Weeknotes 1 March, 2024

Is anyone else feeling a bit blah right now? I’ve had a few days of this and I’m putting it down to the crap British weather.

In Scotland, we’d say it’s, “Fair dreichit” – wet and miserable out. Spring, hurry up. The crocuses are out at my local park, which I’m loving so I’m clinging on to that.

Trying to shift my own gears, I trialled a co-working space this week. Sometimes a change is a good as a rest, right? Here’s what else I got up to.

Prioritisation for the next quarter. I’m confident it’s not only content teams that often feel over stretched. Where to start and what to prioritise can be foggy at times for most.

In her recent article, Lauren Pope shared some methods for content teams so I gave them a go. One of these was the Effort and Impact matrix, with a variation from Product Manager Itmar Gilad.

I started by writing down what I have to do over the next few months. I then categorised things by what I can control, influence, and of ‘concern’ (a category for stuff that I can’t do much about). Next, I plotted the tasks on the Effort and Impact matrix. I finished off by planning what I’ll do each sprint in those left of Q1 and into Q2. It was a really helpful exercise!

Terminology desk research. I’ve been browsing other software in our domain. I’m looking at the words they use and how/if they differ when speaking to different audiences. I’m most interested in terms for money, accounting, and business growth. That and the words they use in their information architecture.

From what I’ve seen so far there isn’t any huge revelation. Yes, technical language is common in the world of accountancy. No, not everyone understands it. This means using Plain English – simple, clear words are all the more vital.

Ideating on how we can boost our copy testing. I’ve rolled out a process to add easy questions for testing copy into existing user testing. I’m now thinking on how I can do more testing myself. Highlighter and Cloze tests are top of mind, so next I’ll explore how we can do more of that.

Proofing prototypes and asking hard questions. There’s a conceptual project we’re working on and I’ve been doing a lot of probing and proofing. This is going to be my test project for more copy testing.

Goal stuffs. Along with prioritisation, I’ve also been looking at team and individual goals. What we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and what our North Star metric will be to ensure we succeed.

Busy week all ’round