User Research

User Research

Frameworks for building deep user understanding through structured research methods. Covers personas, journey mapping, interviews, usability testing, and Jobs-to-be-Done.

Research Method Selection

Choose the right method for your question:

Rule of thumb: Start with interviews (5-8 participants) to discover unknowns. Switch to surveys once you have hypotheses to validate.

Persona Quick Reference

Personas are fictional composites built from research synthesis. Keep to 3-5 max.

## Persona: [Name]

### Demographics
- Age: [Range]
- Role: [Job title]
- Company: [Type/size]
- Tech savviness: [Low/Medium/High]

### Quote
> "[Characteristic statement that captures their mindset]"

### Goals
1. [Primary goal - what success looks like]
2. [Secondary goal]

### Pain Points
1. [Frustration with current state]
2. [Obstacle they face]

### Key Insight
[The most important thing to remember about this persona]

Incorrect — vague persona without goals:

Persona: Sarah, Age 35, Marketing Manager. Likes social media and coffee.

Correct — actionable persona with goals and pain points:

Persona: DevOps Dana
Quote: "I don't have time for tools that create more work than they save."
Goals: Reduce deployment failures, give devs self-service capabilities
Pain Points: Alert fatigue from false positives, context-switching between 10+ tools
Key Insight: Evaluates tools by "time saved vs. time invested" — needs immediate value.

Journey Map Structure

Maps the end-to-end experience for a specific persona and scenario.

## Journey Map: [Journey Name]

### Persona + Scenario
[Which persona | What they're trying to accomplish]

### Stages: Aware → Consider → Purchase → Onboard → Use → Retain

For each stage:
- **Touchpoints:** [Channel/interaction point]
- **Actions:** [What user does]
- **Emotions:** [Satisfied / Neutral / Frustrated]
- **Pain Points:** [Friction]
- **Opportunities:** [How we improve]

Common B2B SaaS stages: Awareness → Evaluation → Purchase → Onboarding → Adoption → Expansion → Advocacy/Churn

JTBD Framework

People don't buy products — they hire them to do specific jobs.

JTBD Statement Format:

When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome].

Example:

When I'm preparing for a board review, I want to quickly see revenue trends,
so I can answer questions confidently without scrambling for data.

Job Dimensions:

Opportunity Score: Importance + (Importance - Satisfaction) — scores > 10 indicate high-opportunity areas.

Empathy Map

Quick tool for building shared understanding in workshops:

+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         SAYS            |            THINKS             |
| Direct quotes           | Worries and concerns          |
| Questions asked         | Aspirations                   |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         DOES            |            FEELS              |
| Observable actions      | Emotional state               |
| Workarounds             | Frustrations and delights     |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         PAINS           |            GAINS              |
| Fears and obstacles     | Wants and needs               |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+

Interview Best Practices

Standard interview arc: Warm-up (5 min) → Context setting (10 min) → Deep dive (25 min) → Wrap-up (5 min)

Rules (Load On-Demand)

Read these files for detailed guidance:

• research-personas.md — Persona template, empathy map, maintenance schedule
• research-journey-mapping.md — Journey map template, service blueprints, experience curves
• research-user-interviews.md — Interview structure, usability testing, NPS/SUS, card sorting

References

• interview-guide-template.md — Ready-to-use interview guide template
• journey-map-workshop.md — Workshop facilitation guide
• user-story-workshop-guide.md — User story writing workshop

Related Skills

• ork:write-prd — Translate research insights into structured product requirements
• ork:product-frameworks — Full PM framework suite (business cases, prioritization, metrics, OKRs)

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Version: 1.0.0

Interview Guide Template

Use this template to prepare for user interviews.

# Interview Guide: [Research Topic]

**Project:** [Project name]
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Interviewer:** [Name]
**Note-taker:** [Name]

---

## Research Questions

What do we want to learn?

