Carol Rossi

November 2-3 2023

December 4-6, 2023

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In this 7-minute read, Carol outlines the process we'll use in this workshop to get to a game plan for your customer insights program.

Create a Game Plan for Successful Customer Conversations

Here's a preview of what we'll do in the course. Check out this article where I outline a prioritization framework and approach that can help you overcome common challenges like: - unclear responsibility for prioritization decisions- team members insisting on the importance of their studies- the perception that it's faster to run the study than have a discussion- constantly changing circumstances- conflicts between tactical and generative research

Are you doing too much research?

In this course, we'll dive deep into what separates superficial customer coffee chats from truly impactful conversations based in curiosity and learning customer needs. Here's an overview of the 3 key elements we'll cover.

3 Keys to Impactful Customer Conversations

Do Only the Research that Matters

Sr Product Designer

UX Research Lead

Senior Manager, User Research

UX Researcher

Create a Game Plan to Maximize Customer Conversations

Product consultant

Vp of UX and Product 

Director, Product & Product Operations

Senior UX Researcher

ux researcher

We have limited time and resources. We need to be sure we're focused on only doing the research that will help de-risk decisions. In this course, you'll learn a proven and flexible prioritization framework based on an Uncertainty + Risk + Cost approach. If you decide research is needed, you'll learn how to set it up for maximum impact from the start. Whether it's time for quarterly planning, you're in a 20-minute standup, or in a Slack convo - this framework can be used anytime you're trying to decide whether you need to do research or should go straight to development. This is a highly interactive, hands-on course. You'll work independently as well as with other participants to come away with a completed worksheet where you've prioritized 3 actual research ideas.

Be confident your team is doing research that will have real impact

<ul><li>What we mean by impact and why prioritization is important</li><li>Preparing to prioritize: deciding who's involved in the process</li><li>Overview of the prioritization process</li><li>Gathering requests for research projects</li></ul>

Session 1: Setting the stage

<ul><li>Assess and Prioritize projects</li><li>Communicate decisions to stakeholders</li><li>Post-research: Identify and track impact</li><li>Lock in key learnings and identify your next steps</li></ul>

Session 2: Prioritizing your projects and tracking impact

Course syllabus

We'll meet for 2 sessions of 2 hours each. These will be live, highly interactive sessions, where you'll work through the prioritization model. In addition to learning from Carol, you'll develop skills through interactions with other attendees.

Two consecutive days

There is 30-60 minutes of pre-work before our first live session.<ul><li>Gather details for 3 actual research projects you will prioritize during the workshop.</li><li>A 12 minute pre-course video introduces basic terms and concepts to help us hit the ground running when the course begins.</li></ul>

Offline projects

Carol will be available on Zoom and in the community for 30 minutes the day after our last session to answer any remaining questions.

Bonus: Optional AMA

Course schedule

You lead researchers, whether you're in Research, Design or Product, and you want confidence in the impact of your research investment.

You are a senior, lead, staff, principal IC researcher who wants to have more impact and grow your business acumen.

Your team is doing what you think is the right research but the insights are falling flat

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

You'll prioritize several real-world projects using the framework, assessing each potential project to determine which studies need to be done and which don’t.

Develop a repeatable framework to identify when research is actually needed, prioritize the right studies, and track impact

Using a worksheet, you'll prioritize your research projects according to key criteria like Clarity, Risk, and Cost. In addition to the takeaway completed worksheet, working through the framework with peers is attendees' favorite thing about this approach.

Create a worksheet you can use to gather, assess, and prioritize research projects

You'll determine how to include key stakeholders in the prioritization activity, and create scripts for how to communicate your final prioritization decisions with sensitivity to organizational process and stakeholder feelings.

Increase confidence in how to involve stakeholders in your prioritization process 

Without literally writing down the impact of research, we can't articulate the true impact it has had throughout the org. You'll see how simple it can be to track post-research impact in a worksheet.

