Weeknote #7 – Back to hands on design

Last week and the week before involved a lot of research and analysis at Lloyds. We ran about 20 depth interviews over Teams. It felt really nice to be back doing hands on research while mentoring a colleague new to the space.

I didn’t do much ‘hands on design work’ at NHS Digital so even though it’s only been about a year and half, I feel a bit out of practice. It was reassuring to know I’d not completely forgotten how to do it!

Research analysis did make me long for in-person working though. While paper approaches were never the most reliable, I did always feel pouring over our insight and finding the themes on a big wall a lot easier than scrolling around a Miro board.

It was also reassuring to feel that moment again where you trust in open Discovery and it pays off. No matter how many times I do this I still find it hard.

I also spent last week wrestling with how to move the project forward based on our research findings. It’s interesting straddling the worlds of both innovation and design and trying to find how the approaches can complement each other. I’m sensing a strength that innovation brings is a robust approach to business modelling and market fit while design brings the tangibility of making a proposition into a real service. While this sounds good in principle, my head has been a bit like scrambled egg trying to figure out what methods to use when and why to get us to where we need to be.

Joy work is also starting to take shape for next year which is really exciting. I have a few projects in the pipeline I’m hoping will land for January. In the meantime I’m progressing my work to help launch a new charity to help teenagers with brain injuries in Manchester. This work is really bringing me so much joy working 1:1 with the charity’s founder to articulate who they are and what services they will provide.

Another highlight of my week was having an induction with Zoe Amar Digital. I’ll be joining Zoe and the team on a contract basis in the new year and I’m really hoping we get to work on something together. I really admire the networked approach Zoe is taking and the way she brings people together.

And lastly, what a joyful Friday again. I’m isolating at the moment ahead of hospital treatment next week so it was lovely to have lots of chats again this Friday. Meeting new friends like Jess, Bobi, Aly and Lou. And starting my day with a breathing class from Lauren Dutton.

Learnings from last week

Most of my learnings from last week don’t come from anything I’ve just written about. They come from the piece I wrote about racism in user research and the discussions I had following sharing this piece.

The points I’m going to make below have come from conversations with and comments from Candi, Soh-yon, Tracy & Chris. I am sharing them with their permission.

I recognise very little in this list of points is new however the people I mentioned spent time and energy sharing their thoughts with me, some privately. I’d like to amplify these thoughts and bring them together in one place.

I’m sharing with the aim of educating other white people while highlighting some of the mistakes I made with my writing:

• White people can’t experience racism they can only observe it. Language is important
• No one has to experience racism for the sake of user research. Everyone has the right to shut down a research session if racist comments are made regardless or role or seniority
• White people have the privilege of being able to talk/write about racism without risking harm to themselves
• Any commentary about racism has the potential to be triggering to Black people and People of Colour*
• White people are not risking anything when they call out racism. We need to prioritise explaining to other white people what racism is and calling it out when we see and hear it – in the moment
• Instead of talking to your team, change your policies. Action is more important than discussion
• Don’t rely on Black people or People of Colour to educate or correct white people. Do your research before asking for feedback
• If you’re a white person with a platform think about how you could use this platform to centre the voices of Black people or People of Colour rather than further amplifying your own voice

I’d like to discourage further comment and discussion. If you feel drawn to comment please DM me. Better still, don’t, just change something about your behaviour instead.

*I note the limitations of the term People of Colour.