In May was the annual conference for NACVSO, the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers. I’m currently working on a team that’s designing tools for VA-accredited representatives, which includes VSOs, attorneys, and claims agents. This was a great opportunity to speak directly with the hundreds of CVSOs at the conference, a big segment of our audience.
Preference testing paper prototypes
Similar to my days at the University of Arizona’s Tiny Café, I worked with our team to put together some rapid, less structured, in-person research that could happen quickly by intercepting passersby.
Over the course of a few days we staffed a booth in the exhibit hall and indeed, we learned a lot from this experience. Our methods included:
Unstructured interviews. We’d identified some gaps in our knowledge and topics we wanted to explore. Officers stopped by and we engaged them in conversation about their work, our work, and ideas for building solutions together. This helped us more deeply understand their goals, behaviors, and challenges with current systems and processes.
Preference testing. We had printed prototypes and asked them which of the options they preferred and why. This helped us narrow down our options and in some cases, combine features from multiple options.
Concept testing. We had some ideas, printed on paper, and asked for their impressions and feedback. This helped us learn if we were headed in the right direction.
Talk-back boards. We wrote prompts on a large poster board and invited responses and feedback to the responses.
We gathered over 90 data points, producing insights and recommendations that will guide our work going forward. We also grew our participant panel for future research opportunities. Remote teams don’t often get the chance to immerse themselves in the community in which they serve. It was a worthwhile and unique experience!
It was a privilege to present last week at Service Design in Government, an international community event for anyone involved in designing, delivering, and commissioning public services. I presented with my colleague, Fan Huang, and we discussed ResearchOps in the government sector. Here’s the video recording in Vimeo, or click the image below to watch. A PDF of the slide deck is also below.
My first project at Ad Hoc LLC was an overhaul of a state agency’s website, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). Check out the website we launched last fall at: ldaf.la.gov. 🎉
Partnering with LDAF stakeholders, we were able to improve task success rates, reduce time on task, and increase user confidence in the website overall. I led research for the project, which included market/competitor analysis, a top tasks survey, card sorting, tree testing, first-click testing, and usability testing (pre- and post). There was also a ton of information architecture and content strategy work.
It comes as no surprise to most that government websites can be hard to use. And getting a chance to improve this website for the people of Louisiana was really rewarding.
Very happy attendees at the conference reception with ER&L
Last week was Designing for Digital, a conference focused around UX work in libraries. the first time I’ve been in Austin since 2019. Also the first time I’ve been surrounded by UX-minded librarians since UXLibs last year. Always a treat!
I delivered two presentations so wanted to share the slide decks here. Recordings are available to those who registered:
Other highlights were a talk on form design by Robin Camille Davis and Erik Olson and the closing keynote on identity literacy by Michael brown. Also connecting with Frank Sweis who I knew through Weave and Tammy Wolf who I hadn’t seen in person for years, and making new connections Nora Burmeister and Lily De La Fuente among others. Not to mention some pretty legendary battledecks and karaoke nights.
Til next time, Austin!
Denise, Ashley, Rebecca, Josh, Robin, and Erik at the Texas Capitol
I was recently interviewed by Lewis Kang’ethe Ngugi, a London-based product designer, for his podcast, the 7 Minute Product Master Series. It was a joy to finally connect with Lewis in “real life” (we’ve been connected through socials for years), and an honor to be a guest on his exciting new show.
The things that are easy to measure are not usually the most useful things. Sometimes the things that matter the most are actually way harder to measure.
One of my biggest UX research mistakes was doing research that didn’t lead to outcomes. My lesson learned: don’t do research in a vacuum. Get the right people in the room.
Some “common wisdom” that I disagree with is that reducing the number of clicks will make your product easier to use. A better usability measure is number of attempts, success rates, and time on task.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received is about using the 7 second pause of silence. This gives people a chance to process their thoughts and respond.
What’s working best for me right now is collaboration. We have defined roles (design, engineering, product) but we all work together to draft our road map, identify our research questions, prioritize features, and make decisions, and removing barriers for each other.
Every UX researcher should learn how to be humble, curious, and listen more than we talk. Challenge our assumptions and interrogate our own biases.
Something I’ve learned recently is about the value of empathy for ourselves and understanding our tendencies and how we work, what our challenges are, and how we can be better humans.
I recently passed the 6 month mark in my new role at Ad Hoc. Unlike my previous organization (University of Arizona), Ad Hoc is a remote-first company, so employees are working from across the country. One of my fears was that I’d feel isolated or disconnected from my colleagues. Fortunately, that’s not at all the case!
Sharing 3 reflections on what I’ve observed that makes our remote environment effective: collaboration, cooperation, and connection.
Collaboration
Remote work doesn’t need to be isolated. Collaboration remains important to doing our best work, and we have the structures, tools, and culture that make this possible.
Effective asynchronous collaboration
Our active Slack workspace is used company-wide, with close to a thousand Slack channels! I’m most active in those dedicated to my projects and practice areas, but I’ve also joined ones that have helped me connect with people outside my team – topics like ResearchOps, accessibility, and information architecture. We had Slack at my old workplace, but it was used inconsistently. It makes a big difference when it’s an active space and everyone is responsive. We rarely use emails.
Project and task-tracking tools like Notion, Jira, and Trello can be incredibly helpful for collaborating on progress and getting feedback or support between meetings.
