User researchFind out what people need
Find out what people need
before you build it.
Before you commit budget to the wrong thing, I talk to and watch the people you’re building for. You find out what they need, what gets in their way, and which of your assumptions don’t survive.
At a glance
- Good for
- You have an idea or a problem, and the team can’t agree what matters to the people it’s for.
- Who does it
- Brian, start to finish
- The fixes
- Built by whoever you choose
- Price
- Agreed in writing before we start
The real question
What are people actually trying to do, and what’s stopping them?
01 / Use this when
You have an idea or a problem, and the team can’t agree what matters to the people it’s for.
02 / How I do it
Interviews or observation, depending on the question. The proposal spells out who takes part and what you’ll learn.
Not a slide deckWhat lands
What lands
on your desk.
The interview or observation guide
What I found, with the shaky bits flagged
What it means for your next decision, and what’s still open
How it runsFrom “we think”
From “we think”
to “we saw it”.
Name the gamble
Pin down what you’re unsure about, and what would change your mind.
Go and look
Interviews or observation, in the situations people are really in.
Call it
What the research supports, what it doesn’t, and what to do next.
Proof, not promisesSee it for
See it for
yourself.
See how a research plan is laid out. The template is blank, so it’s yours to use whether you hire me or not.
- Opening assessmentmost effort, first
- Check-ins
- Coming back
The app asked the most when people had the least energy.
Diary research caught the everyday moments a scheduled session misses. The opening assessment cost too much, too early.
Before we start
What to bring.
The decision you’re facing, what you already know, who it’s for, the assumptions worth poking at, and any limits on who we can reach.
Build your brief ↗