I built a user research repository — you should do the same

Building a user research repository is useful, satisfying, and a tool for uncovering insights. I know because I built one last month.

I’m not the first to do so and the best publicly available one I’ve found has to be the one Hackney Council in London created.

As a freelance user researcher, my client asked me to build a repository. It was needed because knowledge was being lost, work was being duplicated and time being wasted repeating existing work.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

My process to create the repository was:

1. Locate all documentation and resources and either note their location or centralise in one place.
2. Sift to remove duplicates and irrelevant information then tag with relevant categories and information.
3. Group by your categories and tags to review and refine to make categories and user needs consistent — grouping makes it easier to spot patterns and duplicates.
4. Have a policy, either an existing one or one you create, on dealing with old information such as contact lists, personal details, photos, and videos –and act on it.
5. Get the process of reviewing and updating the repository into your organisation’s workflow and processes.