Software UX Research

Software UX Research Skill — Quick Reference

Use this skill to identify problems/opportunities and de-risk decisions. Use software-ui-ux-design to implement UI patterns, component changes, and design system updates.

Dec 2025 Baselines (Core)

• Human-centred design: Iterative design + evaluation grounded in evidence (ISO 9241-210:2019) https://www.iso.org/standard/77520.html
• Usability definition: Effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction in context (ISO 9241-11:2018) https://www.iso.org/standard/63500.html
• Accessibility baseline: WCAG 2.2 is a W3C Recommendation (12 Dec 2024) https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/
• EU shipping note: European Accessibility Act applies to covered products/services after 28 Jun 2025 (Directive (EU) 2019/882) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882

When to Use This Skill

• Discovery: user needs, JTBD, opportunity sizing, mental models.
• Validation: concepts, prototypes, onboarding/first-run success.
• Evaluative: usability tests, heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs.
• Quant/behavioral: funnels, cohorts, instrumentation gaps, guardrails.
• Research Ops: intake, prioritization, repository/taxonomy, consent/PII handling.

Operating Mode (Core)

If inputs are missing, ask for:

• Decision to unblock (what will change based on this research).
• Target roles/segments and top tasks.
• Platforms and contexts (web/mobile/desktop; remote/on-site; assisted tech).
• Existing evidence (analytics, tickets, reviews, recordings, prior studies).
• Constraints (timeline, recruitment access, compliance, budget).

Default outputs (pick what the user asked for):

• Research plan + output contract (prefer ../software-clean-code-standard/templates/checklists/ux-research-plan-template.md; use templates/research-plan-template.md for skill-specific detail)
• Study protocol (tasks/script + success metrics + recruitment plan)
• Findings report (issues + severity + evidence + recommendations + confidence)
• Decision brief (options + tradeoffs + recommendation + measurement plan)

Method Chooser (Core)

Research Types (Keep Explicit)

Decision Tree (Fast)

What do you need?
  ├─ WHY / needs / context → interviews, contextual inquiry, diary
  ├─ HOW / usability → moderated usability test, cognitive walkthrough, heuristic eval
  ├─ WHAT / scale → analytics/logs + targeted qual follow-ups
  └─ WHICH / causal → experiments (if feasible) or preference tests

Method Selection Table (Practical)

Research by Product Stage

Stage Framework (What to Do When)

Post-Launch Measurement (What to Track)

Research for Complex Systems (Workflows, Admin, Regulated)

Complexity Indicators

Evaluation Methods (Core)

• Contextual inquiry: observe real work and constraints.
• Task analysis: map goals → steps → failure points.
• Cognitive walkthrough: evaluate learnability and signifiers.
• Error-path testing: timeouts, offline, partial data, permission loss, retries.
• Multi-role walkthrough: simulate handoffs (creator → reviewer → admin).

Multi-Role Coverage Checklist

• Role-permission matrix documented.
• “No access” UX defined (request path, least-privilege defaults).
• Cross-role handoffs tested (notifications, state changes, audit history).
• Error recovery tested for each role (retry, undo, escalation).

Research Ops & Governance (Core)

Intake (Make Requests Comparable)

Minimum required fields:

• Decision to unblock and deadline.
• Research questions (primary + secondary).
• Target users/segments and recruitment constraints.
• Existing evidence and links.
• Deliverable format + audience.

Prioritization (Simple Scoring)

Use a lightweight score to avoid backlog paralysis:

• Decision impact
• Knowledge gap
• Timing urgency
• Feasibility (recruitment + time)

Repository & Taxonomy

• Store each study with: method, date, product area, roles, tasks, key findings, raw evidence links.
• Tag for reuse: problem type (navigation/forms/performance), component/pattern, funnel step.
• Prefer “atomic” findings (one insight per card) to enable recombination [Inference].

Consent, PII, and Access Control

Follow applicable privacy laws; GDPR is a primary reference for EU processing https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj

PII handling checklist:

• Collect minimum PII needed for scheduling and incentives.
• Store identity/contact separately from study data.
• Redact names/emails from transcripts before broad sharing.
• Restrict raw recordings to need-to-know access.
• Document consent, purpose, retention, and opt-out path.

Measurement & Decision Quality (Core)

Triangulation Rubric

Adoption vs Value (Avoid Vanity Metrics)

When NOT to Run A/B Tests

Common Confounds (Call Out Early)

• Selection bias (only power users respond).
• Survivorship bias (you miss churned users).
• Novelty effect (short-term lift).
• Instrumentation changes mid-test (metrics drift).

Optional: AI/Automation Research Considerations

Use only when researching automation/AI-powered features. Skip for traditional software UX.

Key Questions

Error Taxonomy (User-Visible)

Optional: AI-Assisted Research Ops (Guardrailed)

• Use automation for transcription/tagging only after PII redaction.
• Maintain an audit trail: every theme links back to raw quotes/clips.
• Prohibit fabricated quotes and “synthetic users” as evidence for real decisions.

Navigation

Resources

• resources/research-frameworks.md — JTBD, Kano, Double Diamond, Service Blueprint, opportunity mapping
• resources/ux-audit-framework.md — Heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, severity rating
• resources/usability-testing-guide.md — Task design, facilitation, analysis
• resources/ux-metrics-framework.md — Task metrics, SUS/HEART, measurement guidance
• resources/customer-journey-mapping.md — Journey mapping and service blueprints
• resources/pain-point-extraction.md — Feedback-to-themes method
• resources/review-mining-playbook.md — B2B/B2C review mining
• data/sources.json — Curated external references

Templates

• Shared plan template: ../software-clean-code-standard/templates/checklists/ux-research-plan-template.md — Product-agnostic research plan template (core + optional AI)
• templates/research-plan-template.md — UX research plan template
• templates/testing/usability-test-plan.md — Usability test plan
• templates/testing/usability-testing-checklist.md — Usability testing checklist
• templates/audits/heuristic-evaluation-template.md — Heuristic evaluation
• templates/audits/ux-audit-report-template.md — Audit report