It’s great when we get a chance to try out some new techniques in our client work. Two examples at the moment:

• We are starting into the user research for an intranet project within a major international brand. With offices throughout S-E Asia (and beyond), we can’t conduct staff interviews in person. We’re therefore trying out the use of diary studies to get staff to self-report their experiences. This should provide the rich information we need, supplemented by phone interviews.
• We’ve been spending a lot of time within a major Australian bank, conducting intranet strategy and research work. As part of this, we’ll be doing some mystery shopping to assess the consistency of advice given by the call centres, in comparison to their major competitor. This will help internal stakeholders build a business case for significant intranet improvements.

We’ll be writing more about these two techniques, and our experiences in using them. Watch this space for Rebecca’s thoughts on diary studies, and Alex’s insights into mystery shopping.