Users Users Users!

I was in the middle of an interview for a position with a new Microsoft product called Surface when a manager asked me why I wanted to join the team as a user researcher. I told him that it has been a while since I experienced that infrequent physiological reaction (sitting up straight, widening of the eyes, and audible inhaling of air). I can count on one hand how many times that has happened since - learning about the impending Arrested Development movie and seeing my published book sitting on the shelf in Borders (shameless plug I know... check it out.). Since joining the team, I have been able to leverage (and frankly exhaust) my graduate training and acquired skill sets by building customized hardware (I would have made MacGyver proud), writing specialized software applications, building websites, field observations, focus groups, usability studies, interviews, surveys, you name it! Well, enough about me, for now… no one likes the guy who babbles forever before the ride in the theme park. On to the ride…

 People in the real estate business say “location, location, location”. Steve Ballmer is known to chant “Developers! Developers! Developers!” during our company meetings. In the User Research team at Microsoft Surface, if there is a mantra for what we believe in, it’s “users, users, users!” This sounds a lot easier than it is. What users intend to do and what they actually do may be entirely different from what they say they intended to do and what they say they did.

If you’re not crossed-eye by now, you are asking how then do we ensure that we are accurately capturing what the users like or dislike? The answer lies in being willing, equipped, and ready to do EVERYTHING, well, within limits, to collect data. Data is our commodity and our secret sauce. The more data we can gather, the more we can piece together corroborative information to identify what users absolutely love and what users are not too excited about. Over time, I will introduce a tiny slice of User Research at Microsoft Surface: the people, process, tools, methods, and other thinking behind what Surface User Research does to help us understand the people who use Microsoft Surface.

Comments

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2008
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  November 26, 2008
  Can't agree more :) Bringing in users and using user data at all stages of your product cycle is important. We show users anything from paper prototype to finished products. During early conceptual design, some user feedback or secondary data can help prevent going down that s***** path.