The Best of People Nerds 2019

Here's a key, ICYMI recap of our best conversations, reports, walkthroughs, and deep-dives.

Hi Wanto,   At People Nerds, we've learned a lot in 2020—as researchers, as individuals, and as members of our communities. And we're indebted to the research community, in particular, for being a compassionate teacher during such a difficult time.    Here's a brief roundup of some of our best resources from the last 12 months. It features some of the incredible voices that have guided us towards growth during a challenging year. We hope their wisdom serves you as well as it's served our team. Thank you for reading,    Ben Wiedmaier Evangelist, dscout The best of People Nerds 2020   Resources for a more equitable and compassionate research practice:  Antionette Carroll, founder of the Creative Reaction Lab, talked us through how to redesign for justice, and how designers and researchers can drive real, community-led change.  Dr. Christina Harrington explained the fundamentals of non-extractive, community-based participatory research, and how that approach can better equip us to "design for the margins." Alba Villamil reminded us that how we empathize in UX research matters, and taught us what researchers can learn from organizers and advocates.  Sarah Fathallah explained what it means to "move at the speed of trust" and work respectfully, effectively, and compassionately across cultures.   UXRs from Code from America, 18F, and the City & County of San Francisco briefed us on the core of service-minded UX, and explained how any org can adopt more service-minded principles. Read the summary here, or stream the panel here.  Resources for more effective remote research:  New to remote research (or hitting a new remote research hiccup)? Here's our complete guide to gleaning impactful insights with remote-only methodologies.   If you're looking to add a few new approaches to your remote research toolkit, try any of these 10 underutilized unmoderated strategies, or any of these creative takes on remote moderated methods.  Hosting an engaging workshop is a challenge in a remote-first world. Here's a walkthrough on how to adapt your processes for virtual ideation and collaboration.  We also asked research leads at Wells Fargo, LinkedIn, Credit Karma, and more their best tips for mastering remote research methods, mechanics, project management. You can read their sage advice here.    Resources for a growing or transitioning your career:  Every org is different, but here's a framework you can use to assess your growth and "level up" throughout your career.  We asked lead UX researchers "What non-technical-research abilities should any human-centered thinker have?" Keep their 20 essential skills on your radar.  Here's some compiled advice from six research leaders on how they evaluate new candidates—useful if you're hiring, or looking for your next opportunity.  In a career transition point? Here's a guide to moving from academic research to experience research, and here's one for moving from a full-time to freelance as a user researcher.    Resources for mastering key research fundamentals:  Sometimes you stumble across a research question and wonder: Where do I even start? Read this guide on how to choose the right methodology, or this approach to deciding on the best deliverable. In a three-part series on accessible research, Brian Grellmann walked us through adapting your research process—from recruiting, to fielding, to analysis—for participants with access needs (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  We launched our first "mini-course" this year. The three workshops (which you can stream on-demand) covered the "new fundamentals" of user research—from survey creation, to qualitative analysis, to effective remote collaboration tactics.  Sometimes, the "logistics" can make or break your research outcomes. This complete guide to research project management should help keep your team on track.  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, Recruit, and Express—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, (312) 880-9715 Unsubscribe Manage preferences