Communicate post-research impact using tools you already have

Know when research is needed and when it's not

Think you don't have time to talk with customers, or that "doing research" takes too long? Not sure you're asking the right questions? Or you've talked with customers but not seen action from those insights? It all sounds overwhelming so it seems easier to just go with your gut? I get it. But it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to be a career researcher to learn the foundational skills that help you have successful conversations with customers. Since 2010, I've taught countless people to do just that. This is a highly interactive, hands-on course, with a mix of video content and projects you complete on your own, and live sessions where we take the learnings into action together. What we'll doI'll share key info that will make your interviews a success. You'll work in small groups to create an interview plan, run interviews, synthesize the raw interview input into actionable insights, and create a plan to put those insights into action. What you'll getYou'll walk away knowing how to run successful customer interviews, and how to make the insights actionable through practice in real time. Bonus: This isn't a workshop about AI tools, but we'll touch on how to use AI to your advantage throughout the research process. Let the bots do what they're good at (hint: it's not interviewing customers) so you're free to make human connections and do big-picture thinking with insights.

Don't just talk to customers, feel confident you're making the most of insights

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

May 7, 2022

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

You're a designer, PM, engineer, or other non-UXRer seeking confidence in gathering quality customer insights to make informed decisions.

You manage designers, PMs, engineers, and want to ensure your team knows how to get actionable customer insights and make informed decisions

You've run a lot of interviews but want to see more action from the results

We'll dive deep into common challenges, like asking leading questions or asking customers to predict future behavior, and what you can do instead. Learn to run story-based interviews and see real examples of interviews done right—and wrong.

Learn what we mean by "quality" insights and how to get them

Align your research with OKRs and KPIs. Learn how to get your team on board from the start, to make insights-driven decisions later. Identify the right participants and craft unbiased interview questions for maximum impact.

Craft a foolproof interview plan

Get confident in your ability to have customer conversations by practicing interview skills in real time, in the safe space of our workshop. Work through constructive feedback with other attendees. You'll practice several rounds of interviews.

Run interviews 

Learn the difference between findings (what you heard during interviews) and actionable insights. You'll be guided through the process of identifying insights, and how to prioritize those that matter most for your business.

Transform raw interview notes into insights

Research doesn’t stop at insights—it ends with an action plan and accountability. We’ll outline tools like "how might we" statements, opportunity and journey maps, and teach you to measure and track impact. No deep ideation, but practical strategies to take insights to action.

Make the insights actionable

At the end of the workshops, ask Carol any outstanding questions during a final 1-hour live AMA. This is a great way to wrap up your knowledge and be sure you know how to move what you learned into your day-to-day work.

AMA to address remaining questions

You'll leave this course with templates for: sample non-biased interview questions, a 2-page interview plan, a step-by-step process to go from interviews to opportunities and an action plan, and 2-page summary report. Plus, you'll get links to relevant outside resources.

Templates and links to resources

Learn to run successful story-based interviews and make data-driven decisions using the insights

Need a Research Expert? When to Go Pro and When to DIY

Founder, Carol Rossi Consulting

Jenny Wanger

Product Consultant and Coach

Lija Hogan

Principal, Experience Research Strategy at UserTesting

We'll share considerations and frameworks to help you decide, based on available staff, decisions needed, and customers.

DIY vs Pro: When to choose each approach?

You'll learn practical tips, like predictable challenges, how AI can help, and how to get training.

What do you need to know to get started with research?

The quick answer: operations. We'll share what's the minimum setup and how to scale, without the need for perfection.

How can you make it easier for your team to do research?

Become a High Impact UX Researcher

Former head of UX Research at NerdWallet and Edmunds

Judd Antin

Former Head of UX Research at Airbnb, UC Berkeley Professor

Learn what are the top skills for success (hint: it's less about the research!), and examples of those skills in action.

Discover Top Success Drivers for UX Researchers

Learn to spot time-wasting activities and how to reduce them so you can focus on what truly matters.

Identify Time Wasters

Hear specific examples of what you can start doing TODAY to build the skills necessary to excel.

Develop the Top Skills

Prioritizing Research for Impact

Focus limited time and resources on research that's aligned to business objectives and impact

Using an Uncertainty + Risk + Cost framework, you'll know when it's time for research and when you already know enough

Learn a proven prioritization framework

... whether you're doing quarterly planning or having a quick Slack chat to decide whether more research is needed

Carol Rossi

Carol Rossi

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