The Best of People Nerds 2022

Bookmarkable resources, podcast highlights, impactful research—it's all here. Cozy up by the proverbial fire and find your favorite read.

It's been an incredible year of learning, growth, and collaboration and we can't believe we are only days away from 2023!   We'd like to take a moment to thank you for nerding out with us this year. Whether you've kept up with the blog, listened to podcast episodes, or joined sessions at People Nerds 2022—we hope you found ideas or strategies that support you in your role.   Your participation has been incredibly meaningful and we are so grateful that you chose to spend time with us. We're excited to see you in the new year, but before then—please enjoy a few highlights from 2022. 🎉🥂🪩 Make sure your research has impact 2022 was a year of asking more questions around impact and action. People Nerds shined a bright light on the ways experienced professionals can ensure their work sticks. Julie Norvaisas takes on a knotty subject—democratization—and shares a framework for doing it smarter, believing that by weaving in others, a UXR's impact grows. Don't forget about activation, a key step in the research process. Nikki Anderson-Stanier describes what this looks like, and ways to ensure your findings are clear to stakeholders. Dave Hora unpacks how researchers should be involved in the product lifecycle, arguing that earlier exposure could create smarter working organizations. What makes a finding an "insight?" Context, clarity, and cohesion. See a few foundational strategies for writing user research insights that excite. Impact isn't always about creating something new—it's also about shaping an existing process. Cori Widen shares her strategies for first-hire UXRs. Researchers at Fjord wanted to engage their client and align colleagues during an international project. Templates and media shareouts did the trick. Reflect on original research and DEIB collabs As orgs continue to push for growth and scale, ensuring equitable and ethical practices are more important than ever. Check out the critical conversations we had on an array of broad issues. Personas are a popular research approach, but Molly Malsam thinks they could be less biased and more inclusive, and shares ways to make them better. Researchers at Lenovo share key questions to ask participants when orgs want to create a universal, inclusive system that anticipates many accessibility needs. How might we expand the celebration of Pride to more than a month? Our CXR team conducted research with LGBTIA+ folks to learn about extending our support. UX Book Club Chicago founder Sharon Bautista speaks with us about ways she's ensuring a culture of learning, and how the UX core ought to expand. Karen Eisenhauer details how expanding our understanding of participant consent can foster relationships and ultimately create better research outcomes. Siriforce's Shipra Kayan chatted with us about the dearth of folks from East Africa in technology roles, and what creating that bridge means for her own leadership. Inclusion often starts with our screeners. JPMC's Greg Marinelli walks through his team's best practices for rethinking recruitment to prioritize perspective. Savor highlights from People Nerds Conference 2022 Our annual conference opened with an appetizing discussion with Samin Nosrat, and left participants with plenty of ideas to chew on. Here were some of our favorite highlights.  Duolingo planned to launch a new literacy learning app. Check out their generative research campaign that increased participant engagement. When Spotify needed to sharpen two new product offerings, dscout's Recruit and Diary helped align cross-departmental teams. Enterprise needed to optimize their hybrid product suite, so they turned to an in-the-wild research project to find the answers. We shared access to full videos of the panels, features, and case studies from People Nerds 2022. Sign up and explore topics like "Creating a Recession Proof Practice" and "Democratization without Dilution". Listen to popular podcast episodes We had lots of fun launching the People Nerds Podcast in 2022! Here were a few of our most popular shows. Samin Nosrat of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat fame serves up a delectable dish on how her love of food reflects on user experience. How exactly does fandom intersect with UXR? Cinema and Media Studies Professor Dr. Paul Booth breaks down what we can surprisingly learn from studying diehard fans. Sometimes what you share in a story matters just as much as what you don't. Dr. Umi Hsu shares their unique perspective of storytelling in the context of archiving. Take a closer look at the language you use in your studies. Dr. Nicole Holliday gives insight on the power of sociolinguistic bias. Curious about emerging UX trends? Our very own Dr. Ben of People Nerds shares his unique insights while straddling the worlds of both business and academia. Bookmark these resources for later These highlighted gems are evergreen and belong in your year-round UX strategy library. Save them for later, pull them up when you need them. Setting up unmoderated research can be rife with pitfalls. This step-by-step guide outlines setting up generative research strategically. Need some guidance with usability testing? Look no further than this easy guide, which comes along with a handy template. Creating a UX scorecard can help with several types of summative evaluations. We break down how to do it in eight easy steps. Sometimes you need to blend surveys and interviews to create a truly dynamic study. Laurel Brown explores blended methods with examples. Create a little magic in your research sessions with participatory design—a fun way to engage your research subjects and get surprising results. 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, United States Unsubscribe Manage preferences

Structure and scale your UXR dream team

Plus, learn what it's like to do UX research with the US government, and check out an original diary study on dscout. 

Grow your UXR team for the long haul Earlier this month, we published part one of a series about creating your UXR dream team. Check out the second installation, where we zoom out on the bigger picture—while offering tactical tips.   WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS  This week's community poll Answer with a click this week, see the results in next week's newsletter.   The holidays are fast approaching! What is a guilty pleasure seasonal treat? 1. Nog 2. Fruit cake 3. Peppermint anything and everything 4. Jello 5. Gingerbread (houses and/or cookies) Unexpected lessons from working with the government When Yuliya Manyakina learned that she'd be contracting for the US Army, she came into the engagement with doubt and biases. But her firsthand experiences ended up surprising her.   I WANT YOU FOR UX RESEARCH How to approach car research, with dscout When it comes to comparing online product pages, there are all kinds of questions and pitfalls when setting up the research. See how this diary study brought clever solutions to common UX challenges. IS THAT MY BESTIE IN A TESSIE? Think big and pitch big, but be okay with starting small. Abby Hoy Baylen Senior Manager, User Research at Later.com Read more from Abby on the People Nerds blog! More we're discussing: Wanting to bring your remote research to the next level? Don't miss out on our free five-day email course, packed with all kinds of practical tips. We'd like to learn more about how UXRs engage with customers and subscribers. Take this brief survey and get a free People Nerds mug in return! Tech startups are notorious for pivoting quickly. Check out how to keep your research up-to-date and relevant, no matter what's switching up. What we're hearing: Need more budget? Try measuring user activation. whatfix has a complete breakdown of the ins and outs of this critical step in the research process. Need more influence? Make it a priority to create stakeholder engagement with your work. Here are six approaches from UX Magazine to convey significance. Need a 2023 research plan? Optimal Workshop has a recipe that—if followed—should help you kick off your first quarter goals on the right foot. 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, United States Unsubscribe Manage preferences