DR2023 Naomi Civins - More than a filing cabinet: building a flexible, useful research repository

Transcript

1. MORE THAN A FILING CABINET: BUILDING A FLEXIBLE, USEFUL RESEARCH REPOSITORY Naomi Civins UX Australia, Design Research 2023
2. How we built a research repository at Redbubble on a shoestring, and what we learnt along the way
3. Invest time upfront in learning from industry Understand the role of research in your org Be realistic about time & effort When gathering content, start small, set limits Be proud of your team's work
4. ABOUT ME ex-Redbubble PhD in virtual ethnography Love organising and categorising
5. Let's talk definitions 1 The Redbubble story 2 The repository 4 Planning & building 3 5 Launch & impact
6. LET'S TALK DEFINITIONS 1
7. A place for your research work To make it accessible to people who need it And to promote research as broadly as possible IN A NUTSHELL
8. Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work DATA REPOSITORY TYPES OF REPOSITORIES (THANKS, RE+OPS) The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
9. RESEARCH DATA REPOSITORY
10. Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work TYPES OF REPOSITORIES INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
11. INSIGHTS 'HUB'
12. Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY TYPES OF REPOSITORIES The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
13. RESEARCH REGISTER
14. RESEARCH LIBRARY A public front door TYPES OF REPOSITORIES Easy for anyone in the business to use Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work RESEARCH REGISTER The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections INSIGHTS 'HUB' The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly DATA REPOSITORY The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
15. RESEARCH LIBRARY
16. TYPES OF REPOSITORIES Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work RESEARCH LIBRARY RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY A public front door Easy for anyone in the business to use The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
17. A place for your research work To make it accessible to people who need it And to promote research as broadly as possible Which work? IN A NUTSHELL
18. A place for your research work To make it accessible to people who need it And to promote research as broadly as possible Who, exactly? Which work? IN A NUTSHELL
19. A place for your research work To make it accessible to people who need it And to promote research as broadly as possible Promote how? Who, exactly? Which work? IN A NUTSHELL
20. Not to mention... On which tool? Maintaining it? Who's building?
21. On which tool? Maintaining it? Who's building? Promote how? Who, exactly? Which work?
22. Invest time upfront in learning from industry
23. THE REDBUBBLE STORY 2
24. CPO RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE Embedded in Product Product Design Product Management Research
25. CPO Data Science RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE Embedded in Product Product Design Product Management Research Customer Success Strategy Artist Success Marketing Physical Product Partnering across the business
26. CPO Data Science RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE Embedded in Product Product Design Product Management Research Customer Success Strategy Artist Success Marketing Physical Product Partnering across the business And a desire to share even more broadly
27. WHY A REPOSITORY? Lost half our team
28. WHY A REPOSITORY? Lost half our team Major reorganisation
29. WHY A REPOSITORY? Lost half our team Major reorganisation Influx of new people
30. WHY A REPOSITORY? Lost half our team Major reorganisation Influx of new people WE COULD NO LONGER RELY ON THE STATUS QUO AND WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE
31. OUR GOAL Make it easy for people (including new people) to find the right insights to help them make the best decisions
32. CHOOSING THE RIGHT REPO
33. 250+ over 4 years 70+ reports, in 2020 No dedicated ResearchOps SIZE
34. RESEARCH LIBRARY RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work SMALL TEAM, MUCH WORK A public front door Easy for anyone in the business to use The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
35. CHANGE 2 researchers left in 2020 New C-suite early 2021 Many new starters in 2021 2 new researchers in 2021
36. Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work FOCUS ON STORIES RESEARCH LIBRARY RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY A public front door Easy for anyone in the business to use The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
37. MESS Confluence & Google Docs Lost tools - Notion, Mural, Dropbox New tools - Dovetail, Miro
38. Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work TOO MESSY TO NUGGETISE RESEARCH LIBRARY RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY A public front door Easy for anyone in the business to use The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
