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Thomas Essl

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E22 · How I use data and analytics to power product development

I'll dive into what metrics I care about during product development and tell you about lesser-used methods of gathering insights about user behaviour and interactions with your product.

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tags: Data, insights, Research, analytics, Tools, Iteration, Objectives, Goals, intelligence, OKRs, Product Management, surveys, Strategy, Users, UX, usability testing
categories: Research, Startup
Sunday 11.08.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

E20 · Organising content with Card Sorting (Research essentials #4)

When working out how to organise things and what to call them, Card Sorting offers an easy and rapid research method to ensure that what seems obvious to you is also obvious to your users.

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tags: card sorting, Research, User interviews, User testing, Taxonomies, Information Architecture, UX, Content
categories: Research, Startup
Sunday 10.11.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

E19 · User testing (User research essentials for anyone #3)

User testing helps you ensure that you're building your product in the right way before you go and actually do it, thus de-risking your work and avoiding wasted effort.

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tags: Research, User interviews, user journeys, User testing, Users, insights, Stakeholders
categories: Startup, Interview, Research
Sunday 09.27.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 18 - Discovery interviews (User research essentials for anyone #2)

Discovery interviews are a universally useful, flexible, and simple method to understand entire user journeys, build personas, and ground all work that follows.

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tags: research, User interviews, User testing, user journeys, Research
categories: Research, Startup, Strategy, Interview
Sunday 09.13.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 17 - User research essentials for anyone #1: Start here

Every successful product is built around a genuine human need. But you don't need to have an experienced researcher by your side to uncover user insights and guide your human-centred product development. Anyone on a team should know the basics and can even lead successful research sessions. All you need is a few basics to get going.

In this episode, I'll share the few methods that cover the majority of my research needs, and a few guidelines that apply to almost all of them. Get ready and dive in!

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tags: User testing, usability testing, card sorting, surveys, analytics, focus groups, Ethnography, Bias, User interviews, Product Management
categories: Research, Strategy
Sunday 08.30.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

EP 13 - Stakeholder interviews #2 - Great questions

Stakeholder interviews maybe the first thing to consider on any project. In the second part of a two-part series, I share tried and tested questions to get to unique insights, and explain why they work.

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tags: Stakeholders, collaboration, Stakeholder interviews, Questions, Research
categories: Research, Strategy, Management
Sunday 07.05.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 12 - Stakeholder interviews #1 - Why they matter

Stakeholder interviews may be the first thing to consider on any project. In this first part of a two-part series, I discuss why you shouldn't miss them and how I structure them.

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tags: Stakeholders, Research, Management
categories: Research, Strategy
Sunday 06.21.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 11 - Not being first

Discovering that an idea we feel passionate about has already been implemented by someone else can feel like a punch in the gut. But you should not prematurely give up on your idea because of it.

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tags: Motivation, Ideation, Competition
categories: Strategy, Research
Sunday 06.07.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 9 - Surveys #2 - Design surveys that don't suck

Surveys are an excellent tool to remotely gather information from a large audience. Done right, they can provide the information you and your team need to make good decisions from engaged respondents who are happy to help you. However, their flexibility opens them up for a number of risks.

In the second episode on this topic, I share my checklist for questions guaranteed to bring you more and better quality results.

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tags: Surveys, intelligence, Research, Working Remotely
categories: Research
Sunday 05.10.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 8 - Surveys #1 - Principles for successful surveys

Surveys are an excellent tool to remotely gather information from a large audience. Done right, they can provide the information you and your team need to make good decisions from engaged respondents who are happy to help you. However, their flexibility opens them up for a number of risks.

In the first episode on this topic, I share a few general points to help you frame your survey in the right way.

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tags: Surveys, engagement, research, intelligence, insights, Working Remotely
categories: Research, Strategy
Sunday 04.26.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 5 - Influencing stakeholders with user feedback

User feedback is crucial to help your team to develop your product in the right direction. But it also serves another purpose: To convince others of what you already know. Augmenting quantitative findings with real-life snippets of user feedback makes your points more real and believable and can buy you a ton of support.

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tags: Stakeholders, People skills, Presentations
categories: Management, Research
Sunday 03.15.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

Ep 2 - Competitor research

Competitor research can be an invaluable tool to inform your product strategy. It can also be an utter waste of time. Here are a few points to help you make sure you get ground your activities in a solid understanding of your competitive landscape.

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tags: Research
categories: Strategy, Research
Sunday 02.02.20
Posted by Thomas Essl
 

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Thomas Essl is a designer who writes about creative and personal development. You can follow along by signing up for his newsletter and following him on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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