The Joy of Statistics

I am a usability researcher by trade. The link here shows the essence of what I first enjoyed about statistics in college.



It also shows why I focus so much more of my time on presentation and reporting, visualizations and persuasion at work, and less time on over analysis, the topic of my next blog article.

The holy grail of research to me is to communicate data in a persuasive way, so that people see immediately what they need to make a decision, based on truth, fact, the real picture.

We are influencers of design, and of process on our usability research team, sometimes others on the project team wonder why we keep talking about the design and the information architecture, when we are not 'per say' responsible for these things. The reality is, the client will always be the one to make the decisions, and the way I see my job, it is to fully inform of the consequences of these decisions, of the current situation, and what can be acheived in the ideal state.

It is actually how I define success in my role here where I work. Watch this neat little 4 minute video, and you will get a sense of the way I approach my job.

Analysis Paralysis

I will be posting soon on how to avoid analysis paralysis, and some of the methodologies I have been coming up with for coping with large volume research while still providing good useful feedback to project teams along the way. Also it sounds quite catchy doesn't it ;)

Maybe if you haven't got anything else to do you could comment on your own ideas first, or perhaps tricky questions I can try to answer along the same theme?

Too smart to Lead or being a Multiplier? What makes a great Manager?

Current Research on the Human Factors site says its possible to be 'too smart to lead'. I bought it when I read it because I like to take things as intended, and let it settle.

Now without repeating the article too much (you are smart enough to read it methinks) the premise is that you can be really smart (high iq) but that it will have a negative influence over how persuasive you can be and therefore impacting your abilities as a leader. Now, I don't quite buy it. Firstly because persuasion is not the only factor at play for great leadership (as you will see below), and second, because I am curious to see if this applies as a general rule about IQ vs EQ. Do they really directly affect each other? Or, if you are well endowed in one area, does that automatically mean you must be stunted in the other? It seems a little too straightforward, and psychology doesn't usually play nicely like that.

I heard Liz Wiseman an author on NPR this morning on the way to work, and she had just written a book called Multipliers, describing how some managers bring out the best in their employees. The question this book asks is 'are you a genius or a genius maker'?

So this is one factor in being a good manager, trusting that 'people are smart' and not thinking 'they can't make this decision without me'.

I am not a manager, I have done a bit of this when I worked in hospitality, but the very psychology of management fascinates me. What makes a great manager? If the job is bringing out the best in people then it might not be the ability to get the work done. It might be the ability to get others to get the job done, but this skill is not what gets you into the role (letting other people do the work), its the smarts, and being an expert at the very things you want others to be good at. It's a conundrum. To be successful you have to be good at both, but according to the research link at the top of this post, you can't, you are limited that way.

So I am not a manager yet, but the biggest thing I take away from this, is if someday I become a manager, it will be like starting all over again, and I will have to nurture a totally different skill set and the question I ask myself is, will I want to do this?

Being good at my job in User Experience and Research fascinates me more, and while management is the obvious step up (everyone needs to grow to be happy, see 'The happiness project', by Gretchen Rubin), I would much rather become extremely good at what I do.

I think Liz may have the edge on this one, because some people are really smart and are pretty good at bringing out the best in people too. What do you think?

Escape The Lab Tri Upa Slides

From the background of someone who mostly remotely tests week in week out, I am interested in seeing what is out there, I have been remiss in my reading for remote research but no longer, check out this slideshow if you don't believe me!

Escape The Lab Tri Upa Slides

View more presentations from bolt peters.

Today I got really excited about my job

We are running user tests, according to what was recommended initially, on a key, capital, software project.

This may seem like a simple statement but the very fact of this, is what has made me say 'I am really excited about my job today'.

Today, I wanted to work through lunch, (I know, WOW, wanting to is big for me)

to provide feedback to a project team that wanted to listen. (Like I said, WOW :)

For anyone else working in an internal User Experience team, you know that this is huge, and for those that don't, think about the implications of this, and the state most companies must be in, that have UX teams, and extremely under-utilize them.

Unless you have the luxury of being hired by a firm that already values and has positioned their UX team well, you need to keep evangelizing, and that this is about 50% of the job (otherwise known as strategic usability), if you are ever going to contribute value.

So today I love my job a lot more, because it looks a little like it might actually be paying off. The feedback we got is auto-correcting the direction of the design, before we make the mistakes in development, another user test was done, corroborating the new direction, and another test has been requested to test the final design before it goes to development. Our involvement has also been requested, right through QA, and a partner that needed to be impressed, was, thanks to her perception of UX being great due diligence on the project.

I am looking forward to spending my efforts now (the other 50%) on producing great UX results, and finessing and simplifying my reporting so that the feedback provides maximum value while it remains in the spotlight. Speaking of which, keeping UX in the spotlight, and providing maximum value when it is in the spotlight, is how I think about my job.

How do you think about yours, and do you have any celebratory moments where you get excited about your job?