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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 14 - Startup #1: Principles to get started and stay focused

Kicking off a mini-series on starting up, before actually doing anything let's be clear on how we want to operate. Principles offer a handy tool to help you keep the eyes on the right ball. Here are seven to get you started.

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tags: Principles, Reflection, Values, Focus, Research
categories: Strategy, Startup
Sunday 07.19.20
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 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 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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