How can I support you?
What a week. Then to end on Friday the 13th no less. Right?!
First and foremost, I hope you and your family are healthy, safe, and your home is stocked to the gills with all your favorites. While the coronavirus is indeed scary, it’s also an incredible and timely reminder that how inextricably connected we are to one another.
Your work and personal life probably look different compared to last week. My family has been sadly impacted already too. We also decided to suspend our big Curiosity Tank PLAN workshop launch efforts. As excited as we are to shout from the social media rooftops, it just doesn't feel right to do that given everything else going on.
So here is a quick Curiosity Tank workshop update in lieu of all of the other efforts we have postponed:
Our first two PLAN workshops, on March 20th and April 3rd, will still take place. They were originally designed as 100% remote workshops (thank goodness!) and they still will be 100% remote.
The PLAN workshops focus on PLANNING a research study.
Each student leaves with a PLAN to gather feedback on, execute, and or add to their portfolio/cases studies.
Maximum class size is 7 students to ensure mentorship and accountability
Fuel Your Curiosity subscribers (you!) can apply discount code "FIRST20" to receive 20% off.
Our March 3rd panel discussion (more on the replay and resources below) covered how planning research in academia is completely different from industry.
Our PLAN class teaches you how to bridge this gap, incorporate product thinking and engage stakeholders with a framework to set up studies for success from the onset.
Expert practitioners know that a solid plan is fundamental and foundational to success.
Learn more about Curiosity Tank workshops overall here.
Many of you are looking to transition into user research and or improve your UXR skills. I imagine the current state has also prompted many more of you to also think about what's really important, how you spend your time, your work satisfaction, professional development and overall workplace confidence.
So I brainstormed a list of how I may be able to help and support you, our amazing Curiosity Tank community, during this challenging time. To me, this is also a reminder to be mindful of each other and an opportunity to demonstrate how resilient we can be as a community.
If I have said it once I’ve said it a million times.
User research is a team sport!
Here are three ideas I am thinking might be helpful fo many of you right now. I would love your thoughts. Vote with your click!
1. Curiosity Tank Slack Channel or Facebook Group: “Fuel Your Curiosity” is more than a newsletter. It’s a community. I want you to feel part of a bigger team: Team Curiosity Tank. A smart, scrappy, and completely curious (duh!) group that’s now 1300+ strong and growing each month.
Our Fuel Your Curiosity newsletters share:
Information about UXR events and other related happenings
Ah-ha moments from my classes; keep learning along with us
Examples and tools to up-level your research skills
Job opportunities from my private network. You'll very often see it here first!
News about events and new offerings.
Would a Slack Channel or Facebook Group to the community be helpful right now? I picture it to be a welcome place to meet with user researchers and other UXers from around the world, at differing professional levels.
My hope is that it will inspire you, help you grow, network, distract you from the news (if desired) and combat the loneliness that may come along with many of us now working from home.
>>> If a Slack Channel interests you, please click yes SLACK!
>>> If a Facebook Group interests you, please click yes FACEBOOK!
2. Remote Listening and Observation Activity: The second idea is to distribute one of my UC Berkeley assignments. Developing superior listening and observation skills are key to becoming an expert practitioner. There is no time like the present to hone these skills.
The one-week, remote assignment takes @ 10 minutes a day. It helps you:
Focus on being present
Distinguish between perception and behavior (say versus do)
Identify assumptions
Listen deeply
Articulatie observations
Build empathy for others
Compare “before and after”experiences
Two ways to gather information
Would this mindfulness activity be helpful to you right now?
>>> If participating in a Remote Listening and Observation Activity interests you, please click yes ACTIVITY!
3. General Assembly Remote Classes: As you may know I teach all of the standalone* user research classes at San Francisco’s General Assembly.
In 2019, I taught 41 individual classes, designed from the ground up, which I believe are the vast majority of UXR classes GA offers worldwide. I love every single minute of teaching these workshops. In fact, it was this experience that inspired the Curiosity Tank hands-on workshops, formats, and deep dive topics.
Last week GA offered some in-person instructors the option to teach online, live, and I am thrilled about it! The first class I'll teach online is my “User Research: The Art of Conducting Research Interviews” class. It will be held this Thursday, March 19th, from 9am-12noon PST and costs $50 USD.
NOTE: *Standalone classes are outside of the UX Design certificate program.
>>> If participating in a Remote General Assembly class interests you, please ENROLL DIRECTLY WITH GA.
NOTE: My other classes will be added shortly.
Yep, this edition of Fuel Your Curiosity is different. I'm looking for ways to help our community navigate during this strange time. I look forward to hearing about your interest in the above ideas. I certainly do not need any more on my plate, but if any of the ideas help least a few dozen of you it will be worth it. Again, my hope is to support our community, to be mindful of each other's needs, and (ideally) demonstrate how resilient we can be together.
Let’s stay curious. Let’s support one another. Let’s spread CALM.
-Michele
PS. The discussion panel recording + resources will be distributed on Tuesday. We went the extra mile and had it transcribed by Reduct.video -- my favorite video editing and transcription tool in the whole wide world. They make video editing a breeze. You can quickly search through hours of recordings to find exact quotes, highlight & tag themes, and put together highlight reels to bring your insights to life, all in a matter of minutes. Check them out if you haven't already!