An announcement, a recap, a word of advice.

This week from People Nerds: A realistic approach to synthesis, a look back on what we learned in 2019, a big announcement for 2020.

Time to stop synthesis-shaming You might have gotten the advice: "Spend 2 hours on synthesis for every hour of interviews." You might have also gotten the ultimatum: "We need to release this feature on the next sprint, no exceptions." If you're caught between "ideal-world synthesis tactics" and "real-world synthesis timelines"—here's a strategy that might help. SMARTER SYNTHESIS This week we're curious about... As we democratize user research, what should be left exclusively to trained researchers? Help the community out! Reply to this email with your answer. We'll share responses in next week's newsletter. Announcing: People Nerds San Francisco 2020... A new year, a new chance to meet up IRL! We can't wait to head back to SF this fall where we'll connect on all the things that make us curious. Sign up at the link below to hear about speakers, schedules, and ticket releases.  GET THE UPDATES ...and recapping the conferences we loved last year dscout-ers got to be a part of, and learn from, a whole host of UXR conferences in 2019. We've recapped some "aha" moments from our time at EPIC, alongside the most memorable bits of advice from 5 other UX events. FIGHT CONFERENCE FOMO Last week we asked: What research fundamentals do organizations/UXRs neglect? From the community: Kelly Moran: "Researchers don't spend enough time with their data...Becoming familiar with your dataset is the best way to advocate for your population...being able to speak fluently about the individuals you interacted with will cultivate empathy amongst your team." From the archives: Erika Hall: "Organizations don't stop to think about what they really need to know before rushing to what they're going to do. We choose a technique before we've even narrowed in on what we need to ask. And then there's a lot of confusion that never gets cleared up—like when to use quantitative and qualitative research...Do we need to measure something, or do we need to describe something?" More we're discussing: With CCPA in effect, we're thinking more broadly about how privacy legislation impacts our research. This guide to international research (and dealing with GDPR) has come in handy.  We're also thinking back to a bigger discussion about data and ethics we had last year with Ovetta Sampson; she talked us through mixing qual and quant for more nuanced results.  As we strive to engage our stakeholders in innovative ways, we've taken another look at this fun, "Choose Your Own Adventure" approach to customer journey maps.  What we're hearing:  This comprehensive "monster" Airtable of UX books got re-shared in the researchops Slack community last week. Add a few to your 2020 reading list! UX Planet published a great analysis of the oft-cited, Nielsen "5 users, 85% of issues" usability statistic. We loved this interesting, cross-disciplinary breakdown of the relationship between cognitive psychology and UX from the folks at the UX Collective. dscout is a company composed of People Nerds working to make context-rich human insight an everyday habit across organizations. The dscout platform—Diary, Live and Recruit—enables remote qualitative research that brings researchers into the moments experienced and shared by real people. Curious about the platform or working with dscout? Talk to an account executive.  dscout   222 North LaSalle St. Suite 650    Chicago  Illinois   60601    You received this email because you are subscribed to People Nerds Newsletter from dscout . Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive.  Unsubscribe from all future emails