Quick turnaround research: 7 principles for success
At Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) the UX Research team always advocates for both longer term, strategic research and snappier, quick turnaround projects with just one week to get the job done. We believe that research is a core part of any development work.
But how do we ensure our research maintains rigour and impact when time and the tools available are tight? Here I outline 7 principles that can serve as a guiding light when navigating quick turnaround research:
#1 Plan and then plan some more
Even in a fast-paced environment, meticulous planning remains essential — if anything, it becomes even more critical. Planning and project management documents serve as a North Star, especially in moments of uncertainty. They not only help navigate ambiguity but also serve as instruments to bring team members and stakeholders into alignment, ensuring visibility of project progression. They grant you the ability to retain control of the narrative and ensure accountability.
Research and Project Management Planning Documents to Leverage
- Project Plan / Brief
- Timeline / Roadmap e.g. Gantt chart, Jira board
- Participant Tracking Sheet
- Task Lists
- Reporting Frameworks
- Lists of Existing Insight Sources
- Stakeholder Register i.e a list of key stakeholders you have identified and engaged during the project (one project saw us interview over 60 people across JET!)
Top Tips for Successful Planning
- Maintain discipline in updating these documents promptly whenever changes arise
- Set clear deadlines within these plans and over-communicate them, particularly if they’re deadlines that require stakeholder input
- Place holds in team members diaries for even greater visibility of timelines and deadlines
#2 Assess your levers
When planning your research approach, consider the different levers (See Fig.1) you have to play with and establish your ‘core’ and ‘flex’.
CORE: Identify the ‘core’ elements that are indispensable for the project’s success.
FLEX: Which aspects can be adjusted or potentially omitted entirely?
Regardless of the approach you choose, ensure to set and communicate clear expectations from the outset. For instance, if time constraints prevent a comprehensive report, inform your stakeholders that the findings will be delivered through a Word document or a Miro board upfront to manage expectations.
How might this work in action?
CORE: Senior stakeholders want the point of view of a second market in a research sprint of 2 weeks.
FLEX: Identification / specification of the ‘participants’ — for example: time doesn’t permit recruitment for consumers or onboarding of a local market speaker. This 2nd market is a lower priority on the roadmap.
OUTCOME: Enlist 4 x internal ‘experts’ from this market to run ‘expert panel’ focus groups to get their feedback on the designs.
#3 Establish your boundaries
Setting clear boundaries from the outset not only lays the foundation for a successful project, but also safeguards your well-being.
Conducting agile research should be invigorating rather than overly stressful or exhausting. It should be a controlled form of dynamic experimentation — a blend of upholding research rigour while enjoying the process and learning rapidly.
Asserting your boundaries may be a challenge, but it’s a skill that improves with practice. If you need validation, consider discussing your plan with your line manager, another researcher or ally within the product / design field to enlist their support as an advocate. This ensures that your well-being and the success of the project are both prioritised.
How might this work in action?
- Giving the team visibility of your working hours, hours allotted to this initiative and any other work commitments you have on
- Gently and politely push back on timelines or requests that are out of scope. In this instance, it’s important to empathise with your stakeholders to understand where the request may be coming from and then provide a response with a clear rationale in turn. For example explaining:
“That sounds like a very interesting additional topic for the research and I can see why it’s important to you. We can’t fit this additional objective into the research at this stage due to tight timelines, however let me share some previous research we have around it, and we’ll be sure to prioritise it in our roadmap for next month.”
#4 Flex and adapt at pace
In fast paced product environments, research requirements and deadlines can change just as dynamically. Be prepared to be highly flexible and adaptable as you navigate through learning curves and challenges. It’s important not to cling onto ideas or methodologies that aren’t yielding results.
To effectively manage this, revert back to your flex and core framework to assess your adaptable levers — what is essential at the heart of this project to uphold rigour and validity? Determine what can be adjusted, such as markets, sample size, or methodologies, and communicate accordingly.
#5 Foster trust and encourage collaboration
Trust and collaboration are key to unlocking successful research environments. Some key tips to encourage this are:
Build rapport upfront: Building rapport with your immediate team members is crucial, as it fosters trust in your ability to deliver your best work. In-person workshops and meetings, or team bonding activities can be particularly effective in this regard.
Advocate for small core teams: This promotes efficiency and allows for smoother decision-making and quicker execution.
Update frequently, but relevantly: Sending daily updates to the team via Slack/ email/ Teams even if not explicitly expected, helps keep everyone in the loop. However it’s also important to make sure updates are only what has changed from the previous day (avoid information overload and fatigue!).
Hand hold: Given the speed of work, it’s vital to bring your team along on the journey. Manage uncertainties transparently, explain the rationale for decisions and coach them on research practices and the importance of embracing the unknown.
Accelerate the feedback loop: When collaborating with Product Managers or designers who are still refining design or concepts, host in progress / working sessions on the discussion guide to be used in upcoming research sessions. This accelerates the feedback loop and allows open workshopping of key areas for focus.
#6 Exhaust your toolkit
A researcher’s toolkit can include internal knowledge, recruitment tools, existing insights and more! Make them work hard for you:
- Even if working as the only researcher, lean on researchers or allies (e.g. designers) in your network — as a sounding board, for ideas and expertise.
- Get creative with recruitment — outside of quick turnaround recruitment tools such as UserTesting.com, leverage your own networks, LinkedIn, conduct guerilla intercepts and if exploratory research, consider using internal staff (but exercise this route with caution: make sure they are outside of the Product / Tech / Design fields and caveat potential biases they may hold when conducting analysis).
- Leverage existing insights and desk research as much as possible.
- Run stakeholder interviews or workshops to glean existing knowledge — run these a-sync if time / diaries are tight.
#7 Embrace the chaos!
- Let go of perfectionism.
- Things will go wrong. Have a growth mindset and let it go.
- See it as an opportunity to learn, and potentially make mistakes fast
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
- Succumb to, and embrace the chaos!
What do you make of these 7 principles? Do you use any other methods when running ‘scrappier’ research? Let me know in the comments below!
