The UX Life Chose Me Newsletter #13
November 2021
I’ve been sending the newsletter for a year now and I’d love to hear what you think. Is there something you think I’m missing? Is there something you could do without? What would make you recommend this to a colleague or friend?
I always welcome feedback so if you have any thoughts to share hit reply.
Now on to the interesting stuff.
Dig in.
Penny
From the Editors Keyboard
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve won the UserTesting illumi 2021 award for ‘Department of One’. I was so lucky to be given the opportunity to enter and still can’t really believe I’ve won.
Getting a UX research function set up at Post Office has taken hard work, lots of time and the belief of my managers and co-workers, so it’s lovely to have all that recognised with this award.
However, I didn’t realise how anxious winning would make me. I’ve never had any desire to be famous and cringe when I realise how well known I am outside of my own department, so I’ve found telling people I’ve won an award really hard. I feel judged and am waiting for someone to tell them I don’t deserve it and need to give it back.
Of course I’ve only had peoples best wishes but I don’t think anxiety and imposter syndrome are particularly rational. Trying to explain why being introduced in meetings as ‘The Award Winning Penny’ makes me want to throw up, has fallen on deaf ears and I’m told I’m too modest.
However I’ve had a couple of months to get used to the idea now before it has at last been announced to the rest of the world and I think I have finally come to terms with the idea and am starting to embrace it. Also now it’s been announced I feel I can ‘forget’ about it and move on to the next thing.
You can read more about what I have done and watch the video on the UserTesting site.
This month the lovely Katie Valentine from Marshmallow answered my questions about working for GDS and NHS Digital, remembering to look after yourself and how research will start to drive business decisions in the future.
Read the interview
Interesting Stuff
User Research Can Be Fast, Frequent And Frugal. Here’s How.
Rebecca Blakiston, Sept 2021, 9 min read
I’m always a bit worried when people tell me they want to do guerrilla research. How will you know you are speaking to the right people? This is a great example of when this is the perfect method to use.
Get The Most Out Of Stakeholder Collaboration — And Maximise Your Research Impact
Anna Poznyakov, Feb 2021, 9 min read
A really detailed look at how to change stakeholders mindset round doing research, with a 5 step framework to help.
Creating Strategic Impact For Leadership Through Multidisciplinary Research
Colette Kolenda, June 2021, 9 min read
This is a must read if you what to turn research strategic. Colette created a team at Spotify combining 5 different disciplines including User Research, Data Science, Behavioural Science, Analytics and Data Visualisation. A very interesting read.
Framing A Study
Indi Young, August 2020, 6 min read
Framing your research study before you start is a pretty important part of the work. Here Indi talks us through how to frame from the problem space rather than the solution space.
Understanding The Experience Gap: The Next Step In Creating Inclusive User Experiences
Kristin Zibell, April 2021, 10 min read
Not all people using your products or services will experience them the same way. This article talks though how you can do research round that gap to make more inclusive products.
UX Research For Worldwide Products
UXMatters, June 2021, 6 min read
Firstly do you really mean worldwide? Most people don’t, not really. An interesting panel discussion about what to think about when doing research for different markets.
What To Do When Research Goes Wrong
Mackenzie Greenwell, Sept 2021, 7 min read
I’m not a massive fan of Facebook, but I do think they make some good points in this article. I particularly like the bit about reflecting on why it went wrong and then resetting expectations with your stakeholders.
Lara Hogan’s book Demystifying Public Speaking is perfect, not only for people getting ready to give talks at conferences and events, but also for those of us presenting our work to stakeholders and colleagues, or even having to talk about a certain award they may have won!
Events
UX Live
Tech Circus, 25–26 November
A two day conference on all things UX in an actual physical location in London!
Civic Design 2021
Rosenfeld, 8–10 December
Not research focused as such but an event for people who “work in the intersection of design and the public sector”. If it’s anything like their other events it’ll be worth joining.
The Practice of UX
UXPA UK, August 2021, 1 hour 28 min watch
I really enjoyed this event, particularly the second part where I got to learn more about the history of UX research.
Talk 1: Stoicism, Resilience, and Design — Joe Knowles, Head of User Experience, Nomensa.
Talk 2: Back to the future — being a user researcher in the past, present & future — Sabrina Duda — Senior User Researcher, Valtech.
And Finally
A beautiful example of why testing all our assumptions from the beginning is so important.
Via xkcd.com
Seen something out in the wild you think other UX Researchers would be interested in or a new research related book perhaps? Send me the link and maybe I’ll include it in my next newsletter.
Sign up to The UX Life Chose Me Newsletter and get the most interesting UX Research articles, videos and podcasts from across the web straight into your mailbox once a month.
