What’s the process of creating a backlog?Step by step process:1. Run a workshop with your team/s to first capture and prioritise research questions.2. Using the template, move the identified research questions into the “Backlog” section. New research questions can also be added as they emerge.3. Starting with the high priority questions, try to fill out as many of the columns as possible4. Based on the importance and effort estimates, pull the research questions that you are confident you can deliver that month (you can change this to weekly/quarterly if needed) into the “Monthly Backlog”.

User Research X Agile Product Devlpmt - The Research Backlog 1/4

5. Set up a regular meeting (Every two weeks, or monthly) with you key stakeholders (Product, Design etc.) to review the Monthly Backlog and confirm what the high priority projects are.6. Once you pick up a research question, move it into the “In Progress” section7. As you progress with the project, you can update the “Status” column accordingly to keep stakeholders informed e.g. Planning, Testing, Analysis, Reporting8. Once the project has completed, move it into the “Completed” section. You may wish to add a link to your final report in the “Status” column.

User Research X Agile Product Devlpmt - The Research Backlog 2/4

Importance — how important is it to answer this research question? Think about the business and customer impact — you may want to rely on the POs to guide you on this. L= Low importance, M = Medium importance, H = High importance.When is it needed by? — Is there a deadline for this work?Who/what else could we rely on? — It may make more sense for another team to pick up this research question e.g. Analytics, Customer Insights.How much do we know currently? — What previous research has been done? Are there insights from other teams/sources which we could use to help answer this question.

User Research X Agile Product Devlpmt - The Research Backlog 4/4

Backlog contentSquad/Tribe/Area — which squad/tribe/area would this work fall under?Key stakeholders — who are your key stakeholders for this project?Research question — what’s the question you’re trying to answer?Type — is this evaluative or discovery research? Keeping track of this over time, will help you to ensure there’s a good balance.What’s involved? — what UX research methods could you use to answer the question?UX Researcher Effort — how much effort will it be for you to complete this research? 1 = Low Effort (e.g. days), 2 = Medium Effort (e.g. weeks), 3 = High Effort (e.g. months).

User Research X Agile Product Devlpmt - The Research Backlog 3/4

Managing Research and feeding hypothesis and areas to test into a regular research cadence are critical for mature user experience teams and products

Jas Nijhar is a user researcher who supports multiple teams and squads, which can be tricky in an agile environment. They decided to make use of his product ownership experience of maintaining and…

product

Product & Design

Backlogs: The secret to managing user research

— Fred Beecher, Director of UX, The Nerdery Here, Fred Beecher pretty much sums up UX design in a nutshell. It’s a common challenge that UX designers face: explaining to others exactly what they do, and attempting to convey just how crucial UX is to just about everything! This quote also reiterates that people are at the heart of UX design, and without that human factor, technology remains largely inaccessible. You can find a more in-depth explanation of <a href="https://careerfoundry.com/en/blog/ux-design/what-does-a-ux-designer-actually-do/">what a UX designer actually does </a>here.

6. “How do I explain what I do at a party? The short version is that I say I humanize technology.”

— Brenda Laurel, PhD, Independent Scholar Design isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s the art of making things usable — be it an app, a gadget or a simple everyday object like a chair. UX design is nothing without human interaction, and if a product isn’t fully able to serve its purpose, the design process is incomplete. This is why user research and usability testing are so crucial, and as a UX designer, you need to be prepared to iterate and reiterate your designs over and over again.

5. “Design isn’t finished until somebody is using it.”

— Dr. Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover Something that more and more companies are realizing: good design is great for the bottom line. According to the <a href="https://fortune.com/2017/08/31/the-design-value-index-shows-what-design-thinking-is-worth/">Design Value Index </a>, design-driven companies can outperform their competitors by as much as 228%. What’s more, in a <a href="https://www.elf.agency/news/2017/4/23/design-driven-companies-outperform-the-sp-by-219-over-10-years">study </a>carried out by the Design Management Institute, design-led companies reported 50% more loyal customers. With such statistics available, businesses can no longer ignore the value of design.