I’ve posted before on the power of the virtual sticky note (tools like Mural, Miro, and Figjam). While often used during real-time meetings, my colleagues often use these for activities between and in preparation for meetings.
Example of the UX team’s kanban in Notion
Effective synchronous collaboration
We have real-time sync meetings regularly (daily or weekly, depending) where we share what we’re working on, align on priorities, and ask for support or feedback. While a lot can be done asynchronously, making decisions, giving each other feedback, and building on our ideas works best in real time.
Our talented product managers and team leads facilitate structured activities like retrospectives, working agreements, and roadmapping that allow everyone to contribute and support constructive dialog on different topics.
Example of a working style activity in Figjam
Cooperation
Reliable cooperation within and between teams is essential.
Responsiveness
Colleagues are almost always responsive to requests and questions over Slack. Quick questions can be answered quickly. And when not available, people are good at indicating that on Slack.
People are good at following through on things, and when things slip, they are good at owning those things. We are supportive of one another and admitting mistakes or missteps is a common phenomenon.
Flexibility
Not all conversations work well asynchronously, so when a real-time chat is better, Slack huddles allow this. This can replicate the over-the-cubicle conversations that are helpful in office environments.
Being flexible and adaptive to others’ working style is important, since not everyone works the same way. We’ve had success using “readme” bios and teambuilding exercises to better understand each other’s styles and how we can support one another’s success.
“Readme” bio example in Notion
Connection
Work is why we’re here, but it’s not all about work. Bringing our full selves to the workplace allows us to form relationships, foster trust, and make deeper connections.
Fun
We have lots of fun channels on Slack, like #cooking, #pets, and #happyplace. We also have over 6k custom emojis allowing us to express ourselves in lots of ways.
There are regular, opt-in socials for people who are interested. We have a West Coast Social monthly that helps build connections across teams, and our new program team just scheduled bi-weekly hangouts at the end of the day on Friday to reflect and unwind. I’ve also had one-on-one informal chats with mentors and peers, where there’s no agenda but a chance to get to know one another as a person.
Social chat with engineer Christopher Keene, January 2023
Being human
Most people have their cameras on during meetings. This can support stronger communication for sighted employees, since we can see non-verbal reactions and expressions. (Cameras go off are when people have connectivity issues, are cooking/eating, or for personal reasons, and they usually let others know when they need to do this).
We’re a big company, recently surpassing the 500-employee mark. Our opt-in “Donut meetings” Slackbot allows us to meet up with a random colleague for a 30-minute chat. This has helped me feel connected to others, having conversations about everything from vegetarian cooking, to dog training, to immigration, while also broadening my understanding of the work we do.
537 Donut meetings held in 2022
In short, remote work environments can be collaborative places where you feel connected and supported as much as (or more than!) you might in an office environment. I was skeptical of remote work, but forced into it in March 2020 and then deciding to try it full-time last summer, I’m now a convert.
At the close of my UXLibs keynote earlier this year, I asked the audience to share their ideas on building UX maturity at their library organizations. The specific prompt was:
Build UX knowledge and make it visible. Let’s hold workshops, form learning communities, bring senior staff and colleagues along, advocate, and sell by doing.
Break down silos. Let’s collaborate across departments, bring people together, and foster relationships with our colleagues.
Do some lightweight UX. Let’s do small things often and celebrate small wins; let’s create pop-up stations and cafés, install graffiti walls and talk-back boards, and do rapid prototyping and ideation.
Put UX to work. Let’s unpack pain points and frustrations, identify specific projects, get creative, and get to work.
Use UX on ourselves. Let’s harness our UX skills to explore problems, listen, ideate, and analyze what we find out.
Look beyond our own libraries. Let’s get inspiration from other libraries, other departments, and other organizations.
Bend the rules and get creative. When other things fail, maybe we can carve our own paths, breakout from the predictable, or just ask for permission later.
Use food and drink to recruit. Let’s build relationships and recruit others with food and beverages. [This one might seem silly or trivial, but some of the best ideas can emerge over a cup of tea or a pint].
Improve documentation and process. Let’s improve efficiency by creating templates and repositories and speeding up our processes.
Other ideas? Successes to share? Post them in the comments!
It’s been a pleasure serving as Weave’s Editor-in-Chief the past four years! Weave: Journal of Library User Experience remains the only international, peer-reviewed, open access publication dedicated to user experience in libraries.
I worked with a stellar team, and wanted to share some of our accomplishments:
Grew our staff to include new editors and editorial board members, and created a sustainable structure for ongoing appointments (job descriptions, term lengths, onboarding process). See the latest editorial team.
Created an international advisory team of UXers working in libraries.
Hosted our first Author Chats and Town Halls.
Were the very first of Michigan Publishing’s journals to migrate to a new publishing platform (Janeway) for both our publications and website.
Became a CLIR Affiliate, giving us a sustainable financial home.
Congrats and thanks to the team that made all this possible! 🎉
Since I no longer work in libraries, I stepped down this summer. Through an internal recruitment process, Scott Young was appointed as my successor. Scott has been an author, peer reviewer, and editor for Weave, and brings depth of expertise in user experience research and assessment. He serves as the User Experience and Assessment Librarian at Montana State University. Biggest congrats to Scott on his appointment. The journal is in good hands.
I’ll continue to be an avid Weave supporter and reader. Join me and sign up to get issue announcements: http://eepurl.com/hEDAhD.
