Posts tagged “interviewing”

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

Hi! If you’ve read the book and found it beneficial, it would mean a lot if you would contribute a brief review on Amazon here.

It’s been eleven months Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this occasionally with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

Portigal year in review, 2013

It’s time to sum up some of the noteworthy writings/happenings of the year. Let’s get to it!

All those years ago: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008.

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

It’s been seven months Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this regularly with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

It’s been six months (whaa???) since Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this regularly with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

Steve interviewed for UX Magazine

logo

When I spoke recently in Los Angeles I was interviewed by Luke Swenson of Media Contour.

The interview has been published on UX Magazine.

When should our clients invest in user research?

There are two things that you should watch for that can indicate it’s time. One is when you realize that you don’t know the answer to an important question. For instance, maybe you’re not sure who you’re targeting with a product or service. The second one is more difficult: it’s when you believe you have the problem already solved but you’re operating without any type of humility—you’re believing your own hype, so to speak. You’re making assumptions without any facts or evidence to back up those assumptions.

From my Los Angeles presentation on Interviewing Users

I had a wonderful trip to Los Angeles last week so speak at a combined IXDA Los Angeles/LA UX Meetup event. They gave me a really warm welcome (including a pint of cold Ben and Jerry’s ice cream all to myself) and the at-capacity room was filled with enthusiastic and thoughtful folks who contributed to an interesting discussion.

Here are the slides

And the video

Also, an alternate video is here and highlighted tweets are here.

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

It’s been five months since Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this regularly with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

It’s been (just over) fours months since Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this regularly with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

The interviewer’s dogs are present

I worked with Max and Brody to put together this video (see below) for promoting the upcoming Fluxible conference. I’ll be leading the first-ever instance of a new workshop I’ve put together called The Designer Is Present, in which we’ll look at the essential need for self-knowledge in user experience and play with some exercises to unlock it in ourselves.

The interviewer's dogs are present

Steve interviewed for UIE Book Corner

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

I spoke about Interviewing Users with Adam Churchill for UIE Book Corner. Listen at the link, or below.

The transcript is here.

Adam: What do you think people are going to do differently after reading this book?

Steve: I think the book sets people up-it sounds maybe a little trite, but let me try to unpack it a little bit-it sets people up to really hear the people they talk to, their users, their customers, their target, to really hear where they’re at and to understand what’s important to them, as opposed to sort of hearing what we want to hear.

And so this is where I said earlier there’s some philosophy, and there’s some tactics. And the tactics come from the philosophy. I think this is what I’ve seen lacking in practitioners that I meet with over the years, is that it’s sort of easy to ask questions or even ask questions well and hear what people are telling you.

But the broader approach, which is to understand people’s world as it’s organized and kind of structured and labeled from their point of view-it never matches either the frameworks that we have going in or the architectures of tools that we’re providing.

So to take that kind of deeply, completely user-centered approach and understand what the user’s building up their world out of, how they think about it and feel about it and talk about it, I mean, that’s what starts to be where you get towards excellence types of user research.

So that’s not what everyone’s always going to do. That’s not always what the objective is, but I think-I’m hoping that this will start to open up people to be able to do that, to have that kind of be baked into their approach to users. It’s not just collecting responses to questions but really grokking where they are coming from and how they’re operating.

Interviewing Users reviewed in QRCA Views Magazine

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

George Sloan has reviewed Interviewing Users in QRCA (Qualitative Research Consultants Association) Views Magazine. You can see the entire issue of the magazine here or read the review as a PDF here.

From an experienced researcher’s point of view, Interviewing Users is confirmation of the skills you have developed over the years, written from a research professional’s point of view. From a corporate researcher’s point of view, this book is strong armament to bring the design team into the research process with actual users, rather than thinking that they (as product users themselves) know all the issues involved.

Steve interviewed in UX Matters

uxmatters

UXmatters has just published their interview with me. Here’s a snippet; please see the whole thing here.

Jeff: Someone reading the unassuming title Interviewing Users might at first think that you’ve written an impersonal reference book. While there are sample documents and practical tips aplenty, there are also what are almost philosophical passages that refer to the self-control and mindfulness that a successful interviewer must cultivate. For example, you explain how to accept awkward situations and “check your world view at the door.” Do you feel that the many years you’ve spent practicing these skills professionally have bled into your interactions away from work?

Steve: Your question makes me happy. I think that was something I could bring to the book that might take it beyond a catalog of tips and tricks. The work that I’ve done and the opportunity that I’ve had to reflect on it over many years has given me a richer perspective. And you’re right, it comes down to a lot of fundamentals about who we are and how we deal with other people. I don’t mean that one can literally replicate the interviewer persona in every context-and to an introvert like I am, that would be a horrible idea-but what you’re saying is right on. My work has given me a lot of tools with which I can look at myself in other kinds of settings-both in social settings and in other kinds of professional settings. That’s obviously not the thrust of the book, but it’s there for the taking if you want to reflect a little bit on who you are, how you interact, and how that can inform your design work, your creative work, and so on.

Interviewing Users: Link Roundup!

interviewing-users

Interviewing Users is now available. Get your copy here!

It’s been three months since Interviewing Users came out! Below is a roundup of links to various bits connected with the book. I’ll republish this regularly with accumulated updates.

The Book

Reviews

Interviews

Presentations

Other

Series

About Steve