UXRS treasurer, Anthony Zablocki, shares some of his favorite reads

More 5 Top-of-Mind UX Books

UXRS treasurer, Anthony Zablocki, shares some of his favorite reads

Let me start with a couple of disclaimers…

1. I’m not a book guy (in general). I’m much more of a article, video, and presentation person. Why? Because I often find that books manage to squeeze an article’s worth of content into 250 pages, and I’m just not that patient.
2. This is not a list of the top 5, best-ever UX books. It’s a list of the 5 that are top of mind for me right now because they either have enduring or recent relevance to me.

For a book to make this list, it must be practical, actionable, or to the point (preferably all three).

Don’t Make Me Think
By Steve Krug
I bought the first edition of this book as I was just starting out in UX and I still think it’s one of the best-written books ever. You don’t need a highlighter when reading this book. It’s so succinct and well organized that you can just scan the headings and look at the great visual examples.
What I love about it

• It’s short and to the point.
• Perfect actionable primer for anyone new to UX.
• Great (short) examples illustrate his points throughout the book.
•  My favorite heading in the book is “Happy talk must die.” 

Handbook of Usability Testing 
by Jeff Rubin and Dana Chisnell
This book got me through my first year in UX. It is a masterclass in usability testing.
What I love about it

• It covers everything about planning, conducting, and analyzing usability tests.
• Great templates for things like Test Plans, Scripts, Reports, and more
• It addresses the intricacies of facilitating, embracing awkward silence, not leading the participant, and other critical skills.
• A great reference to keep on your shelf 

Continuous Discovery Habits
By Teresa Torres
This is more of a Product Management book that focuses on picking opportunities that align business value with customer problems, picking ONE opportunity, and then validating your hypotheses through ongoing research.
What I love about it

• It’s actionable. The author describes her methodology (Opportunity Mapping) in detailed steps.
• It’s an interesting take on ensuring that you are talking to customers on a regular cadence so that you can get answers to questions as they arise.
• I have to wrestle with some things I don’t totally agree with in the book (and that’s a good thing). 

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
By Jake Knapp
This is a quick walkthrough of the Google Ventures Design Sprint methodology. It’s a step-by-step process tutorial grounded in vignettes.

What I love about it

• It’s brief and prescriptive.
• You could (mostly) run a design sprint after reading it.
• It gave me some good ideas to chew on.
• One of my favorite parts is their emphasis on the importance of the decision maker participating in the sprint. 

Quantifying the User Experience
By Jeff Sauro and James R. Lewis
This is an indispensable reference for UXers who want to add quantitative rigor to their results. Our stakeholders understand numbers, and we often struggle to help them understand how to interpret results from small samples. This book is a MUST READ.
What I love about it

• Focuses completely on stats for UX purposes.
• Has a decision tree for choosing the right method for the each UX scenario
• Will bolster your confidence to use stats on even small sample sizes of 5 - 10
• It’s a fantastic compliment to the resources on his site www.measuringu.com