The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
Generating User Insights Under Pressure
Generating User Insights Under Pressure
by Jeff Humble
Dear Reader,
It's the end of a research project, and the presentation is tomorrow.
You've heard that insights are important in research, but yours seem like trash. You look at your 1st insight:
๐คจ๐คจ๐คจ It's definitely a finding, but it doesn't feel like an "Aha!" moment. It feels more like an "Mmhmm" moment, lol.
What are the users complaining about? What changed about the UI? Are there functionality changes as well? I have so many questions...clearly, this insight isn't ready yet.
How to "Distill" UX Insights
Insights are like a fine scotch, and making scotch usually takes time.
When you're trying to force a 3-month research project into 3-5 final insights overnight, you really need to crank up the heat!
The magic in forming insights lies in what happens between collecting research data and polishing your insights.
It normally takes days, but you can speed it up by trying a few things:
- Cluster and re-sort your data.
- Start with a "shitty first draft" insight and iterate and iterate.
- Drop your research data into a Miro board and review it.
- Do some desk research using the Pomodoro method.
- Talk through the research with someone outside your org.
- Look for the "why" behind your findings.
- Write a quick version and ask Chat GPT to re-write it.
- Make a quick visual to represent the insight.
- Review the research goals.
- Do more desk research.
- Take a walk.
- Come back and keep editing.
PIck 3 from the list above and get started. Don't think about it. A blank page is worse than underwhelming insights.
A Template for Writing Insights
If you never want to start with a blank page again, check out the template I made called the Insight Card. It's very pink and very useful.
| Download the Insight Card |
In no time, you'll be forming insights that taste like a 10-year scotch on a cold autumn night. Enjoy!
If you want to improve your research skills, we have a course called Continuous UX Research: LIVE for mid-career designers who want to lead user research.
This course has helped designers become UX Leads, UX Researchers, and UX Strategists. Ask your manager for the budget before Sep. 30th.
|
COURSE: Defining UX Strategy
|
Until next week! โ๏ธ
|
Jeff Humble |
The Fountain Institute
The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
5 Ways to Stay Ahead of AI + Recording for "Upstream of the Machine" Dear Reader, Last night we had a fun little event called Upstream of the Machine. In the talk, I shared 5 strategies that designers can use to stay ahead of AI. Each one is inspired by design-adjacent roles where designers can potentially have an edge. You should be able to find at least one strategy that fits you. The Five Strategies Work the infrastructure โ like a service designer Generate evidence โ like a scientist...
Written by a human, not by AI Dear Reader, Last week, some of you were gracious enough to give me some feedback on the newsletter. (You can still do it at the bottom). Someone left a review that said, "AI Slop" without any other context. And it got me thinking... You might be assuming that this newsletter is written by AI. Today, I'll let you in on a little secret: I still write by hand. And I plan to keep writing this newsletter by hand. I'm not gonna lie, I tried to get AI to write the...
Figma AI Skill Library, Save Tokens with Caveman, and the Million Dollar Toilet Dear Reader, A lot happened these last 2 weeks while you were relaxing on the beach. Let's get you caught up! The new Figma AI skills library Figma launched an AI Skills Library. Discover these skills (guided prompts you can use in agents) to unlock new ways of working from research to handoff. Check it out here to see what the community is making with Figma AI. Get your AI to speak like a caveman Caveman.so is...