Article — — 1,715 words

Information architecture — User experience — User research

Stylised zipf curve, with a long neck and a long tail. The long neck element is coloured teal, with a gradient fade to white ending about 20% of the way along the curve

One of the most powerful methods in information architecture and user experience is also one of the least well-known. The top tasks method uses a single survey question that tells you exactly what matters most to your users. I find it so effective that I’m amazed more people haven’t used it.

Article — — 2,559 words

Business — User experience — User research

A basic diagram of a desert, with multiple sand dunes visible in the distance. The furthest-away sand dune has a blue flag on top

I have long been an advocate of agile ways of working. One of the things that originally drew me to user experience was the opportunity to have evidence-based ways of understanding the changes you need to make. So I was surprised whenever I encountered people who believed that user experience methods ran counter to the principles of agile.

Linknote — — 58 words

Social science — User experience — User research

Breakfast briefing — Behavioural science: Approaches to improve user experience — User Vision

Join me for a virtual breakfast session where you will learn about the links between behavioural science and user experience. We will also introduce some behavioural science frameworks and models you can adopt to improve your user research and design work.

It takes place online on Tuesday 7 March at 8:30am.

Update: Slides for this session are now available:

Linknote — — 100 words

User experience — User research

Work:

UX in universities — UX Soup

UX Soup logo: "Easily listen and subscribe for free in your preferred podcast player"

I have been interviewed for the podcast UX Soup. The host [Chris Schreiner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisschreiner/) was interested in the [User Experience Service’s work at the University of Edinburgh](https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/user-experience). He spoke with me about:

* how the consultancy model works in a higher education context
* the history of our service
* the projects we get involved with
* the methodologies we follow
* the specific challenges we face working in higher education

It was good fun being interviewed. Please have a listen if you have the time. Thank you to Chris for the opportunity.

Linknote — — 86 words

Content design — Service design — User experience — User research

Ask us anything — UX Glasgow

Illustration of people with question marks above their heads

Join me at next week’s UX Glasgow ask us anything event. I will be on a panel of eight human-centred professionals answering your burning questions about user experience, interaction design, user research, content design and service design.

You’ll have the opportunity to join two or three breakout sessions with rooms for your choice of topic.

Register now on Eventbrite

To help us prepare, please if you have the time take two minutes to fill in our short questionnaire where you can submit your questions in advance.

Linknote — — 144 words

User experience — User research

Work:

How to avoid common mistakes in user engagement — Website and Communications Blog

Have you ever participated in a user engagement session designed for you to share your views, but felt that you weren’t properly included, or that your views wouldn’t be acted on? Fed up with bad surveys and poorly planned focus groups?

Most of us want to engage with our users and stakeholders. We all want to make sure our users have a voice in projects that will affect them. But the approach you take can have a major effect on the success or failure of your engagement.

There are some basic truths about human behaviour that we know from psychology and other social sciences. But in many projects, these basic truths tend to be ignored.

Read this post on my team’s blog for tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of poorly planned user engagement, and how to make user research effective.