The UX Life Chose Me Newsletter #39
January 2024
Welcome to 2024!
I’ve had a stonking cold over the holidays so if this months newsletter feels a little rushed I apologise. Hopefully there is still something of interest for you.
I start with a thought about failure, before a selection of articles filled with methods for improving various parts of the research process and a short interview with Emma Boulton.
Our book of the month looks at how to get stakeholders to embrace research.
And our events include one on careers and one I would love to attend in New York!
I hope you enjoy it.
Penny
From the Editors Keyboard
Just before Christmas I found out that a project I had been working on for the last 18 months had failed.
It was heartbreaking to realise that all the time and effort, blood, sweat and tears had been for nothing. I have nothing tangible to show for all the time I put in.
Part of me wants to continue, to speak to stakeholders and convince them to continue with the project, but sometimes you just have to let it go. It’s better to put it behind you and move on to something else.
I do feel responsible though. It was my project and even when it started to wobble I stood by it and convinced the team we should continue.
However, I’ve heard nothing but positive comments about how I ran the project, and I have learnt so much over the past 18 months.
I’ve learnt so much more about process at Post Office. I’ve learnt tons about how to manage a project like this. And I’ve learnt what signs to look out for, and what to do when something starts to wobble, to hopefully catch it and get it back on course before the wheels can come off.
To say this has been a massive learning curve would be an understatement, but as long as I learn from it, it’s not a wasted experience.
Now onto the next thing.
Interesting Stuff
Beyond The Buzzwords: Alternatives To Research, Data and Insights
Zarla Ludin, August 2023, 5 min read
Have you ever thought about the words you use when talking about your work? Do they mean the same thing to everyone you speak with? Zarla makes some great points about how we can improve our communication by thinking about the words we use.
Quicker UX Research Synthesis
Taylor Palmer, September 2021, 6 min read
When first starting out, synthesis of my research findings was the hardest thing to get my head around. Taylor gives some good tips and ideas about how to approach it, even if he can’t give all the answers.
Top Techniques To Level Up Your Qualitative Research Interviews
Nikki Anderson, May 2021, 7 min read
Getting the most out of your research interviews can be tricky but these tips from Nikki will help. Maybe practice one at a time to start with…
Amplify Your UX Research Impact Using Ideation Sessions
Paige Nuzzolillo, March 2023, 10 min read
While this might be a long read, it is full of details on how to set up and run ideation sessions and how they can help us to make more impact with our research.
11 Ways To Make Your Company Embrace UX Research
Bas Wallet, May 2023, 10 min read
It’s all very well doing amazing research but if your company doesn’t do anything with it, there isn’t much point. Bas suggests some good ways to get everyone embracing your research. It also features some fun cat illustrations.
How UX Researchers Turn Vague Problems Into Concrete Plans
Lawton Pybus, February 2022, 4 min read
It’s all too easy to let our stakeholders tell us what research we should be doing. Lawton’s questions in this article will help us to get to the core of the problem and hopefully conduct better research.
The Power Of Community: An Interview With Emma Boulton
Megan St. Andrew, July 2023, 4 min read
Lovely interview with Emma, and if you enjoy the read there is a link to the longer interview on the ResearchOps Podcast.
Book of the Month
This months books is It’s Our Research by Tomer Sharon. This book is aimed at the in-house researcher who needs to get buy-in from stakeholders. If you’ve ever had any issues getting agreement to do research this book is full of frameworks and practical tips to help.
Events
User Research Careers Event
The Research Thing and UXPA UK, 9 January 2024
Looking for your next role? Or just some career advice? Then this might be a good event to start your year. Based in London and with Zebra People offering specialist advice, it should be a useful event for those looking at their next move.
Advancing Research 2024
Rosenfeld, 25–27 March 2024
As always Rosenfeld’s research conference looks very good. Based in New York City it might be a bit far for some of us to go, but early bird tickets are available now.
And Finally
I don’t tend to make New Year’s resolutions, although I do like to have goals for the year. So I found the below graph super interesting. If your resolution is just to improve your fitness, it’s not surprising that people don’t last.
But the other thing I found very interesting here is that only 3% focus on work when setting resolutions. 🤔
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.
