The UX Life Chose Me Newsletter #46
August 2024
Hello
I hope you enjoy this months newsletter.
Just a reminder if you do see interesting content out in the wild or even write it yourself, feel free to send it to me and maybe you’ll find yourself included in the newsletter.
And if you find the newsletter interesting or helpful, please do pass it on to your friends and colleagues. The more the merrier!
I hope you enjoy it.
Penny
From the Editors Keyboard
There is a lot of chat at the moment about whether we should be using AI in our jobs; if AI is going to steal our jobs; how can we use AI to make our lives easier and so on. I’ve included quite a few of them in this newsletter.
But in all the articles and comments I’ve heard very little about how AI might be impacting our climate, until I read this article.
Now I haven’t fact checked the content of the article, but I’ve followed up and found other articles making similar claims and when you think about how technology works, if you ask something to do more it will need more power to do that thing.
If you don’t have time to read it, it’s basically saying that the big tech firms have gone back on their net-zero targets because AI will make them lots more money, even if it does mean destroying the planet we’re all living on.
So this must change the conversations we’re having about AI right?
I’m not against AI, and when it’s doing things so much better than humans, like diagnosing human illnesses more efficiently and effectively than a human could, we should be making sure all people have access to this tech when needed.
But when we’re just making a bot to (badly) answer customer questions, or asking AI to draw an image, which a human can do just as well if not better (we’ve all seen their version of hands!), when we’re asking it to write a research script, which we’ve been doing perfectly well ourselves for years. Well then I wonder if we really need to go down this road, just to decide that actually we can do it perfectly fine ourselves, without having to check for any of the weirdness that AI sometimes throws in just for fun.
So when you next have that conversation at work about what tools you need for your work or even what you might be working on, it might be worth having a chat about the climate consequences first.
After all, it really doesn’t matter how much money you have if you can’t breathe the air or drink the water…
Interesting Stuff
Defaulting To Remote-Only User Research Is Limiting The Value Of Our Work (8 Benefits of Field Research)
Andy Stocker, June 2024, 10 min read
While I might not fully agree with his argument against remote research, Andy’s list of the benefits of going into the field show some great examples why for some projects you just can’t beat it.
3 Types Of Stakeholders In UX Research: Managing Expectations And Gaining Trust
Sara Fazzini and Maria Sole Biondi, May 2023, 7 min read
Gaining the trust of stakeholders and managing their expectations is an important skill for researchers. This article gives useful hints and tips on how to get the best out of your stakeholders.
User Research x Account Management: Tips For Successful Cross Collaboration
Nikki Anderson-Stanier, 8 min read
Part of a series including working with Product Teams, Sales and Marketing and Executive Teams. “One thing to know before entering the world of UX: collaboration is crucial. To ensure successful collaboration, it’s important to understand what each of our colleagues do.”
The Self-Service Research Sweet Spot
Adrian Howard, July 2024, 5 min read
There can be worry and even risk associated with letting people who aren’t trained as researchers run research. Adrian gives us a framework to remove some of that risk and spread the research skills around.
Reduce Your Research Screener’s Drop-Off Rate
Ben Wiedmaier, January 2024, 6 min read
It’s not surprising that reducing the number of questions in your screener would increase completion rates, but there are lots of other tips in this report that should help too.
Increasing Your Team’s Efficiency By Using Research Standards and Templates
Karrie Comfort Letu, June 2023, 8 min read
Especially important once your team starts to grow, templates and standards can help to stop it getting messy and save you all time in the long run.
12 Favourite UXR Podcasts To Start Listening To
UXinsight, May 2024, 3 min read
This is a great list of podcasts to cover all areas of UX research. I just wish I had time to listen to them all!
Book of the Month
This months book is Practical Empathy by Indi Young. If you’re already doing research then you’ve probably got an idea about what empathy is. In this book Indi talks about how to bring it into your day-to-day life too. Also great for non researchers on why this stuff is important.
Events
epic2024
EPIC People, 18–21 August 2024
Celebrating the 20th EPIC conference themes include Foundations, Displacement and Generation. Hosted In LA, you can also watch online. Looks like a great lineup.
UXinsight Festival 2025
uxinsight, 14–16 April 2025
I know April is a long way off and tickets aren’t on sale till January, but there is a call for volunteers in September and a call for speakers in October so worth a look now maybe.
And Finally
I love this infographic from The Do Lectures. Time and again I find myself worrying about something which never even happens. It must mean I’ve got a very powerful imagination.
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.
