Pat’s Point of View

Published articles

• How to combine multiple research methods: Practical Triangulation (For Johnny Holland, August 2009)
  All research methods have their pros and cons, the problem comes when you rely on just one method. I’m often disappointed when UX and IxD practitioners describe the research they do, and it’s obviously very one dimensional. They only do surveys, for example. Or they only do usability testing at the end of the project (it’s quite alarming but this practice does continue)…This is where the concept of “triangulation” comes into its own. Also known as “mixed method” research, triangulation is the act of combining several research methods to study one thing. They overlap each other somewhat, being complimentary at times, contrary at others. This has the effect of balancing each method out and giving a richer and hopefully truer account.
• Intranet (re)design wrap-up (For Step Two Designs, May 2008)
  Over the years, we have published a vast amount of information on intranets. In this article, we attempt to wrap up all the activities that form part of an intranet design (or redesign) into one concise checklist.
• Using cultural probes for intranet user research (For Step Two Designs, April 2008)
  In this article we talk with user experience consultant Gerry Gaffney, about his experience in using a new technique called cultural probes.
• Audience personas for the Macquarie University Library website (For Step Two Designs, March 2008)
  Macquarie University Library’s website plays a core role in the delivery of electronic services to clients. This article explores one of the key outcomes of user research into the site: a set of audience personas.
• The many faces of information architecture (For Step Two Designs, December 2007)
  A lot of confusion surrounds the term ‘information architecture’ (IA). This article explores the various labels that might be used to describe IA work.
• OZ-IA 2007: Conference Review (For UXmatters, November 2007)
  For any community of practice, especially one that is still growing, it’s crucial to have opportunities to interact and collaborate with our peers and build a vital sense of community. It’s also necessary to set a direction for the profession, find out what our peers are thinking and doing, and recognize and foster talent within the community. And it’s important that all of this occurs—not based on outside influences—but within the local community. This is the situation the information architecture (IA) community currently faces in Australia.
• In-house recruitment of users for research (For Step Two Designs, November 2007)
  Recruiting participants for website research can be difficult, but a few simple steps can help make the process go much more smoothly, without the need for expensive agency fees.
• Intranet redesign for Canon Australia (For Step Two Designs, October 2007)
  This case study outlines the process undertaken by Canon Australia to evaluate and redesign their corporate intranet, including an overview of the innovative IA developed.
• Start user research by talking with staff (For Step Two Designs, September 2007)
  We all know we should involve users when redesigning a website, but where do you start? Talking with staff in your own organisation allows you to leverage their vast body of knowledge on your website audience.
• Feed your enterprise with RSS (For Step Two Designs, November 2006)
  Conceptually, ‘news feeds’ are quite simple, allowing content to be delivered over the internet. Web users are very familiar with the idea of feeds, but what about their use within an organisation?
• Accessibility tips for website construction (For Step Two Designs, April 2006)
  We all know accessibility is important, but precisely how does one make a website or intranet more accessible? Often what is needed is a pragmatic view, based on real experience, to reveal what is really important and what should be tackled first.
• Introduction to web accessibility (For Step Two Designs, April 2006)
  The industry is finally accepting responsibility for providing accessible websites and intranets. Yet, a great deal of misunderstanding continues to surround the subject of accessibility.

Blog posts

• So you want to be a user researcher? (December 2009)
  I recently received an email from someone asking me for some advice on starting off in the field of user research field. I thought about how I would respond, but since this isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this question, I figured it might be helpful to respond in the form of a blog post for everyone to see.
• Summary of user research methods (December 2009)
  There are many user research methods one can use, and there are even more variations and names for them. But regardless of what name they’re given, methods should be chosen that are suitable for the situation at hand. In this article I give a quick overview of the methods I commonly use, broken down in to main categories: Direct user contact—where the researcher does very much interact with users, or members of the audience as I prefer to call them, and Indirect user contact—where the researcher does not actually interact with members of the audience.
• Gordon Ramsay is a great consultant (February 2008)
  I’ve enjoyed watching Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares for several years now, it’s a great show and we all love to laugh (and cringe) at the predicaments the owners of these restaurants get themselves into before Gordon resurrects them. But it’s also a great example of a good consultant at work.
• IA is not just about navigation (February 2008)
  I am always quite surprised, after one of my workshops, when someone remarks “I didn’t know there was so much to it! I thought IA was just about coming up with the nav”…IA is a UCD practice, that’s user-centred design in that you take input from the actual end-users of the website (or intranet or software) and use that in the design process. I suspect the reason why many people are surprised to hear that IA involves so much work is that they have been thinking of designing navigation as a isolated activity; an ‘expert’ creates it in a matter of minutes and you go off and build it.
• Squiggles help find personas (June 2007)
  [When creating personas] you take the information you find out about each individual you research (through interviews, focus groups, contextual enquiry, customer data etc) and come up with an archetypal description of them all…the key is for the resulting persona to have attributes that are a common subset of the attributes possessed by all the users it represents, whilst still being accurate for each of them….my idea is to use a graph based on the slider controls of a stereo equaliser (’EQ’) such that any user’s dimensions, or at least the ones we think are important, can be plotted in one simple chart…you could combine several such maps in one diagram…which would allow you to recognise patterns in the maps. Similarities in the lines between the dots would suggest a persona could make sense for the users involved.
• Web developers have the power (April 2007)
  One thing that’s become apparent to me over the years is the power which web developers can have. It’s true that web managers, intranet managers and other such positions have authority but they often turn to ‘techies’ for answers. Yet many web developers feel like they are stuck at the end of the process, between and rock and a hard place. Without going into project management techniques or discussions on processes, there are ways in which they can wield some power.
• The IM Family (March 2007)
  A discussion last week, during Bob Boiko’s Taming the Content Beast workshop, lead me to personify the various information management systems that currently muddy the waters for many an enterprise.

My most recent blog posts can be seen at www.gurtle.com/ppov/.