Adslot research
During my time at Adslot, I designed and implemented our research process including multiple tools to help us grow a research culture within the business.
Research goals
We defined three key goals to guide how research can impact the business. These goals would stay consistent over time and speak to the key areas where research can have a major impact on moving the products and the company in the right direction.
Adslot research principles
Collaborating with product and design I created the Adslot research principles. These needed to take into account where we are at as a company when using research to inform our design decisions. These will progress and change as research becomes more normalised on projects but to begin with, we needed to promote research in a simple manner encouraging the ease with which we could add research processes to any project.
Start with what we already know
Build your assumptions from the decades of experience we have within the business.
Choose the right tool for the right task
Don't always reach for a survey or structured interview. Ask yourself which tool will help you learn what you need in the fastest possible timeframe.
Give it just enough rigor.
Don't be crippled trying to be perfect, Aim to nail the basics, don't ask leading questions, be a professional listener and be aware of your own bias.
Start with one user
Sample sizes vary depending on the risk you are willing to take and how much time you have for the project. Start with a single user and expand to the time you have available.
Build on our collective knowledge
Document research in a way that is consumable for anyone, not just people who worked on the project.
Adslot research templates
Research planning template
The research planning template allowed us to work with stakeholders to quickly break down research requests into actionable projects. It also gave stakeholders something to think about ahead of time asking questions such as:
How many users would you like to speak to and where?
What decisions would you like to make based on the results?
What questions would you like to answer?
How much time do we have until you need the answers?
Research report template
The research report template meant that we had a standardized format that could be quickly filled out after a user interview or project. These were housed in a central space in confluence where they could be linked to projects and sent via chat or email. Unlike a long-form report, the research report template was designed as a single page that could be read and scanned in under 5 minutes. It covered topics such as:
Project Overview
Success Metrics / Results
Key Findings
Recommendations
Getting the most out of user and client interviews
I designed an ebook and workshop to up-skill members of our client facing product teams when having conversations with clients. This covered topics such as:
How to script an interview
Open vs closed questions
The 5 whys
How to avoid leading questions.