Community-Focused Social Media Platform | Rolling Research Program
Standing up a viable rolling research program for a social networking platform product team.
Contract UX Researcher | 26 Weeks | Evaluative Research | 2019
Business Needs
The goals of the Rolling Research program were to meet the research demands of cross-functional teams within the Community product. As each team iterated on designs, they sought out evaluative research to gain insights from their users and inform product launches. Our team identified the need for consistent and tactical usability testing for several new features at a time.
Process
1. Recruit Participants
- Partnered with the internal recruitment team to select 20 participants (10 Members, 10 Admin) with alternates
2. Create Protocol
- Prioritized product testing requests from the teams based on research goals and product impact.
- Strategized protocol flow of three to four product requests, each 10-15 minutes.
- Reviewed and locked in technical requirements, stimuli, mocks, builds, etc. prior to testing dates.
- Created a cohesive moderator’s guide from the list of tasks, questions, and expectations from key stakeholders.
3. Run Sessions
- Ran one-on-one remote and in-person moderated lab sessions with participants over the course of two four-day weeks (e.g., Week 1: Admins, Week 2: Members)
Analysis and Outcomes
4. Debrief
- Held pilot debriefs with stakeholders after the first session to review what went well, where to probe, and other opportunities.
5. Analysis
- Reviewed session notes and recordings to uncover overarching themes.
- Created reports with a recap of protocol, major findings, and recommendations, including exhibits.
- Presented findings to key stakeholders and acted as a subject matter expert on the research.
Impact
- Supported the iterative design process and launch of several key features within the product.
- Managed and offloaded tasks to the vendor, AnswerLab, to reprioritize my time towards creating an impact on embedded teams.