1. [Primary research question]
2. [Secondary research question]
3. [Secondary research question]

---

## Participant Profile

| Criterion | Requirement |
|-----------|-------------|
| Role | [e.g., Product Manager] |
| Experience | [e.g., 2+ years] |
| Industry | [e.g., B2B SaaS] |
| Tool usage | [e.g., Uses [tool] weekly] |

---

## Interview Flow

### Warm-up (5 min)

**Script:**

"Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. I'm [name] and I'm researching [topic]. This conversation will help us understand [goal].

There are no right or wrong answers - we want to learn from your experience. Is it okay if I record this for my notes? The recording won't be shared outside the team."

**Questions:**
- Tell me a bit about your role and what you do day-to-day.
- How long have you been in this role?

---

### Context Setting (10 min)

**Goal:** Understand their current workflow and context.

**Questions:**
1. Walk me through the last time you [relevant activity].
2. What tools or methods do you currently use for [task]?
3. How often do you [activity]?
4. Who else is involved in this process?

**Probes:**
- Can you tell me more about that?
- What happened next?
- How did that make you feel?

---

### Deep Dive (25 min)

**Goal:** Explore pain points and needs.

**Questions:**
1. What's the hardest part about [task]?
2. Can you tell me about a time when [task] went wrong?
3. What do you wish you could do that you can't today?
4. If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

**Jobs to be Done:**
- When [situation], what are you trying to accomplish?
- What does success look like for you?

---

### Concept Testing (optional, 15 min)

**Goal:** Get reaction to prototype or concept.

**Setup:**

"I'm going to show you something we're working on. It's an early concept, so don't worry about polish. I want to hear your honest reaction."

**Questions:**
1. What are your initial reactions?
2. What would you expect to happen if you [action]?
3. How would this fit into your current workflow?
4. What's missing that you'd need?

---

### Wrap-up (5 min)

**Questions:**
1. Is there anything else you'd like to share?
2. What's the one thing we should make sure to get right?
3. Who else should we talk to about this?

**Script:**

"Thank you so much for your time. This has been really helpful. Here's your [incentive]. We may follow up with additional questions - would that be okay?"

---

## After Interview

### Quick Debrief (5 min after)

- Top 3 takeaways:
- Surprises:
- Quotes to remember:

### Full Notes (within 24 hours)

- Clean up notes
- Highlight key quotes
- Tag themes
- Upload recording

Journey Map Workshop Guide

Facilitation guide for customer journey mapping sessions.

Workshop Structure

Total Time: 3-4 hours

1. Setup & Objectives (15 min)
2. Journey Stages Definition (30 min)
3. Touchpoint Mapping (45 min)
4. Emotional Journey (30 min)
5. Pain Points & Opportunities (45 min)
6. Prioritization (30 min)
7. Wrap-up & Next Steps (15 min)

Pre-Workshop Preparation

Materials

• Large whiteboard or wall space
• Sticky notes (5 colors)
• Markers
• Persona cards
• Research findings summary
• Journey map template (printed large)

Participants to Invite

• Product Manager
• Designer
• Engineer (customer-facing features)
• Customer Success/Support
• Sales (if B2B)
• Marketing
• Real customer (ideal but optional)

Pre-Read

• Existing user research
• Support ticket analysis
• Analytics highlights
• Persona documentation

Journey Map Canvas

STAGE:      | Awareness | Consideration | Purchase | Onboarding | Use | Advocacy |
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
DOING       │           │               │          │            │     │          │
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
THINKING    │           │               │          │            │     │          │
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
FEELING     │   😐      │     🤔        │    😬    │     😊     │ 😃  │    🥰    │
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
TOUCHPOINTS │           │               │          │            │     │          │
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
PAIN POINTS │           │               │          │            │     │          │
────────────┼───────────┼───────────────┼──────────┼────────────┼─────┼──────────┤
OPPORTUN.   │           │               │          │            │     │          │

Workshop Flow

1. Setup & Objectives (15 min)

Facilitator Script:

"Today we're mapping the journey of [persona] as they
[goal/task]. Our objective is to identify pain points
and opportunities to improve their experience.

