Remote User Research: A Panel Discussion About How to Get Close to Your Users and Business Goals

Many agencies and companies who were used to in-person research, had to transition to remote user research over the last couple of months. However, the seeming lack of control over the user’s environment, their devices and any technical issues can make the whole experience quite frustrating. On July 22, 2020, Silicon Garden hosted the We Are Online panel consisting of four international speakers with highly diverse backgrounds and work experiences, discussed the risks and problems and explained the benefits and opportunities of remote user research and testing and why it’s such an essential step for any company that wants to build a healthy customer/user relationship.

We were joined by these four amazing speakers:

• Max Scheugl, who has been working as a User Experience Consultant for over 25 years, reminded us that good user testing is important and that even user tests that went badly can teach us something valuable. You can only win.

• Sonja Bobrowska works as a Customer Experience Researcher in Team Digital at UNIQA, a company which considers user research to be an essential step in building solid customer relationships.

• Clo S., an independent UX designer, UX researcher and conversational designer, discussed how you can use cultural diversity when doing remote user research to your advantage and turn it into a major opportunity for creating a better product.

• Evelien Al, who combines design research, content strategy and copywriting to help business owners reach their customers, emphasized that testing from the user’s home doesn’t necessarily only mean restraint or risk for technical issues, but also provides us with other valuable business opportunities and knowledge too.

Doing the user testing remotely means less control over your user’s circumstances, devices and technical resources with plenty of risks for technical issues, but it also provides you and your company with many possibilities as our experts point out:

• Get a better idea of what it is that your customers want

• Get a better idea of who your possible customers are and how they live

• Develop a better customer relationship

• Have a more successful end product

• Become more aware of different cultures and customs as you get in touch with people from all over the world

• Create a more universally accessible end product

Unfortunately, user research is still very much undervalued and underused due to a lack of understanding of the process and a fear of failure. However, do take into account that any user test, no matter how many difficulties there were, will always result in some type of data that you can use and will lead to a better user test the next time. These tests are essential stepping stones on the way to a better product and a more direct customer relationship.

Remote Hiring: A Panel Discussion About How to Hire Successfully

In this panel discussion, we analyze and discuss the ins and outs of remote hiring. One of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was that working remotely and with that, remote hiring, suddenly became a substantial part of mainstream business practices.

The question however is, how do you find the right people and eventually hire them without actually meeting them in person. With those questions in mind, on June 17, 2020, Silicon Garden hosted the We Are Online panel consisting of three international speakers with highly diverse backgrounds. They discussed how to successfully hire remotely, a process that does require a different way of thinking and approach than a traditional hiring process.

Our panel consisted of these three inspiring speakers:

• Marcus Wermuth, Engineering Manager at Buffer, emphasized the concept of intentionality: it’s important to really consider and analyze every single step of the hiring process and think about the intentions that are behind it.

• Michael Peter, HR Director at Bitmovin, focused on the set of expectations that HR managers and recruiters might have for candidates and argued that self-knowledge and a heightened sense of self-awareness will be a key factor in estimating your expectations for others.

• Surabhi, IT Consultant at the international specialist recruitment agency Robert Walters, emphasized the importance of clear, transparent communication and shared various tips on how to improve communication with possible candidates.

In this panel discussion, we analyze and discuss the ins and outs of remote hiring. One of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was that working remotely and with that, remote hiring, suddenly became a substantial part of mainstream business practices.

The question however is, how do you find the right people and eventually hire them without actually meeting them in person. With those questions in mind, on June 17, 2020, Silicon Garden hosted the We Are Online panel consisting of three international speakers with highly diverse backgrounds. They discussed how to successfully hire remotely, a process that does require a different way of thinking and approach than a traditional hiring process.

Our panel consisted of these three inspiring speakers:

• Marcus Wermuth, Engineering Manager at Buffer, emphasized the concept of intentionality: it’s important to really consider and analyze every single step of the hiring process and think about the intentions that are behind it.

• Michael Peter, HR Director at Bitmovin, focused on the set of expectations that HR managers and recruiters might have for candidates and argued that self-knowledge and a heightened sense of self-awareness will be a key factor in estimating your expectations for others.

• Surabhi, IT Consultant at the international specialist recruitment agency Robert Walters, emphasized the importance of clear, transparent communication and shared various tips on how to improve communication with possible candidates.

Considering the current, unpredictable state of the pandemic, there’s no question that remote work is here to stay. Working remotely or hiring remotely isn’t necessarily more difficult and the current change in the way that companies have to work also creates plenty of opportunities to create a more streamlined business approach. Remote work and hiring remotely don’t have to impact your effectiveness, it’s just a matter of getting used to the right set of tools, methods and approaches.

Culture & Collaboration Remotely: A Presentation by Laïla von Alvensleben (Mural)

One of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic was that working from home no longer was considered to be a luxury, but rather the standard for any company that wanted to thrive in times of a pandemic. Working from home however, is a modus operandi that plenty of companies and employees are already familiar with, which means that we also have the resources and knowledge to guide those for whom it’s still a new working practice and guide them to a productive, collaborative work environment.

This is why Silicon Garden hosted a presentation by Laïla von Alvensleben for We Are Online. She works as Head of Culture and Collaboration at MURAL where she works within a distributed team of 150 employees and was the ideal candidate to host a presentation on striking the balance between WFH (Working from Home) and finding a way to connect with your teams. She coaches and advises people, teams and organisations on remote work. She has been working remotely since 2014 and is convinced that people worldwide can benefit from what she calls a “way of living” that goes beyond work. She has made it her mission to enable distributed teams to cultivate a successful remote working culture that will empower them to work from anywhere.

In her presentation on April 29, 2020, she covered topics such as:

• Why it’s important to keep the three 3 C’s in sight at all times: Culture, Communication and Collaboration

• How culture will play a role in having productive, healthy remote work-relationships

• Which tools she considers essential for people who work from home

• The mindset that you need in order to create and sustain happy, thriving remote teams

• Useful tips and best practices for working from home.

When restructuring your company to work remotely, it’s important to not only work with the right set of tools but also to consider what type of company culture you want to build over the following years. There’s no question that remote work will be here to stay and if you now spend some time clearly outlining your goals, methods and approaches for remote work, you’ll be more in control over the kind of work culture that you’ll have over the next couple of years.