

Team 1:
Consumer
Behavior:
Using shopper app as
live shopping checklist
Goal:
Shop for correct items
quickly, find good
replacement items
Context:
In a hectic/busy store
Team 2:
Shopper
Behavior:
Checking / adjusting
order progress
Goal:
Visibility & control
for changes to order
Context:
Wide variety: work,
home, errands, etc.
Touchpoint:
Consumer app
Touchpoint:
Shopper app
@stonecrops_

t=1
t=2
t=3
t=4
@stonecrops_

t=1
t=2
t=3
t=4
What is the
experience
over time?
@stonecrops_

t=1
t=2
t=3
t=4
• User journeys
• Experience maps
• Service blueprints
@stonecrops_

Touchpoint:
Customer app
Touchpoint:
Driver app
@stonecrops_

Tell the team:
• What common themes did you ﬁnd?
• What customer needs are unmet, problems unsolved?
• What new questions do you have about our customers?
(quant, qual)

The way shoppers contact you is changing.

Depicting reality:
If your team doesn’t have a clear
picture: the best first step is always
to understand the world as it is now.
There’s magic in visualizing sensibly-
scoped experience-over-time.
@stonecrops_

7. Everything changes more
slowly the farther we move
away from experience
@stonecrops_

“HOW DO YOU ALL
NOT UNDERSTAND…
HOW TOTALLY
F**CKED THIS IS??”

changes slowlychanges slowly
changes rapidly
@stonecrops_

changes rapidly
• Peoples’ thinking changes
according to pace of
corresponding layers
@stonecrops_

increased distance from experience
= more human skills & PATIENCE
required to navigate the terrain
changes rapidly
@stonecrops_

Understanding pace:
Change takes more time as we increase our
distance from experience.
Recognize how much time it will take to
act on higher-order insights. And then how
much more it can take to change minds.
@stonecrops_

8. Practitioners start at the
moment of truth and
grow outwards
@stonecrops_

Researcher’s Path to Develop
•Technical Skills (craft)
•Human / Org. Skills (collab. & influence)
•Research Process Mastery
@stonecrops_

Understanding and
gathering credible data
about experiences
@stonecrops_

Developing approaches to
gathering data and transforming
it into useful insights
@stonecrops_

Identifying meaningful questions
that lead to action—driving the
entire process forward
@stonecrops_

*but actually…
we grow through this cycle
at different levels of scope
@stonecrops_

@stonecrops_
?? ?
?
?

https://github.com/researchops/researcherskills-workshop
*google: “github researcher skills workshop”
is working on a more
useful take right now:
The“researcher skills
workshop” series.

Working as a researcher:
Ultimately, we grow in our ability to
move through & manipulate the system
that creates experiences.
It starts with technical basics:
getting the right data, then we learn
to leverage it for change.
craft skills + human skills + process mastery
= experience fluency & impact
@stonecrops_

9. Manager-work begins on
the outside, impact ﬂows in
@stonecrops_

Manager’s Frames & Levers
•The Organization (awareness & integration)
•The Team (structure, processes, & growth)
•The Work (Projects) (quality & impact)
•The Self
@stonecrops_

Start here:
it’s [even more]
about working
with people
@stonecrops_

do
delegate
defer
drop
@stonecrops_

oblique work: but a
sustained & amplifying
effects on experience
@stonecrops_

Manager-ing a research team:
You’re a servant with two masters:
the needs of the larger org, and the
needs of your team members. Aligning
these incentives is crucial.
Consider impact as you choose which
work to take on: the most powerful
levers are ultimately the furthest
from the core of experience.
@stonecrops_

10. Making the work work is
how you work with the
people you work with
@stonecrops_

Building and growing impactful research
in any organization requires people to
change how they think and how they act.
@stonecrops_

Researchers:
• Be clear about what you’re all really trying to do,
and how your work will push that forward.
• Understand the experience, and understand your
team’s incentives. Ask and answer meaningful and
timely questions.
• Load your team’s mind with useful and provocative
[evidence/models/stories] of experience that will
drive action.
@stonecrops_

Managers:
• Create the environment where the work will succeed.
• [org] understand and plant in the garden,
• [team] make sure the vines are growing well,
• [projects] keep the grapes ripe,
• [self] and always be sampling the wine.
• Recognize what’s important—higher leverage is further from
the core of experience. Do, delegate, defer, drop.
@stonecrops_

Zoom out. See the larger picture of how the
organization produces the experience.
Choose your efforts with intention, and try
to make them work with and for your team.
If (and when) you don’t succeed, you have the
most important tools to move forward:
good intentions and the ability to learn.
@stonecrops_

considering
research
Dave Hora
Research @ N26
@stonecrops_

www.davesresearch.com/resources
@stonecrops_

"Considering Research" - Dave Hora @ User Research London 2019

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