What I have learned in my six months as UX Researcher

An IT engineer, turned UX researcher, past six month working in the role has been a whirlwind of emotions and tons of learning.

Sharing few points to help anyone who is just getting into User Research

1. Be ready to be drowned in paperworks: Get sorted
   At initial stages of getting acquainted to the process, I was drowning in documents, excel sheets, handling presentations and maintaining interview videos in grouped folders laying all over in my computer. It seemed like a madman at work, disorganised and trying to make sense in the clutter.
   Midway in the journey, I started to look for ways to organise my work in order to be efficient and, more so, feed to the OCD parasite in my head.
   And thus began the journey of testing out various platforms and figuring out what aligns best to the project requirements and organising needs I had. Tools such as Google docs & drive, Airtable, Notion started to emerge as handy tools which not only catalogued things, but helped share resources with the team as well.
2. Always rely on checklist so that you don’t miss out on anything
   Even if you have a photographic memory and you want to show it off, it’s a better practice to have a list of things prepared that need to be taken care of before you start the research process. From getting the consent signed to bookings spaces for usability interviews to sending meeting invite to all the stakeholders, it’s a long list of To-Dos and it’s better to take a systematic approach to ensure everything is in place. We try to maintain a list of all the things that needs to be taken care of before we take on a research challenge. As we progress, we keep updating the list to ensure a smooth progress of the research.
3. Become a beggar when recruiting users
   One of the most daunting task in the user research journey is getting the right kind of users that fits your user categories. And relying on external recruitment for all your users doesn’t always prove out to be best approach. Over the six months, we have deployed and tested out various recruiting strategy from our end. From getting internal employees to reaching out to their friends & family to help us in the research, we always keep few arsenals in our side in case we need last minute recruitment which is both reliable and unbiased. It doesn’t hurt to play all the cards if you are getting the right kind of users at profitable margins.
4. Don’t be an one man army
   Even if you have all the tools and knowledge at your disposal, you can’t go and wage war all alone. Research planning is a long, well thought process and it is always good to have continuous feedback and support from your team members. This brings in the room for improvement and you also learn to see your scripts and deliverables in a better light.
5. Moderated tests goes a long way
   In the past six months, our team has incorporated various research methods, such as remote testing, card sorting, moderated interviews, depending on what suits the best as per the research requirement.
   In my opinion, asking the ‘why’ during a moderated research gives a lot of the answers to the questions that often arise in stakeholders. Moderated tests allow us to probe a little and dive deep into users’ expectations and frustrations.
6. Challenging the introvert in me
   For someone who avoids initiating conversations with random strangers, there was an initial awkwardness to volunteer and moderate interviews. The challenging part, for me, was to move past the initial awkwardness and reach to a point where I am comfortable, and more so, a user is comfortable enough to share their experience without having to fear that they would offend you. There is no golden rule or any secret potion that you could drink and, magically, become the best conversationalist in the research world. From my experience, the only modus operandi that helps is taking deep breaths and challenging yourself to just do it. With every session you pick up on things that you could improve for next session and even though there is a long way for me to reach there, I am learning and challenging my introvertness with every user session.

Looking forward, I believe this will be a trajectory of growth and learnings where I would get the opportunity to try my hands on other research methods and get the first hand experience of user journey.
And, here is hoping to finishing my first year at this new role with a better understanding of our users.

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