10. “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”

— Frank Chimero, Designer Good UX design is all about putting the user first. Any aspect of a website, app or software that doesn’t consider the user’s needs is ultimately doomed to fail. A huge part of the UX design process is getting to know your target audience: what are their goals? What are their challenges? What motivates them, and how do they move? The entire product should be built for these people, so don’t even think about opening Sketch until you’ve done your user research. You can learn <a href="https://careerfoundry.com//en/blog/ux-design/how-to-conduct-user-experience-research-like-a-professional/">how to conduct user experience research like a professional here </a>.

1. “People ignore design that ignores people.”

Looking for some inspiration from design masters? Here are 15 inspirational design quotes for new, aspiring, or seasoned UX designers.

softwareengineering

Software Engineering

15 Inspirational UX Design Quotes 

Card sorting is a research method used by UX and user researchers to uncover users’ mental models and better understand how people naturally categorize information. It involves having study participants group information by sorting cards into categories.  There are three types of card sorting exercises:Open — Users sort cards into groups, and then name the groupsClosed — Users sort cards into an existing set of categories Hybrid — Same as closed, except users can also create new categories

What Is Card Sorting In UX?

Pick your poison: old-school paper or new-fangled technology. Paper card sorts<ul><li>Uses physical cards</li><li>More flexible and forgiving for the user</li><li>Allows user to see all content in one place</li><li>No technology learning curve</li><li>In-person sessions require more coordination&nbsp;</li><li>Requires manual documentation and data analysis</li></ul> Digital card sorts<ul><li>Uses digital cards in an online tool</li><li>Can require quick technology training</li><li>Fast and easy to coordinate and implement</li><li>Software captures input and automates analysis</li></ul>

Paper VS Digital Card Sorting In UX

Moderated vs. unmoderated card sorting

Moderated card sorts<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Typically done in-person</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Usually more expensive and time-consuming</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Requires more coordination</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Allows for user “narration” of sorting choices to provide additional visibility into thought process</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Provides the option for a debrief in which to ask follow-up questions and capture qualitative insights</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Requires additional time and resources for data analysis</li></ul> Unmoderated card sorts<ul><li>Usually done remotely via an online tool</li><li>Tends to be faster and less expensive</li><li>Fairly easy to organize</li><li>May provide shallower qualitative insights</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Often used as a complement to moderated sessions</li></ul>

To Moderate Or Not To Moderate In UX Card Sorting

A comprehensive list of the best digital card sorting tools for moderated and unmoderated UX research. Includes user reviews and 2021 pricing information.

15 Card Sorting Tools for Remote UX Research

<ul><li>The product backlog contains the pieces of the broader vision that are not going to be worked on in the current sprint. High-level items, vision, and many assumptions live here. </li><li>Sprint planning is the day-to-day level planning effort for the team. </li><li>The tactical Design work has to go into the tactical backlog — the sprint backlog — and is then executed by designers, primarily, but also in collaboration with the rest of the scrum team. </li><li>Sprint review is an opportunity to take a look, together as a team, at the output the team generated during the sprint. </li></ul>

UX activities

Despite having co-written an award-winning book on the topic and lecturing, teaching and coaching on the topic for nearly 10 years now, I still get many questions — mostly from product managers…

Here is how UX Design Integrates with Agile and Scrum

A persona spectrum is not a fake person. It’s an articulation of a specific human motivation and the ways it’s shared across multiple groups.&nbsp;It shows how that motivation can change depending on context.&nbsp;

Persona spectrums: a motivation, not a character

There’s no such thing as the average customer. Learn why we should kill the persona and embrace the spectrum of human needs and motivations.

Backlogs: The secret to managing user research

15 Inspirational UX Design Quotes

15 Card Sorting Tools for Remote UX Research

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

Here is how UX Design Integrates with Agile and Scrum

CURATED BY

Backlogs: The secret to managing user research

15 Inspirational UX Design Quotes

15 Card Sorting Tools for Remote UX Research

It's time to Read like a Pro.

Here is how UX Design Integrates with Agile and Scrum

CURATED BY

It's time to
Read like a Pro.