User Research Lab Launched!
The launch was a well attended event with 30+ colleagues from across the business joining.
It was great work by Rochelle, Allan and Ellen to organise this event!
Even more brilliant was meeting Simon Bolton (CEO) who cut the ribbon, and Helen Clifton (Director of Product Development). Both very enthused by the lab and the tech!
It was good chance to pause and reflect with colleagues who have been involved in this long journey for three years building the UR lab during the pandemic.
All the technology stood up:
- people had fun playing with the PTZ cameras,
- we streamed the event for colleagues with MS Teams,
- we tested running private web streams from both lab rooms,
- we recorded what happened in the lab rooms to capture any feedback!
It was exciting to hear that several teams have projects coming up where they may be ready to use the venue, and hearing there is already interest from other health departments!!
I imagine within a few weeks things will be fully booked up!
a long journey to this point…
I’ve been involved throughout the whole NHSD UR Lab design journey since 2018/2019, playing a key role in:
- facilitating the discovery of requirements with the User Research community
- understanding the art of the possible for the lab ** visiting x-gov labs and interviewing teams who manage labs - DWP, HMRC, GDS, HO, etc.
- designing the end-2-end user experience, for colleagues, participants, stakeholders
- working closely with suppliers and internal teams such as: architects, av suppliers, buildings/estates, tech services/desktop hardware teams, comms team, security.
- assuring the quality of the building and facilities
- testing all the equipment and providing documentation for the commmunity
Upcoming challenges and puzzles
“but I’m a starter, not often a finisher”
…It was with a lot delight that we could launch the UR lab and lots of enthusiatic colleagues attended. However it is also a sad moment for me as 99% of the UR Lab challenges have now been resolved. With 14 years in research I always wanted to open a lab, and now I’ve accomplished that.
The UR Lab really needs a ‘duty manager’ to take it forward, i.e. someone who lives locally and has an interest in User Research e.g. a Graduate or Junior Researcher would be ideal.
Running this industry-leading lab on a day-to-day basis would be a great development opportunity for whoever takes on that kind of challenge.
I know certaintly from running in-house labs during my the first five years of my research career at Dubit and then University of Leeds - working in a lab setting gives you great exposure to your customers, internal teams, their research methods, and usefully, important stakeholders too. The lab can be central to everything we do!
In person workshops
…In a few weeks I’m travelling to London, which is rare and I’ve not been out to another big city in a long time (Feb 2020).
Previously I would have happily jumped on any train, travelled anywhere in the country, but after 2.5 years at home, everywhere else seems so blooming far away!
I am really looking foward to the trip, meeting colleagues in our London teams for a big workshop, but just not these long train rides! Any suggestions for entertainment on the way is appreciated!
As always, any thoughts massively appreciated! :)
Tom