August 12, 2021
August 12, 2021
Feedback and iteration are as crucial for self-development as they are for product development. As researchers, we know that getting feedback is essential, but it can be challenging for our work to be assessed regularly.
When I was a user researcher team of one, feedback cadence was especially difficult. But, even when you do have team members, there may be limited time and capacity to gather feedback, especially if your manager is not a user researcher or unfamiliar with user research.
During my solo UXR days, I developed a handful of ways to get frequent feedback from stakeholders. This feedback was essential for my development and allowed me to understand my blind spots.
Although it might sound obvious, we need to make it clear that we want feedback from our colleagues. When I began my career, I was terrified of getting comments or questions from stakeholders about my research plan or report.
When an email popped into my inbox notifying me of a comment, I would instantly get nervous. Stakeholders could feel my trepidation and, as time went on, I received fewer comments and only shared finalized and finished reports or documents.
Over time, I learned how important this feedback was and openly asked people to leave comments and questions on my documents. I started to share everything as early as possible, marking it as a draft to give colleagues a chance to share their thoughts.
I highly recommend sending over any documents as soon as possible and asking for people's feedback. If colleagues know you are open to feedback, they will give it to you!
While typically used for customer feedback, anonymous surveys are a great way to get authentic feedback from anyone. Try using an anonymous satisfaction survey with colleagues to gather input about a project.
After running many projects, I realized I wasn't sure, except for a passing comment or note, how stakeholders felt about my research practice. Although I would ask them for feedback, there was no way to consistently and adequately track project satisfaction. So I took inspiration from the surveys we send customers and started a stakeholder satisfaction survey. This survey includes questions like:
I sent this survey at the end of every project to each stakeholder involved and asked them to fill it out. This information has helped me understand the kinks in the process and where things can be improved.
If you are looking for direct feedback from team members, the best thing to do is hold (or be a part of) a retrospective. Many teams have retrospectives at the end of projects, and you can either hold your own or join a pre-planned retrospective. I generally structure my retrospectives with three discussion questions:
Similar to the stakeholder survey, this will give you great feedback on your processes and how you work with stakeholders.
The tips above can help you get critical feedback on your processes, communication, and overall framework, but you might not always get the granular comments.
Before I worked with other researchers and a user research manager, I did a lot of self-assessment. During that time, I created templates to give myself feedback when others can't:
If you have a team of researchers or colleagues with research experience, setting up a user research review might be a great place to get feedback on your work.
I like to structure my user research reviews as weekly recurring meetings in our calendars, usually about one hour long (so people are more likely to come). Within this format, typically, one or two researchers can present their work, with each researcher having about thirty minutes to present and then get feedback.
This meeting is an excellent opportunity to get more granular feedback on documents, reports, or processes. Check out how I structure and run user research reviews here.
Even if your manager is not a user researcher and isn’t super comfortable with user research, you can still use this relationship to your advantage.
When I've worked with managers outside of user research, I made sure to:
There are many ways to learn both inside and outside of your organization. If there is another user researcher on the team that you look up to, ask them if they would be willing to help you with your specific goals.
Also, many people in an organization, outside of user research, can help you. For example, I have worked closely with product analysts to understand quantitative data or the marketing team to learn about content testing.
There are also many opportunities for mentorship and learning outside of your organization. I always recommend reaching out to the UXR community and looking for events or programs. Many companies will offer to pay for these learning instances, either fully or partially.
Just as an aside, take the feedback you receive with a grain of salt, especially if it is from people unfamiliar with user research. While new perspectives can give you a fresh outlook, they may not always guide you in the right direction.
Whenever you receive feedback, always look at the whole picture of who you received it from, how they gave it, and how many times you’ve received similar information from others.
Feedback can unlock areas of opportunity that you weren't even aware of and enable you to climb in your career. It can sometimes be hard to receive criticism, but opening yourself up to feedback loops is one of the best ways to learn. Although I shied away from it early on in my career, shifting my mindset was arguably one of the most significant things I could have done to move forward in my role. So start small and keep your head up!
Nikki Anderson-Stanier is the founder of User Research Academy and a qualitative researcher with 9 years in the field. She loves solving human problems and petting all the dogs.
To get even more UXR nuggets, check out her user research membership, follow her on LinkedIn, or subscribe to her Substack.