Career Experience Highlights
Research
Oh no! The protocol isn’t long enough!
My Role: Team Lead and Interview Moderator
What I bring to the team
The ability to pivot in tricky situations to find a solution
I think on my feet
My teammates are essential to my success; I’m not afraid to call for backup.
Time awareness
The Ask
I led a team that was tasked with creating a design system that unified the many different branches of a large company. To learn about the users, we conducted 16 1-hour generative interviews with four different groups of users.
The Prep
We created four variations of a protocol that included questions we would ask everyone and questions we would ask the specific groups. It was client approved and felt good during our internal rehearsal.
The Problem
Our first interviewee was brief with his answers and didn’t elaborate too much when probed. We ended up flying through the protocol with thirty minutes to spare and no questions left.
The Solve
Seizing the opportunity to learn more, I DMed my team via Slack to help me come up with additional questions as I continued to probe. This helped moved the interview along quickly and made efficient use of other perspectives as well as the SMEs on the call.
The Lessons
Teamwork is essential to get things done.
First interviews are excellent trail runs. We added more questions after the call so that I was well prepared for the remaining interviews.
It’s handy to have “would be nice to know” questions in your back pocket, just in case there is extra time.
Working with “The Talker”
My Role: Interview Moderator
What I bring to the team
Confidence when in charge of running a conversation or meeting
Manners and a warm and professional demeanor
The Ask
We have a list of questions we need to get through that help us identify trends and are specific to the UX or business problem that we are trying to solve.
The Problem
Some candidates love to tell us everything about everything! Affectionately known as “The Talker”, this is someone who needs to be wrangled a bit so that we can get the information that is relevant to the project.
The Solve
Look for opportunities to interject and circle back to the protocol. Phrases I like to use are:
“This is great information. However, I would like to know more about…”
“If I could just interrupt for a second, I’d like you to navigate to…”
“Great! I think we have what we need about that. Now let’s discuss…”
“I appreciate your passion on the subject and though it’s really interesting, I need to circle us back to…”
The Lessons
The moderator is in charge of the conversation and it’s ok to act that way. Politely, of course.
It’s ok to go off script if the content is relevant. Asking pointed questions related to the problem can expose new findings.
Note key questions in the protocol before the interview so the moderator knows what absolutely must be asked before the interview is over.
Research was not well received by the client
My Role: Team Lead and Research Support
Note: This only happened once but it’s an interesting story.
What I bring to the team
The ability to stay quiet and listen
I make all parties feel respected and like they are part of the team
A calm approach
The Ask
My client was having a really hard time creating a solve that made both the stakeholders in the business and the users happy. Terminology being used was confusing to users but the business couldn’t clearly define it due to internal politics.
The Task
We conducted 6 30-minute usability interviews with current users that focused on probing into what they needed to understand the confusing content.
The Problem
During the findings presentation, the client expressed disappointment because we weren’t able to discover any new solutions based on our analysis. The fact was that users were confused by the content and needed further clarification to understand it but the company wasn’t able to do that.
The Solve
We gave the client the floor to air their grievances. Without apologizing for our findings, we acknowledged his frustration and the complexity of the problem. By making him feel heard, we were able to resolve frustrations about the findings and settle on it being an impossible problem to solve in given the situation.
The Lesson
If flexibility in solving the problem isn’t available, the problem can’t be solved. At this point, it was up to the business to have internal discussions on how they could avoid this glaring issue on their UI that side stepped their internal politics.
“That is not what I wanted to hear!”
My Role: Team Lead and Research Support
Note: This only happened once but it’s an interesting story.
What I bring to the team
I make all parties feel respected and like they are part of the team
A calm approach and demeanor
The ability to stay quiet and listen
The Ask
My client was having a really hard time creating a solve that made both the stakeholders in the business and the users happy. Terminology being used was confusing to users but the business couldn’t clearly define it publicly due to internal politics.
The Task
We conducted 6 30-minute usability interviews with current users that focused on probing into what they needed to understand the confusing content.
The Problem
During the findings presentation, the client expressed disappointment because we weren’t able to discover any new solutions based on our analysis. The fact was that users were confused by the content and needed further clarification to understand it but the company wasn’t able to do that.
The Solution
We gave the client the floor to air their grievances. Without apologizing for our findings, we acknowledged his frustration and the complexity of the problem. By making him feel heard, we were able to resolve frustrations about the findings and settle on it being an impossible problem to solve in given the situation.
The Lesson
If flexibility in solving the problem isn’t available, the problem can’t be solved. At this point, it was up to the business to have internal discussions on how they could avoid this glaring issue on their UI that side stepped their internal politics.
“That is not what I wanted to hear!”
My Role: Team Lead and Research Support
Note: This only happened once but it’s an interesting story.
What I bring to the team
I make all parties feel respected and ensure they know they are part of the team
A calm approach and demeanor
The ability to stay quiet and listen
The Ask
My client was having a really hard time creating a solve that made both the stakeholders in the business and the users happy. Terminology being used was confusing to users but the business couldn’t clearly define it due to internal politics.
The Task
We conducted 6 30-minute usability interviews with current users that focused on probing into what they needed to understand the confusing content.
The Problem
During the findings presentation, the client expressed disappointment because we weren’t able to discover any new solutions based on our analysis. The fact was that users were confused by the content and needed further clarification to understand it but the company wasn’t able to do that.
The Solution
We gave the client the floor to air their grievances. Without apologizing for our findings, we acknowledged his frustration and the complexity of the problem. By making him feel heard, we were able to resolve frustrations about the findings and settle on it being an impossible problem to solve in given the situation.
The Lesson
If flexibility in solving the problem isn’t available, the problem can’t be solved. At this point, it was up to the business to have internal discussions on how they could avoid this glaring issue on their UI that side stepped their internal politics.