We'll use this journey map as our canvas. Let's start
by reviewing who [persona] is and what they're trying
to accomplish."

Review:

• Persona overview
• Journey scope (start and end points)
• Research highlights

2. Journey Stages Definition (30 min)

Activity: Define 5-7 stages of the journey

Questions:

• What triggers the journey? (Entry point)
• What are the major phases?
• What signals the end of each stage?
• What does "success" look like? (Exit point)

Common B2B SaaS Stages:

Awareness → Evaluation → Purchase → Onboarding →
Adoption → Expansion → Advocacy/Churn

Common B2C Stages:

Discover → Research → Try → Buy → Use → Share

3. Touchpoint Mapping (45 min)

Activity: For each stage, map what the user DOES

Questions per stage:

• What action does the user take?
• What information do they seek?
• What decisions do they make?
• What channels do they use?

Sticky Note Prompts:

• "Searches for..."
• "Clicks on..."
• "Asks about..."
• "Compares..."
• "Signs up for..."

4. Emotional Journey (30 min)

Activity: Map the emotional experience at each stage

For each touchpoint, ask:

• How does the user feel at this moment?
• What are they worried about?
• What would delight them?

Emotion Scale:

😃 Delighted - Exceeded expectations
😊 Satisfied - Met expectations
😐 Neutral - No strong feeling
😟 Frustrated - Below expectations
😠 Angry - Major failure

Draw the emotional curve across stages.

5. Pain Points & Opportunities (45 min)

Pain Points (Red sticky notes):

• Where does friction occur?
• What causes frustration?
• Where do users drop off?
• What support tickets mention?

Opportunities (Green sticky notes):

• How could we eliminate this pain?
• What would delight users here?
• What's the "magic moment" potential?
• Quick wins vs. long-term improvements?

6. Prioritization (30 min)

Impact/Effort Matrix:

              HIGH IMPACT
                   │
        ┌──────────┼──────────┐
        │  DO NEXT │ DO FIRST │
LOW ────┼──────────┼──────────┼──── HIGH
EFFORT  │  MAYBE   │  PLAN    │    EFFORT
        └──────────┼──────────┘
                   │
              LOW IMPACT

Dot Voting:

• Each person gets 5 dots
• Vote on most valuable opportunities
• Discuss top voted items

7. Wrap-up (15 min)

Document:

• Top 3 pain points
• Top 3 opportunities
• Quick wins (< 1 sprint)
• Key insights

Assign:

• Owner for journey map document
• Follow-up actions
• Review date

Post-Workshop

Within 24 Hours

• [ ] Photograph/export the physical map
• [ ] Create digital version
• [ ] Share with attendees

Within 1 Week

• [ ] Create detailed journey map document
• [ ] Prioritized improvement backlog
• [ ] Share with broader team

Ongoing

• [ ] Update as product evolves
• [ ] Review quarterly
• [ ] Validate with new research

User Story Workshop Guide

Facilitation guide for effective user story writing sessions.

Workshop Structure

Total Time: 2-3 hours

1. Context Setting (15 min)
2. Persona Review (15 min)
3. Story Mapping (45 min)
4. Story Writing (45 min)
5. Acceptance Criteria (30 min)
6. Prioritization (20 min)
7. Wrap-up (10 min)

1. Context Setting (15 min)

Facilitator Script

"Today we're writing user stories for [feature]. Our goal is to
break down the work into independent, valuable pieces that can
be estimated and prioritized.

Remember: We're focusing on WHAT users need, not HOW we'll build it."

Materials Needed

• Large whiteboard or Miro board
• Sticky notes (3 colors: personas, stories, criteria)
• Sharpies
• Timer
• Persona cards (printed)

2. Persona Review (15 min)

Review the primary persona(s) for this feature:

Quick Refresher:
- Who is [Persona Name]?
- What are their top 3 goals?
- What are their top 3 pain points?
- What context do they work in?

