“The key now is to keep it simple” Adrien Talal, Doctolib

Doctolib helps customers book digital or physical appointments with health practitioners. It is one of the rare French unicorns with a valuation of over €1B. As part of our special series with user researchers during lockdown, we asked Adrien Talal, User Research Manager at Doctolib to answer our questions.

So what do you do and how did you get there?

After I did the digital degree at HEC, I went to work for Ubisoft in San Francisco, then Crème de la crème in Paris where I built the UX team. Today, I manage the user research team at Doctolib.

How did your company react to the crisis?

The usage of our teleconsultation product was multiplied by 100 during the Covid-19 crisis! It’s a fast-moving environment so we’re taking it day by day. The product team has been shaken to refocus on helping frontline health workers in their job and many of us have been retasked to help in supporting our community of practitioners.

How did the user research team adapt?

Because our users are doctors and patients, doing research now is a very delicate matter. It’s not necessarily a good time to bother people for things that are unrelated to the current focus. While doing some exploratory work for the teleconsultation product, I gathered testimonies from doctors that were quite difficult to listen to. They are in a very tough spot and must juggle the current priorities and their chronically ill patients.

What changed in your day to day job?

I spend more time than usual staying in sync with the team, to keep them aware of our findings, for example. Because we can do a lot remotely, like interviews, show prototypes, etc., my work did not fundamentally change. At the company, we now do a stand up every morning and a check out every evening. We can take “virtual coffees” with our teammates to keep on socialising a bit.

Any advice for other user researchers?

The key right now is to keep it simple. Target precise problems and don’t make interviews or tests too long (no more than 30 minutes). If you have a B2B audience know that it is hard for them to stay focused as they have video meetings all day long. Because everyone’s ability to concentrate is reduced, keep things straightforward while keeping your eye on methodology. Don’t test 5 features in one go… focus on a well-defined problem.

A question that many researchers ask themselves right now… Should we ask people to turn on their video during an interview or a test?

I think the idea is to give people the choice. When people are participating in user research, they are in a more vulnerable state than usual. The epidemic emphasises this fact.

Be even more recomforting than usual (this tip is more valuable than ever now). Don’t hesitate to engage in small talk. On the other hand, some people will be happy to turn on their video because they’ve been stuck at home for a long time! And we know that for research, body language cues are important. So yes, I believe we have to give people the choice and respect whatever they decide.

Lastly, do you have any advice from people working from home (WFH)?

My advice is be empathetic to yourself. Be kind to yourself, know your limits. It’ll also help you in being a better researcher, especially right now!

👉 Would you like to learn more about user research? We will be hosting a workshop at Station F with user researchers from Algolia, Doctolib and Mozza. Register here to receive an invitation!

Do you need help with user research now? We’ve got you! Check out our special lockdown offer here and book your free coaching session!