Checklist
Ground rules for user research observers
Eight rules to share with everyone watching a session
Eight ground rules for colleagues and stakeholders watching a usability test or user interview. They cover staying silent, noting observations and exact quotes rather than conclusions, sending questions through a backchannel and writing down the top three problems after each session before the group talks. The approach follows Steve Krug's observer handout from Rocket Surgery Made Easy. Print it or paste it into the invite for each round of research.
Where this appears
What's in this checklist
- Stay silent and still: no reactions, no laughing
- Arrive on time and stay for the whole session
- Write down what you see, not what you conclude
- Note quotes word for word
- Send questions through the backchannel
- Save solution ideas for the debrief
- Judge the product, never the participant
- Write your top three problems after each session
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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/observer-ground-rules-user-research-sessions"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/observer-ground-rules-user-research-sessions/observer-ground-rules-user-research-sessions.png" alt="Checklist of eight ground rules for observers of a user research session, from staying silent to writing down the top three problems after each session." width="1080" height="1080" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/observer-ground-rules-user-research-sessions">Ground rules for user research observers</a>, Koji</p>