39. SHARE OUR STORIES, EASILY Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work RESEARCH LIBRARY RESEARCH REGISTER INSIGHTS 'HUB' DATA REPOSITORY A public front door Easy for anyone in the business to use The spreadsheet or list Good for small teams, and small collections The nuggets Gets to the 'answer' quickly The data itself Helps with analysis & synthesis
40. On which tool? Maintaining it? Who's building? Promote how? Who, exactly? Which work? Stories & reports Everyone Guide & educate Research team Research team
41. Understand the role of research in your organisation Be realistic about time & effort - both upfront and over time
42. OUR PROMISE TO THE REPO USERS
43. We want to make it easier for you to find value in what we create, and for our work to have impact We believe our institutional knowledge should be shared widely and freely, with no bottlenecks, siloes or gatekeepers
44. PLANNING & BUILDING 3
45. Learn from industry Learn from users 1 2 3 4 PROJECT PLAN Learn Audit Build Launch
46. Product Design 19 USER INTERVIEWS Physical Product Supply Chain Engineering Data Science Marketing Creative Design Customer Success Strategy Product Management Artist Success
47. Product Design 19 USER INTERVIEWS Physical Product Supply Chain Engineering Data Science Marketing Creative Design Customer Success Strategy Product Management Artist Success
48. "I don't know how to go beyond searching in Confluence, other than asking someone" Don't know where to go
49. "I don't know how to go beyond searching in Confluence, other than asking someone" "I wouldn't go to Confluence - I know it's a struggle to find Engineering material there" Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up
50. "I don't know how to go beyond searching in Confluence, other than asking someone" "Nobody thought that maybe the answer already existed" "I wouldn't go to Confluence - I know it's a struggle to find Engineering material there" Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up Little historical knowledge
51. "I don't know how to go beyond searching in Confluence, other than asking someone" "Nobody thought that maybe the answer already existed" "I wouldn't go to Confluence - I know it's a struggle to find Engineering material there" "I'm lazy and it's easier to message you on Slack" Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up Little historical knowledge Relying on personal networks
52. USER WISHLIST Subscribe for news Include in onboarding Interpret old content Link through to data Explain "research" Exec summaries
53. FUTURE STATE USER JOURNEY 1. Find the Repository in the first place 2. Successfully search, if you know what you’re looking for 3. Enjoy browsing, if you don’t 4. Access anything that is provided (everything is openly shared) 5. Know who to contact for any follow-up questions
54. Interview far & wide - look for people who will challenge you
55. Learn from industry Learn from users Locate all work Build a spreadsheet 1 2 3 4 PROJECT PLAN Learn Audit Build Launch
56. Finding the content will build your empathy for users of your repo
57. A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
58. Don't exhaust yourself Find the quiet times, and give yourself enough time
59. There is no silver bullet for old content - approach with caution
60. Be balanced in risk assessment - risk of misuse, and, risk of losing history Set yourself some clear guidelines - eg no older than 4 years Keep the research in context Show who to ask for more info Risk comes in many forms
61. When choosing which content to include, start smaller, and set limits
62. Each artefact type (eg reports, templates, briefs) needs its own taxonomy and has its own audience Start with the type that will drive best uptake of the repo One artefact type
63. When starting your taxonomy, set sensible limits
64. Start with more fields "Research method", "Topic", "Research objective", "Product area", "Project title" - in 2/3+ of repos Start with more fields - you can always remove some "How to build a clean taxonomy for your UX repository" by Marianne Carpentier
65. Question Answer Should we proscribe specific documentation methods? Yes - what is included in a piece of work, to provide full context and enable the reader to explore Can this become a repository for data science as well? In the long run, yes, but no action on this until mid 2023 at least What can we do about sharing survey data? I think we should have a page which links to all the surveys. No this is going to be crazy workload. Emphasis is on providing link to survey dashboard in any report from a survey ALL THE CONSIDERATIONS
66. DESIGN & BUILD 4
67. Learn from industry Learn from users Choose a tool Design the solution Locate all work Build a spreadsheet 1 2 3 4 PROJECT PLAN Learn Audit Build Launch
