Time Management
Time is a precious resource in research and in business. When financial runway is limited, there is often pressures from stakeholders to move from research into design and production as quickly as possible. At the same time, when researchers sacrifice rigour in favour of speed, the impact of research diminishes. Rushed research during the exploratory phase can result in cherry-picked findings that lead the product down the wrong path. While some research is always better than no research, we don't have to shortchange the research process. Here are some practical approaches to managing time in exploratory research:
Risk Management
Research is like the almighty Elasticgirl from the Incredibles films - it can take up as much or as little time as we give it. The question is in the amount of risk and confidence involved. When there are risky assumptions, such as during the exploratory phase of a new product, it would benefit the organization to spend more time on research. Similarly, when the product impacts millions of users and requires a high level of confidence in the answers, we should take the time to do in-depth research.
As researchers, we can have the conversation with stakeholders about the level of risk involved and confidence needed in the project. Make a recommendation on how long we would need for the current phase of work, what the time would be used for, and why it's important. If there is pushback, outline the risk/confidence tradeoffs that would be made and the implications. That way, you and the stakeholders can agree on a timeline that makes sense for everyone.
Prioritize
Be focused on the goals and key questions you want to answer through this round of research, and practical about the areas you will be able to cover within your given timeline. You won't be able to answer every research question or explore every branch of the topic. Ruthlessly prioritize the most impactful, high-risk, questions and topics. Have honest and realistic conversation with your stakeholders about the importance of prioritizing. Prioritizing can create some tension and lively debate but it's is preferable to putting your team through a spray and pray research approach.
Parallel Processes
Components of research work can happen in parallel without interference. For example, recruitment typically takes a few days, so you can jumpstart recruitment first, then draft your Discussion Guide as you source participants. If interview schedules are tight, try splitting the interviews with another member of the team, such that you can run parallel sessions.
Leverage your Team
One of the most impactful ways to save time is to get participation from team members involved in your project. This cannot be emphasized enough. Collaboration in the research process helps to generate better research insights, more ideas, and in a shorter amount of time.
Research can take longer due to process constraints and context-building. Process constraints refer to the outputs you are dependent on in order to make progress, whereas context-building refers to the transfer of knowledge to other team members. By leveraging the team, we can effectively cut down on time spent for each. Team members can help you run parts of the research in parallel and cut down on time dependencies (e.g. note-taking during interviews). They also won't need extra time to build context if they have been involved in research from the get-go.
Templates, templates, templates!
There are repeatable and replicable outputs of the research process that can be templated and automated with tools. These include:
Forms (e.g. Non-Disclosure Agreements, consent forms)
Guides (e.g. Discussion Guide, Stakeholder Interview Guide)
Decks (e.g. Persona slides, User Journey slides, Recommendation slides)
By templating the common outputs of research, the team can save time and also standardize the research practice across members. These outputs can be organized in shared organizational folders, divided by stage of research (i.e. Planning, Sharing). For forms such as NDAs, you can also upload the templates to tools such as Docusign and Hellosign to save time when sending them to participants.
Here are a few templates help you jumpstart the process:
In-Depth Interview Template (Source: TWG)
Stakeholder Interview Template (Source: TWG)
UX Studies Rainbow Spreadsheet (Source: Tomer Sharon)
Adult Research Consent Form (Source: Usability.gov)
Transcription of Notes
Although we advocate for having a note-taker with you during all research interviews, we know that that isn't always possible. Without a note-taker, the most tedious part of the research process is the transcription process. Thankfully, there are tools out there to help you save time. Notably:
Zoom.us provides auto-transcription of each recording, with time stamps. The accuracy is about 50-70%, depending on how clearly the voices were recorded. You can search for keywords in the transcripts, and click into a line of transcription to see/hear the corresponding parts of the recording.
Sonix.ai also provides auto-transcription, with a few additional features. You can edit the transcript directly in their word editor, and export audio/video clips corresponding to the pieces of text of interest. Their accuracy is also at 50-70%.
Human transcriptionists provide the most accurate transcription, but at a higher cost and time dependency. If quick turn-around is needed, look for transcriptionists based overseas so they benefit from the time difference. Transcriptionists can be found via platforms such as Fiverr and Mechanical Turks.
Sharing of Findings
Unless you work for a large organization with hundreds of eyes on the research results, don't write a report. Reports take time to write and read, and as a result, no one likes to read them. Information gets lost in pages and pages of text, making it hard for you to socialize the findings.
Focus instead on key insights and findings. Share them via presentations, (shorter) emails, demos, and/or company messaging channels. Gather them in a central platform (using the Nuggets Framework). Here are more examples of Nuggets in action.
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