Activity

Each participant writes 1 "Job to be Done" for the persona on a sticky note.

3. Story Mapping (45 min)

Backbone Creation

USER JOURNEY: [Feature Name]

Discovery → Setup → First Use → Regular Use → Mastery
    │          │         │           │           │
    ▼          ▼         ▼           ▼           ▼
[Stories] [Stories] [Stories]  [Stories]   [Stories]

Process

1. Identify journey stages (10 min) 2. Add activities under each stage (15 min) 3. Break activities into stories (20 min)

4. Story Writing (45 min)

Template

As a [persona],
I want to [action/goal],
so that [benefit/outcome].

INVEST Check (for each story)

Common Story Splits

5. Acceptance Criteria (30 min)

Given-When-Then Format

Scenario: [Scenario name]
  Given [precondition/context]
  When [action taken]
  Then [expected result]
  And [additional result]

Example

Scenario: User filters search results by date
  Given I have search results displayed
  And the date filter is visible
  When I select "Last 7 days"
  Then only results from the last 7 days are shown
  And the filter shows "Last 7 days" as selected
  And the result count updates

Edge Cases to Consider

• Empty states (no data)
• Error conditions
• Boundary values
• Permission variations
• Network failures

6. Prioritization (20 min)

MoSCoW Quick Sort

Dot Voting

• Each participant gets 3 dots
• Vote on most valuable stories
• Count votes, sort by priority

7. Wrap-up (10 min)

Deliverables Checklist

• [ ] Stories mapped to journey
• [ ] Each story has acceptance criteria
• [ ] Stories prioritized (MoSCoW)
• [ ] Dependencies identified
• [ ] Next steps assigned

Follow-up Actions

• [ ] Transfer to issue tracker
• [ ] Schedule estimation session
• [ ] Share with stakeholders

Rule Categories

1. Personas (research) — HIGH — 1 rule

User persona templates, empathy maps, persona maintenance schedules.

• research-personas.md — Data-driven persona creation and empathy mapping

2. Journey Mapping (research) — HIGH — 1 rule

Customer journey maps, service blueprints, experience curves.

• research-journey-mapping.md — End-to-end experience mapping and touchpoint analysis

3. User Interviews (research) — HIGH — 1 rule

Interview structure, usability test plans, NPS/SUS surveys, card sorting.

• research-user-interviews.md — Qualitative research methods and facilitation guides

Journey Mapping & Service Blueprints

Customer Journey Map Structure

+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
| STAGE  | Aware   | Consider| Purchase| Onboard | Use & Retain  |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
| DOING  |         |         |         |         |               |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
|THINKING|         |         |         |         |               |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
|FEELING | Neutral | Curious | Anxious | Hopeful | Satisfied     |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
|  PAIN  |         |         |         |         |               |
| POINTS |         |         |         |         |               |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
| OPPORT-|         |         |         |         |               |
| UNITIES|         |         |         |         |               |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+
|TOUCH-  | Blog,   | Demo,   | Sales,  | Email,  | App, Support, |
|POINTS  | Social  | Reviews | Pricing | Docs    | Community     |
+--------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------------+

Journey Map Template

## Journey Map: [Journey Name]

### Persona
[Which persona is this journey for]

### Scenario
[What is the user trying to accomplish]

### Stages

#### Stage 1: [Name]

**Touchpoints:** [Channel/interaction point]
**Actions:** [What user does]
**Thoughts:** "[What they're thinking]"
**Emotions:** [Satisfied / Neutral / Frustrated]
**Pain Points:** [Friction or frustration]
**Opportunities:** [How we can improve]

---

#### Stage 2: [Name]
[Repeat structure]

---

### Key Insights
1. [Insight from mapping process]
2. [Another insight]

### Priority Improvements
| Stage | Opportunity | Impact | Effort |
|-------|-------------|--------|--------|
| | | | |

Experience Curve

Emotional Journey: First Month with Product

Satisfaction
    |
    |                              +----------
    |                        +----/  Productive
    |                   +----/       User
    |              +----/
    |     +--------/
    | +---/   Pit of          Climbing
    | /       Despair          Out
    |-/
    +-----------------------------------------------> Time
      Day 1   Week 1   Week 2   Week 3   Week 4

Service Blueprint

Extension of journey map showing frontstage/backstage operations.