68. An existing platform is easiest for users (But if you have budget, have fun!)
69. CONFLUENCE OR GOOGLE DRIVE?
70. CONFLUENCE Labels for taxonomy Website - navigation, pages, UX Product teams work there already Research work there already Can't search Google Drive content Search is unreliable
71. Also widely used Bigger, more strategic researcjh Can't tag Can't create the library front door Can't search Confluence content Search is unreliable, no browse DRIVE Labels for taxonomy Website - navigation, pages, UX Product teams work there already Research work there already Can't search Google Drive content Search is unreliable CONFLUENCE
72. DRIVE CONFLUENCE Also widely used Bigger, more strategic researcjh Can't tag Can't create the library front door Can't search Confluence content Search is unreliable, no browse Labels for taxonomy Website - navigation, pages, UX Product teams work there already Research work there already Can't search Google Drive content Search is unreliable
73. PAGES & IA
74. We kept it shallow and visible, so it's fast and easy to find any topic
75. A SIMPLE TAXONOMY HOMEPAGE CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC JOB JOB JOB JOB
76. Confluence can show a list of pages which have a specific label We used labels to make sure each page showed the correct content LABELS Recent pages labelled "research"
77. Nothing had to be moved into the repo. No teams were disrupted We just added a few labels
78. A LABEL TO... 1. Get content into the repo - make it findable in the repo search HOMEPAGE CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC JOB JOB JOB JOB
79. A LABEL TO... 1. Get content into the repo - make it findable in the repo search 2. Show content on landing pages for the Redbubble user type - customer, artist HOMEPAGE CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC JOB JOB JOB JOB
80. A LABEL TO... HOMEPAGE CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC JOB JOB JOB JOB 1. Get content into the repo - make it findable in the repo search 2. Show content on landing pages for the Redbubble user type - customer, artist 3. Show content on landing pages for a theme - topic, and framework jobs
81. Think like a human - make content available wherever it might be relevant
82. Draft wireframe with a designer 1 Address user needs & our goals 2 Look for plugins & workarounds 4 Learn Confluence, find issues 3 Build it out, and keep learning 5 PAGE DESIGN
83. THE REPOSITORY 4
84. THE HOMEPAGE
85. Repository brand
86. Access to content Repository brand
87. FAQs (only on Homepage) Access to content Repository brand
88. FAQs (only on Homepage) Repository footer Access to content Repository brand
89. Guided experience
90. Search and browse
91. Latest changes
92. CONTENT PAGE - GOOGLE DRIVE
93. Include Google Drive files in Confluence search No duplication of content across both Confluence and Google Drive Easy for the user to access everything from one place 1 2 3 OUR GOALS
94. Each Google Doc had a Confluence page created Each page included: Contact details Exec Summary Embedded Docs file Labels to show it in repo
95. LAUNCH & IMPACT 5
96. Learn from industry Learn from users Choose a tool Design the solution Soft & official launch Empower champions Locate all work Build a spreadsheet 1 2 3 4 PROJECT PLAN Learn Audit Build Launch
97. Be proud of your team's work, be loud about it, and share far and wide
98. Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it 1 LAUNCH PLAN
99. Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it 1 Promote: WIP & launch showcases 2 LAUNCH PLAN
100. WIP SHOWCASE - SEPT
101. LAUNCH SHOWCASE - DEC
102. Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it 1 Promote: WIP & launch showcases 2 Advocate: Champions across teams 3 LAUNCH PLAN
103. Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it 1 Promote: WIP & launch showcases 2 Amplify: Constant plugs on Slack 4 Advocate: Champions across teams 3 LAUNCH PLAN
104. Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it 1 Promote: WIP & launch showcases 2 Amplify: Constant plugs on Slack 4 Advocate: Champions across teams 3 Normalise: Include in onboarding 5 LAUNCH PLAN
105. Monitor usage stats on Confluence 1 Check in with teams new to research 2 Measure change in direct requests 4 Review processes with the team 3 MEASURE SUCCESS
106. 2023...
107. Naomi, I used your research repository! Someone was asking if there was research on a certain type of user. I went to the repository and searched, and found a relevant research summary in the first result. Took only a few minutes and was very easy to navigate. Thank you for the work you put in making this resource! It's completely different than when I first joined and couldn't find anything, always had to Slack a researcher for help.
108. KEY TAKEAWAYS
109. Invest time upfront in learning from industry Understand the role of research in your org Be realistic about time & effort When gathering content, start small, set limits Be proud of your team's work
110. THANK YOU!