As a senior in college in 1994, I started my first job in my existing career pathway. I got an internship with a relatively new company, Man-Made Systems (later known as UserWorks), as a human factors engineer, doing today what would be termed user research and evaluation of websites and software applications. As soon as [...]
I frequently receive email messages from recruiters, asking whether they can submit my name to their client for some UX job or other. I always like reading the job descriptions because they help me to stay current on what skills are most in demand in the field of user experience. However, one thing that is [...]
I was in Austin, Texas recently and, following the rules of UX Adventure, I took the opportunity to coordinate with some Austin UXers to meet at a local bar. On the day of the meetup, I checked my Twitter account and noticed that our rendezvous had been tweeted by something called “AustinUX.org.” I didn’t give [...]
Article Abstract: This article focuses on how user experience research is unique in the marketing research space and why qualitative researchers must understand the differences to succeed in usability testing. While both marketing research and user experience (UX) research certainly add commercial value, marketing research is focused on getting the right product sold with the [...]
Since I left the W-2 world in 2008, my work flow has been pretty much non-stop with an average of perhaps 35 hours a week of billable time and another 10 hours per week of non-billable time. The non-billable time was spent largely on things related to exposure in the larger UX and tech community: [...]
Focus groups, often maligned within the field of user experience for not being able to get the “right” information, are actually a great way to collect information. But as a tool, the value of focus groups is limited to only certain types of information gathering. A problem I’ve seen is that the use of focus [...]
When the life-threatening catastrophe Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeastern United States, proper disaster preparedness and disaster response and the subsequent recovery all depended on people having a good user experience with Web and mobile information resources. These resources provided information that helped people to prepare for the disaster and, subsequently, let them apply for recovery [...]
In early November 2010, I was finishing up my first year as the president of the UXPA DC chapter and was in San Antonio on a separate user research project with the then UXPA DC VP, Jen Romano Bergstrom. One evening, after the research had ended for the day, we were chatting and brainstorming about [...]
By definition, user experience is about understanding people in order to improve products and services. The term “user experience” is an umbrella term (not the only one, but seemingly the most popular one these days) used to encompass a variety of related career tracks, from those related to design, to research, to content and organization. [...]
Engage with us: It goes without saying that we at UXPA want to engage with you – to engage at an international level, and, wherever our chapters exist, at a chapter level as well. Both UXPA International and our UXPA chapters have a lot to offer you – conferences, events, learning, networking, and a special [...]
For most of my career as a UX consultant, I have worked full time on some company’s payroll. A number of years back, one very large consulting organization hired me for a 6-month, full-time gig, working on site for a client. When, at the appointed time, the project concluded successfully, the consulting firm didn’t immediately [...]
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard UX professionals say that they are introverts. Sometimes they tell me directly, and sometimes it just comes up in a group conversation. At other times, I’ve heard it from speakers at conferences. Is it true? Are introverts attracted to UX? Let’s backup a bit. What [...]
UXPA has meant a lot to me and has been a professional home to me for the past ten years, first at a local chapter level, and shortly after, at the international level as well. I am very much looking forward to leading UXPA this year, helping to grow an organization that in turn has [...]
Investors are advised to make sure that they have diversity in their portfolio. By diversifying into multiple types of investments and different kinds of industries, there is a safety in knowing that if one type of investment fails, there are other investments that will still succeed. The same is true for User Experience (UX) professionals. [...]
Up until recently, if a client wanted a heuristic or "expert" review, I would frequently offer a nicely formatted Word report, organized by general topic area, including a description of each issue, screen shots and recommendation call-outs. Simultaneously, I have also conducted many training sessions over the years, and I have amassed hundreds of PowerPoint [...]
I’ve had several projects lately where I needed to check that a particular resource was accessible on a mobile device for people with disabilities, particularly those who use built-in screen reader software. Given that it has been possible to create accessible mobile-friendly webpages and apps for several years now, it’s surprising how little has been [...]
I’ve been working with participants in usability studies and other research for nearly 20 years now. I’ve met a myriad of interesting people: some had backgrounds or interests similar to my own, and others had vastly different backgrounds. I have learned a great deal from these interactions, even beyond the project at hand. There have [...]
A few years after Section 508 (web accessibility of US Federal sites) became an enforceable law in 2001, government agencies were very interested in having blind users actually try out their web pages to see if the pages were accessible. I remember 2004 – 2005 as the peak time for these kinds of user research [...]
I’ve been an avid reader of RSS feeds for many years and use a number of RSS feeds to stay on top of things in the UX world. If you’re not familiar with RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, it represents a data feed. With a single URL, you can subscribe to a news or other [...]
While at the User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) International conference last month in Washington, D.C., I spent a lot of time talking with attendees. I heard all sort of interesting things there, but one simple comment resonated with me: as an attendee looked around the room, she exclaimed: “These are my people!” I realized that [...]
I wrote in my prior blog post about my Ignite experience at UXPA 2013. While I really enjoyed the Ignite presentation, I also had fun teaching a full-day tutorial: “Usability in a Day: Everything That You Need to Know to Jump Start Your Career.” I had originally proposed this for general audiences, but the conference [...]
