15 user research days

A weeknote starting 2 June 2025.

Observing users

I'm heading off on the train for 2 more days of observing users, the plan is for a group of us to take turns observing multiple sessions over a couple of weeks.

This should give us a really deep understanding of the user's environment, so I'm excited to see what comes out of the synthesis, even if I am slightly daunted about doing 6 hours of observations in quick succession.

Once complete, I will have done 15 days of user research (UR) or observations this year. (Not full days, just days out of the office where UR where was the main focus of my day).

I think that must be a personal record and definitely the most UR I've done since my time at ONS (Office for National Statistics).

Reassigned to new a new product

I've also been partly re-assigned to a new product. This is the 4th I've been involved with since arriving in this department, which I think points to us not having enough clarity on priorities, or enough user-centered design (UCD) people to go around.

But, I'm happy to work on new things, and feel like I'm starting to get a really well-rounded view of all the products in the department.

This current one feels more contained and more likely to be delivered this year so it will be nice to work closely with some devs for a few sprints and get something shipped. Then hopefully I will be switching back to the longer term service changes I've been working on for most of the year.

Home Office accessibility posters

I was really happy to be able to contribute a tiny housekeeping update to the English language version of the Home Office accessibility posters.

I've admired the posters for a long time. They're a great example of cross government working in the open, and ofcourse a great accessibility resource.

I helped the team to remove the dependency on font awesome icon fonts, meaning that the posters should be easier to maintain and translate in future.

In It Together festival 2025

It's been a busy time personally too. The main thing to report is that I went with a big group of friends and family to In It Together, a music festival in Port Talbot.

I'm really pleased that the festival is going from strength to strength. Nice to have some positive news about Port Talbot for a change. (Aside, they always say it wrong on the news… it's pronounced "Puh-tal-butt" 😀)

I don't think I'm really part of the festival's target audience, but I'm happy to run around between the stages and build a line-up that more to my liking.

Some the bands/acts that I really enjoyed seeing…

  • Panic Shack
  • Antony Szmierek
  • Becky Hill
  • Shy FX
  • The Sugarhill Gang
  • CVC
  • Gillie
  • Bad Manners
  • Dactyl Terra
  • The Pill

Bookmarks