+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| CUSTOMER ACTIONS    |  Browse  |  Sign up |  Onboard   |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| LINE OF INTERACTION |          |          |            |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| FRONTSTAGE         | Website  |  Form    |  Welcome   |
| (Visible)          |          |          |  wizard    |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| LINE OF VISIBILITY |          |          |            |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| BACKSTAGE          | CDN,     | Auth     |  Data      |
| (Invisible)        | Analytics| system   |  import    |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+
| SUPPORT PROCESSES  | Hosting, | Email    | Customer   |
|                    | CMS      | provider | success    |
+---------------------+----------+----------+------------+

When to Use Each Tool

Common B2B SaaS Stages

Awareness -> Evaluation -> Purchase -> Onboarding ->
Adoption -> Expansion -> Advocacy/Churn

Common B2C Stages

Discover -> Research -> Try -> Buy -> Use -> Share

Best Practices

• Dynamic journeys: Update based on real user behavior data
• Cross-functional creation: Include engineering, support, sales in workshops
• Connect to metrics: Link journey stages to measurable KPIs
• Review after major feature launches: Journeys change with the product

Incorrect — Journey map without pain points:

Stage: Onboarding
Actions: User signs up, receives email, logs in
Touchpoints: Website, email, app

Correct — Journey map with pain points and opportunities:

Stage: Onboarding
Actions: User signs up, waits for email (5 min delay), logs in
Emotions: Hopeful → Frustrated → Relieved
Pain Points: Slow email delivery, unclear next steps
Opportunities: Instant onboarding, in-app wizard instead of email

User Personas & Empathy Maps

Frameworks for synthesizing research into actionable user models.

Persona Template

## Persona: [Name]

### Demographics
- Age: [Range]
- Role: [Job title]
- Company: [Type/size]
- Tech savviness: [Low/Medium/High]

### Quote
> "[Characteristic statement that captures their mindset]"

### Background
[2-3 sentences about their professional context]

### Goals
1. [Primary goal - what success looks like]
2. [Secondary goal]
3. [Tertiary goal]

### Pain Points
1. [Frustration with current state]
2. [Obstacle they face]
3. [Risk or concern]

### Behaviors
- [Typical workflow or habit]
- [Tool preferences]
- [Information sources]

### Key Insight
[The most important thing to remember about this persona]

Persona Example

## Persona: DevOps Dana

### Demographics
- Age: 32
- Role: Senior DevOps Engineer
- Company: Mid-size SaaS (200 employees)
- Tech savviness: Expert

### Quote
> "I don't have time for tools that create more work than they save."

### Background
Dana manages CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure for a growing
engineering team. She's responsible for reliability and developer
productivity.

### Goals
1. Reduce deployment failures and rollback frequency
2. Give developers self-service capabilities without chaos
3. Spend less time on repetitive tasks, more on improvements

### Pain Points
1. Alert fatigue from too many false positives
2. Lack of visibility into who changed what and when
3. Context switching between 10+ different tools

### Behaviors
- Checks Slack and monitoring dashboards first thing
- Automates anything she does more than twice
- Documents decisions in ADRs and runbooks

### Key Insight
Dana evaluates tools by "time saved vs. time invested" -- she needs
immediate value with minimal onboarding.

