INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE @ ROYAL BANK OF CANADA VENTURES
MY ROLE
UX Researcher
THE TEAM
Customer Experience Team
TOOLS & METHODS
User research, unmoderated user testing (Usertesting.com) , survey design, interview script development, insight-generation
I was a UX Research and Strategy Intern as a part of the Strategic Design and Customer Experience (SDCX) team during the Spring of 2023.
I had the opportunity to work with several ventures and for initiatives during my time at RBCx some of which included: Smart Reno, Dr. Bill, Ownr, Avion Vision, The Climate Initiative, Youth and Young Adults Initiatives.
The typical work week involved working for multiple ventures at once where I acted as a sort of UXR consultant, conducting discovery research to help uncover needs and wants, understanding how to better meet expectations with existing products, testing out designs, and delivering insight share outs with the rest of the team.
I thoroughly enjoyed being able to work on a wide range of projects concurrently as they had different requirements as they were at different stages of research. The diversity in the type of research methods I was using for the different projects at once made things a lot more fun. I had fun being able to jump from one project to another as it led me to think about things in different ways and exposed me to a lot more research methods, ways of thinking about problems, and let me work with a larger variety of teams.
Although one caveat with this was that I didn't get a chance to fully own a large project and missed out on the experience that helps with helping a product grow.
What I Learnt
Gained confidence running live interviews
Running unmoderated usability tests on UserTesting
Working with external stakeholders
Recruiting and scheduling participants for interviews
Running a brainstorming workshop
Relaying insights and recommendations tactfully
Working on internal research in a professional manner
Working at the office in a hybrid environment
Got a lot more comfortable interviewing participants
The task with which I got the most experience with was interviewing participants and moderating interviews. I got thrown into running an interview during my first week and felt incredibly nervous, however as time went on I became a lot more confident in talking to the participants and asking relevant follow up questions, and probing them to really get to the heart of the issues and their concerns.
Running unmoderated usability tests on UserTesting
I had the opportunity to run 4 unmoderated usability tests using Usertesting.com, analyze the results and collating the data into something meaningful to give to stakeholders. The benefit/advantage of running unmoderated tests is that you a much larger set of data can be collected in a short period of time compared to running moderated interviews. One important idea I learnt here is that the questions need to be asked in a specific way depending on the type of information that is trying to be retrieved.
Working with external stakeholders
Working with different ventures meant that I had to regularly communicate with people on different teams so I could best understand exactly what they need help with and to best inform design.
Recruiting, scheduling, and leading interviews with participants
Something I came to appreciate more during this internship is just how much work actually goes into recruiting and scheduling interviews. In the past I thought that running the interviews was the most difficult part, but having to coordinate multiple people from varying teams while also considering participants' availabilities who need to be present while blocking out times is a cumbersome task that requires a lot of patience, flexibility and good communication.
Running a brainstorming workshop
I had the chance to co-run a brainstorming workshop with my manager Eric to help generate more ideas for the Climate initiative and how the bank and its customers could participate in more greener activities. This involved blocking out a three hour session where we gathered people in a room and asked them to. People were split up into groups and were asked to think about specific questions we were asking. The workshop leads also go up to groups and ask probing questions to help generate.
Relaying insights and recommendations tactfully
Having to communicate insights (especially when it's not what the stakeholders want to hear) is something that needs to be done in a diplomatic and tactful manner. I had the chance to witness and also do this myself multiple times during my internship.
I learnt that it's important to be provide the truth but while also considering that people worked hard (which doesn't mean to sugar coat things because that doesn't help anyone). Our job as researchers is to help the product / idea that designers and engineers created to shine best by nudging them towards the right direction, and not by completely obliterating their confidence.
Recommendations and suggestions need to be realistic given the budget and time constraints that the venture has. We need to provide encouragement and support while still being realistic.
Working on internal research in a professional manner
I ended up co-leading an internal operations research study that was specific to the SDCX team (the team I was working on). This meant that I was interviewing people that worked closely with our team and actual team members about work processes, expectations, and concerns. I had to handle this information confidential, which meant being careful while relaying insights during the team share-out.
Working at the office in a hybrid environment
My previous internship was completely remote and so this was my first time experiencing working at an office with others. I enjoyed being able to collaborate with others in person, but also very much appreciated the flexibility of being able to come into the office or stay home working at an office a few days a week. With hybrid and remote work becoming more common, it was nice to be able to get have the experience of working with people in this mixed environment.
One last thing I want to mention is that I was incredibly lucky to have gotten to work with really smart, encouraging, and funny people. My manager Eric was always very understanding and was really fun to work with and allowed me to work on projects that would help me grow as a researcher. I picked up a lot just by watching my team members do things the way that they do. I genuinely never felt afraid to ask questions and felt that I could be myself.