No. 4— How a UX Researcher can be their own Project Manager
This is the fourth in my series of 7 things UX Researchers (or Project Managers) can do to keep user testing on track.
These are 7 things that SOMEONE has to do. Whether or not it’s officially your responsibility as Researcher, depends on where you work and who you have around you. Nevertheless, someone has to get it done.
It might be you.
If you don’t take ownership, or you sit around waiting for someone to give you permission to do each and every task.. well just ask yourself this — if the research fails, who’s on the hook? Hint: it’s not the PM. There you go.
If you need other reasons why this is important — here’s the explanation.
Step 4— Rehearsal (or, Am I ready to test?)
Before you run your test sessions with live participants and especially if you’re doing it in front of stakeholders, it is essential that you have ironed out any wrinkles or issues by running rehearsal tests.
This allows you to:
Get comfortable with your session outline
Get familiar with your prototype or product flows
Identify any bugs or issues in the prototype or product
Get back into the cadence of 1-to-1 protocols, if you haven’t tested recently.
Double check the logistics and challenges of your physical test space if possible
There are three parts to this:
A. Cog walkthrough & QA
When you are given the ‘final’ prototype or product that you will be testing, you need to check that it matches your discussion guide — i.e. that key flows and functionality are present, and that there are no obvious barriers.
You can do this by doing a cognitive walkthrough of the prototype, checking it for
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