In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Steve Portigal, Principal at Portigal Consulting to talk about the art of listening, user interviews how you should listen to users.
Listening is a very important skill for people who serve other people. As product managers and user experience researchers / experts, we are in the job of serving our users with the best products. Even better, we are in the job of helping them get their jobs done and make better choices. In this episode I try to understand the following from Steve:
- The best way to get the most insights from speaking with users, and people in general
- Biggest mistakes people make in doing #1
- Steve’s view of success
- Advice Steve would give someone wanting to get better at asking questions and knowing more about their customers and users
(Related Episode: Design Ethnography Mindset and Researching The Problem Space)
(Related Article: Getting To Why)
Who is Steve Portigal?
Steve Portigal helps companies to think and act strategically when innovating with user insights. Based outside of San Francisco, he is principal of Portigal Consulting, and the author of two books: The classic Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights and new, Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He’s also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast, where he interviews people who lead user research in their organizations.
What you will learn – User Interviews, Listening and more!
Continued from Episode120.
- When it comes to conducting user interviews, the most common advice people give is about avoiding leading questions, yes/no questions, etc. How to ask questions that will lead us to useful insights? Is there a framework in trying to think about these questions?
- What are the top 3 biggest mistakes people make when it comes to conducting user research?
- One question I now ask almost every single guest – how do you look at success? What is that one thing you think has made you successful as a designer you are?
- What would be your advice for someone who is looking to get started with User Research?
- You wrote a book that came out last December titled “Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories”. What inspired you to write this book, and what should one expect to learn from it?
Useful Links
- Steve Portigal on the interwebs
- Steve’s books (use “DYT20” to get 20% discount on his books at Rosenfeld Media website)
- Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights (Buy now on Amazon / Rosenfeld Media)
- Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories (Buy now on Amazon / Rosenfeld Media)
- Steve’s article Seventeen types of interviewing questions.
- Steve’s talk on Improv below:
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