At the UXPA 2013 conference that took place three weeks ago here in DC, I got to do my first Ignite talk thanks to Jonathan Strohl and Jen Romano Bergstrom who pulled me into a Fors Marsh led session on research methods. What is Ignite? For those not familiar with the Ignite format, presenters are [...]
This blog entry was updated on 10/22/13. It has been nearly three years since, on a whim, I started my DC Usability blog. This was the first time that I had ever tried to maintain a regular stream of entries. While sometimes it has been relatively easy to both come up with topics and write [...]
Update 5/14/13: Just found a very relevant article on Consumer Reports: How can I get prescription drugs during an emergency? We recently had the opportunity to do a research study with survivors of large-scale flooding who were themselves above the age of 65 or else were children that provided care for elderly parents whose homes [...]
When I started Lebsontech in 1997, it was a frame for some side work that I was already doing. It was only set up for me, and I never intended it to be otherwise. By 2008, I had grown tired of being a W-2 employee and decided to take the plunge to exclusive independent consulting. [...]
For many of us who have UX careers, it's likely that we find numerous aspects of our work pretty exciting. But exciting work will always wax and wane as UX projects come and go. While your salary may be constant, you may not always enjoy the projects that you are working on. The good news [...]
Networking is critical regardless of what your career is. That said, by definition user experience is centered on understanding people: the people we design for, the people that participate in our research studies, and the people that ultimately use our end products. Give your UX peers the opportunity to get to know you and, at [...]
I met someone recently who is a consultant at a large organization. We started talking about our various consulting efforts, and I mentioned that I do a lot of work with government agencies. “Oh,” he said, “does that mean you are on the GSA schedule?” I explained that I am not. When I mentioned that [...]
Update 3/29/13: This blog was the basis for: Article: Lebson, Cory. 2013. "UX Adventure: Enhance your resume, improve your career potential, and feel the excitement!" UX Magazine, Article No. 983. March 22, 2013. Radio Show: Lebson, Cory. 2013. "How to Turn your Tech Career into an Adventure!" IMI Tech Talk (KFNX News-talk Radio 1100, Phoenix, [...]
As a consultant specializing in user research, studying how users interact with Web and mobile resources, I wish I could give my clients a short contract to sign promising that if they work with me, they will definitely incorporate usability into their project. They will listen to my suggestions and they will follow through with [...]
Back in 2008, although I had been involved in what was then UPA as a member who attended events, my only UX leadership role was in the workplace. Upon switching from being an employee to being a business owner in the middle of that year, I realized that I needed something more. With clients that [...]
[Update 3/29/13: This post was part of the basis for Lebson, Cory. "Care About Your UX Career? Network Now!" User Experience Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 1 (First Quarter 2013).] By the time Twitter emerged into the public sphere, I was already primed as a regular LinkedIn and Facebook user to the value of social media, so [...]
[Update 3/29/13: This post was part of the basis for Lebson, Cory. "Care About Your UX Career? Network Now!" User Experience Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 1 (First Quarter 2013).] It was 2003 and a good friend from high school who had moved to Japan sent me a LinkedIn invitation. It said that he wanted me [...]
A client hired Lebsontech for user experience related work, but partway through the process decided to use Lebsontech staff to address some other priorities that weren’t specifically user experience (UX) related. Since I knew funds were limited, using the funds and my team for this alternate purpose would seriously limit the time and funding available [...]
A US government agency hired Lebsontech to conduct a focus group to better understand how they should translate and post web content in non-English languages and how they should transition between languages. The focus group participants included people with a specific interest in the agency's content, were bilingual, and were community leaders for US-based communities [...]
I have now entered my third year as the president of the Usability Professionals’ Association DC chapter (UPA-DC). I joined the board (as UPA-DC Secretary) in 2009 and in 2010 became chapter president, a role that I have held ever since. At the beginning of my first term as president, we would get 35 to [...]
Update 3/29/13 This blog has been the basis for: Lebson, Cory. 2012. "Making Usability a Priority: Advocating for the Value of User Research (PDF)." Intercom Magazine. October 2012. Lebson, Cory. "Making Usability a Priority: Advocating for the Value of User Research." Society for Technical Communication (STC) Live Webinar. October 23, 2012. Preface It’s been almost two [...]
I get at least one email message or phone call from a recruiter almost daily. They want to tell me about a great job opportunity. Would I be willing to become an employee of their company (or in many cases of their client)? If so, they want to talk further and see if I would [...]
Update 3/29/13 This blog has been the basis for: A reprint on usability.gov (May 28, 2014) Lebson, Cory. 2012. "Making Usability a Priority: Advocating for the Value of User Research (PDF)." Intercom Magazine. October 2012. Lebson, Cory. "Making Usability a Priority: Advocating for the Value of User Research." Society for Technical Communication (STC) Live Webinar. October [...]
How many sessions should a stakeholder observe? In an ideal world, the stakeholder would be able to observe all of the usability test sessions live. The stakeholder would get to see those that succeed with ease, and those that may have a fair bit of difficulty. Often, however, this doesn’t happen. The stakeholder has limited [...]