Empathy Map

+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         SAYS            |            THINKS             |
| * Direct quotes         | * What occupies their mind    |
| * Statements made       | * Worries and concerns        |
| * Questions asked       | * Aspirations                 |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         DOES            |            FEELS              |
| * Observable actions    | * Emotional state             |
| * Behaviors             | * Frustrations                |
| * Workarounds           | * Delights                    |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+
|         PAINS           |            GAINS              |
| * Fears                 | * Wants                       |
| * Frustrations          | * Needs                       |
| * Obstacles             | * Success measures            |
+-------------------------+-------------------------------+

Persona vs. Empathy Map

Maintenance Schedule

Personas

• Review: Quarterly
• Full update: Annually or after major pivot

Empathy Maps

• Create fresh for each new scenario/project
• Archive after project completion

Best Practices

• Data-backed personas: Connect to analytics, not just qualitative research
• Cross-functional creation: Include engineering, support, sales in workshops
• Accessibility by default: Include users with disabilities in all personas
• Connect to metrics: Link persona needs to measurable KPIs
• 3-5 personas max: Too many dilutes focus

Incorrect — Vague persona without goals:

Persona: Sarah
Age: 35
Job: Marketing Manager
Likes: Social media, coffee

Correct — Actionable persona with goals and pain points:

Persona: DevOps Dana
Quote: "I don't have time for tools that create more work than they save."
Goals:
1. Reduce deployment failures
2. Give developers self-service
Pain Points:
1. Alert fatigue from false positives
2. Context switching between 10+ tools

User Interviews & Usability Testing

Methods for understanding user needs, validating designs, and gathering actionable insights.

Research Methods Overview

Interview Structure

## Interview Guide

### Warm-up (5 min)
- Introduction and consent
- "Tell me about your role and what you do day-to-day"

### Context Setting (10 min)
- "Walk me through the last time you [relevant activity]"
- "What tools or methods do you currently use?"

### Deep Dive (25 min)
- "What's the hardest part about [task]?"
- "Can you show me how you typically [action]?"
- "What would your ideal solution look like?"

### Concept Testing (optional, 15 min)
- Show prototype/concept
- "What are your initial reactions?"
- "How would this fit into your workflow?"

### Wrap-up (5 min)
- "Is there anything else you'd like to share?"
- "Who else should we talk to?"
- Thank you and incentive

Interview Best Practices

Usability Test Plan Template

## Usability Test Plan

### Objective
[What we're trying to learn]

### Prototype/Product
- Version: [Link or description]
- Fidelity: Low / Medium / High

### Participants
- Target: 5-10 users
- Criteria: [Who qualifies]

### Tasks
1. [Task 1]: Success criteria
2. [Task 2]: Success criteria
3. [Task 3]: Success criteria

### Metrics
- Task completion rate
- Time on task
- Error rate
- SUS score (post-test)

Survey Design

NPS Question

How likely are you to recommend [product] to a friend?
0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

[Detractors: 0-6] [Passives: 7-8] [Promoters: 9-10]
NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors

System Usability Scale (SUS)

10 questions, 5-point scale (Strongly disagree -> Strongly agree)
SUS Score = ((Sum of odd Qs - 5) + (25 - Sum of even Qs)) x 2.5
Range: 0-100, Average: 68

Card Sorting

Research Repository Template

## Research Finding: [Title]

### Study
- Date: [When conducted]
- Method: [Interview/Survey/etc.]
- Participants: [N and description]

### Key Insight
[One sentence summary]

### Evidence
- "[Direct quote from participant]" - P3
- [Observation or data point]

### Implications
- Product: [What to build/change]
- Design: [UX recommendation]
- Strategy: [Business consideration]

Incorrect — Leading questions that bias responses:

Interview Questions:
- "Don't you think this feature would be useful?"
- "Wouldn't you prefer this over your current tool?"
- "You'd pay $50/month for this, right?"

Correct — Open-ended questions that uncover insights:

Interview Questions:
- "Walk me through the last time you [relevant activity]"
- "What's the hardest part about [task]?"
- "What would your ideal solution look like?"
- "Can you show me how you typically [action]?"