Researching users, gathering requirements, creating personas, defining scenarios, and writing use cases
Identify actual users and stakeholders
"You are not the user" is a common phrase in UX. Its purpose is to remind you—the designer—to consider the actual user needs involved in a project. You should take some time to identify who uses (or would use) your product. Are they students? Faculty? Staff? Members of a specific department?
In his article “Understanding Stakeholders through Research,” Jim Ross wrote the following: "Stakeholder refers to a person who holds a stake, or has a vested interest in a project. Although the users of a product or service obviously have a stake in it, we usually use the term stakeholder to refer to key people in a company that is building a product. This often includes clients, managers, department heads, subject-matter experts—and sometimes, user representatives."
Identify the personas from the established OIT list and create new ones if necessary
Personas are realistic representations of the users your product will reach. Each persona will have personality, needs, wants, and responsibilities that reach outside the scope of your project. These may include family members, aspirations, disabilities/struggles, etc.
These depictions of your users will help you understand the potential uses of your product and what may be distracting or preventing your users from interacting with it. Personas may also prompt you to consider potential users you hadn't previously planned for.
Write unique scenarios that include the personas relative to the project
Personas are most useful when portrayed in scenarios unique to their environments and situations. For example, a student may need to access your website from the comforts of their home or while they rush to class. If the student's parents need to use the site to assist their student in some way, their needs will be significantly different.
As you consider each scenario, you'll be able to address potential pitfalls and obstacles before your users ever interact with the product.
For more information on personas, please refer to our Research page.
Research the problems or deficiencies identified by the actual users through surveys, testing, interviews, etc.
Users are often willing to share their opinions about a product and information about their needs. Ask them! Issue surveys digitally or in person, conduct user testing of your website, interview interest groups, etc.
In these surveys and interviews, leave some questions open-ended. Doing so may expose concerns and needs you haven't considered.
If your website is already live but needs revision, consider having users test the existing product to note the current pain points.
Make a record of current user metrics (if the product already exists)
To show that your efforts made a difference (and did more than just spend project funds), you'll need metrics showing how the user's experience was improved. Gather the data before and after you make changes. Consider using experience mapping with surveys and user observation, collecting data on calls to the Service Desk regarding your product (particularly the problems it's meant to solve), and counting the amount of money and development hours regularly put into maintaining the current product.
For more information on gathering metrics, please refer to our Resources page.