GDS@leisa
Leisa Reichelt Head of User Research Government Digital Service @leisa
Our aim is to make services so good, people prefer to use them over the alternatives
GDS@leisa
Today:
1. what is user research?2. user research for discovery, an
activity: making the right thing3. usability: making things the right
way.4. Q&A
GDS@leisa GDS@leisa
What is user research?
Identify user needs not evident from analytics.
GDS@leisa
Understand context (framing, mental models, emotions, relation to other tasks/issues, policy issues, relation to whole of service)
GDS@leisa
Evaluate and iterate design solutions
GDS@leisa
We do this mostly by observing and talking to people
GDS@leisa
Other things we doEthnographyCard sortingPersonasRemote usabilitySurveysDiary studiesData analysis
Tree testingA/B TestingCustomer -Journey MappingListening inClick TestingAccessibility Testing
GDS@leisa
Closing the distance between the people who make the decisions and the people who are affected by those decisions.
GDS@leisa
Our aim is to make services so good, people prefer to use them over the alternatives
GDS@leisa
Making the right thing Understanding user needs
Discovery: what are the user needs?
Policies have users and should understand user needs to be most effective.
https://www.gov.uk/designprinciples
GDS@leisa
What are people doing now to solve this problem?
Contextual Researchplus:Market researchWeb analytics Call centre data etc.
GDS@leisa
@leisa
Talk to people who will be affected by your policy / service.
Activity Discover the user needs for Civil Servants around professional development
How are people* solving this problem now? *that’s you!
Conduct ‘depth’ interviews (5 mins) Your experience of professional development in the civil service incl. objectives, reviews, training …
the rules of sticky notes. - one idea per sticky - just the data, no analysis - code participants
(initials) - write so others can read
the rules of interviewing. - open questions - listen! - don’t lead the participant
(care re: your assumptions)
analysis. what did we learn? Group similar observations together
Extract:- User Needs- Touchpoints- Other key insights
@leisa
Get the words right to describe user needs
‘as a ..... I want to ...... so that I can .............’
GDS@leisa
‘As a PAYE taxpayer I want to understand how to calculate my tax code so that I can make sure I’m on the right tax code’
GDS@leisa
‘As a PAYE taxpayer I want to make sure I’m on the right tax code so that I pay the right amount of tax’
GDS@leisa
‘As a PAYE taxpayer I want to make sure paying the right amount of tax so I have the most money as I can have to live on.’
GDS@leisa
analysis. what did we learn?
Extract:- User Needs- Touchpoints- Other key insights
Make a map
Making things the right way Usability
@leisa
What might we do to help improve that experience?
Build: HTML prototypes, designing in the browser
GDS@leisa
Measure: qualitative and quantitative research
Learn: rigorous analysis tracked and searchable in our research catalogue.
this is what real people do.
@leisa
learning about policies through implementing them (and testing)
‘do user research in every sprint’
5 people in a lab for one on one interview + usability
‘get your exposure hours: 2hrs / 6wks’
‘have a researcher embedded in the team at least 3 days a week’
Leisa Reichelt Head of User Research Government Digital Service @leisa
GDS@leisa