In the field of UX research Dana Chisnell is a pioneer. As you will hear, she has lived and shaped it’s history and continues to do so. She is currently working as an Adjunct Professor at Harvard, Co-Director of the center for Civic Design, and as a Principal Researcher at UsabilityWorks. I went into this conversation with Dana, expecting to focus on usability testing, how to do it, what makes someone great at it, etc. etc. Dana is a world class expert on this. As you’ll see we did discuss that towards the end, but Dana’s experience in the U.S. Digital Service was a powerful reminder of the sometimes blurred lines between designer, product manager, and researcher that I couldn't help but dig into.

Usability Testing: Tricking Gov into Working for People - Dana Chisnell, Center for Civic Design

A podcast interested in the how's and why's of user experience research. Through interviews with industry experts and hands-on trial and error, we indulge and celebrate curiosity. Expect to test assumptions, examine methods, and engage in some old fashion experiments.

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Aaron Sedley, a Staff UX Researcher at Google, is changing the way products are built. If anyone can, it’s him. After almost 16 years at Google, Aaron has seen how traditional product metrics fall short when it comes to triangulating the true experience people are having with products. He wanted a new set of metrics that would get at the heart of what the team was hoping to bring into the world, happiness. Check out this episode to hear how he’s pulling it off.

Triangulating the Truth - Aaron Sedley, Google

Like many of us, Marie Huber’s path to human-centered research has been a winding one. However, unlike most of us, her path has taken her through Afghanistan, Iraq, and numerous service organizations around the world. She is now working in San Francisco at a social impact consultancy, and recently wrote an article about how she is applying all of this experience working in crisis situations to the current coronavirus situation. In this conversation, Marie expands on what she wrote about and dives deeper into how to work at this time and how to care for our participants, co-workers, and selves.

Crisis Mode - Marie Huber, Third Plateau Social Impact Strategies

From experimenting with truly mixed methods projects to various team structures, the team at Spotify has always had a creative approach to UX research. That was confirmed again last March by a blog post about a personas project the team had taken on with the help of some amazing vendors like Julie Francis, Fred Bove, and Laure Dousset. While many researchers are a bit skeptical of personas, the investment and impact they seem to be generating at Spotify makes a case for reconsidering. So, listen in to hear from the team behind one of the coolest personas projects out there.

Personas - Spotify

When it comes to the internet, who will make up the next huge wave of people to join? At Google’s Next Billion Users project, they have a few ideas. This dedicated group of technologists is asking questions like, “what are the needs of people living in rapidly growing global communities in Mexico City or Jakarta?” And this team, largely thanks to dedicated UX researchers and their partners, is coming up with distinct new ways to serve these groups. Today we’re joined by Asif Baki who leads the Research and Insights team for Next Billion Users at Google. With over 13 years of experience working at Google, Asif is well suited for the challenge. He understands not only the on-the-ground differences that exist, but also the day to day obstacles in trying to bridge them.

The Next Billion Users - Asif Baki, Google

Liz Jackson founded the Disabled List in 2017 in hopes of creating more space for disabled designers. She recognized that corporate conversations so often happen about them but without them. The Disabled List is working to change this by advocating for disability as a design advantage. They strategically place disabled designers into organizations to demonstrate the unique value disabled perspectives have. Through the Disabled List, I’ve had my first meaningful forays into the world of disability studies, ableism and disability advocacy. My perspective on the role of disability in design and research has changed, listen in and yours might too!

Usability Testing: Tricking Gov into Working for People - Dana Chisnell, Center for Civic Design

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