😌 Humans of User Research w/ Katie John

Katie, tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Katie, I’m a User Researcher working at Caution Your Blast. We believe in using digital as a force for good. I use a range of research techniques to help teams learn about their users, uncover the biggest risk and opportunities within their problem space. When I’m not working, I spend most of my time walking my 2 year old spaniel, Otis. Both in my personal life and work, I like to try new things, whether it be going to a dance class (despite not being able to dance) or adopting a new tool within my practice. I believe new experiences keep life fun, but also help you continue to develop.

What’s the career highlight you’re most proud of?
My career highlight has to be helping to design a COVID response service. During the beginning of the pandemic, when borders were closing, flights were being cancelled, lots of people were stranded in countries, unsure of how and when they would get home. Caution Your Blast – the company I work for — helped a government department rapidly design and build a service that allowed people to get access to money while they waited to come home. Interviewing users after the launch, one user said “you saved my life” - hearing this first hand made all of the late nights worth it.

What was the weirdest experience you had in a user study?
The weirdest experience I had was during a usability testing session. This was during the height of the pandemic while running remote testing of service. I could hear in the background a chirping noise. The participant proceeded to take a little bird from her head. She explained that she’d befriended a pigeon that now lived in her house and sat on her head most of the day. It took all my effort not to use the remainder of the session to ask more questions about the pigeon.

How can people learn more about you and your work?
To learn more about my work: Connect with me on Linkedin. Subscribe to the CYB newsletter to read our latest blogposts. Follow CYB on Linkedin to see our latest updates.

Thank you, Katie!

Spotlight > Articles > Video > Audio

🧐 Thought pieces.

Researchers should lead the product development process
To truly put our users first, we as researchers must reshape the larger teams and organizations we work within. (Dave Hora 01/28)

UX research problems bingo
How many can you check off? (Joanna Ngai 02/01)

Mantras for the influencer role within User Experience Research
I empathize with users AND stakeholders. OUR research not MY research. ABC: Always Bring Closer. (Mark Wehner 01/25)

🛬 Methods & Approaches.

"Walk-the-Store" Interviews
See Your Product from Your Participant's Perspective. Use this "show-don't-tell" remote interviewing technique for insight into your users' workflow. (Nikki Anderson 01/29)

A tale of a first timer: conducting research in your non-native language
Breakdown the discussion guide and do some research. Get Used to the Locals’ Language in a Remote Setting. Write a Full Script Interview Scenario. Refrain Yourself to Google Something in the Middle of Notetaking. (Chelsea Effendi 01/28)

Stakeholder intake interview
Getting the why behind research requests. The intake interview. The intake summary. What's next: from the intake interview to the research plan. (Sina Schreiber 01/26)

Seven ways to visualize research for a deeper understanding of users
Visualizations while collecting data, while analyzing data, for presenting data, when storing data. (Elizabeth Chesters 01/25)

Assumption-based personas and how they affect recruitment and research
The importance of personas cannot be underestimated in user research. But sometimes they’re not as great as we think and we are too close to the action to see their flaws. (Jason Stockwell 01/31)

⚙️ Research Ops.

Hire the right User Researcher
How to Write a Compelling Take-Home Challenge. (Nikki Anderson 01/28)

What is a research repository and what to consider before building one?
Key guiding principles for Research repositories. How to build one that fits your needs. How to get your teammates on board. How to keep the research repository going once you’re up and running. (Bence Mózer 01/27)

Spotlight > Articles > Video > Audio

🎥 Video of the Week.

UX research for internal enterprise tools
Stéphanie talks about "UX Research for Internal Enterprise Tools" during the UX Research Munich Meetup in January 2022. (YouTube 01/27)

Spotlight > Articles > Video > Audio

🔉 Audio of the Week.

Scaling insights across your organization - at Wise
Jennifer Lee, UX Research Lead at Wise, shares her experience being the company’s first qualitative researcher to scaling insights across the company. (Spotify 01/24)

Happy researching,
Jan