Welcome to the UR community at the NHSBSA!

Onboarding as a user researcher (UR) at the NHSBSA can feel overwhelming. There are lots of people to familiarise yourself with, projects to understand, and acronyms to decode.

This page will give you an overview of the initial onboarding process. To learn more about what we do and how we do it, you can explore the rest of the UR Playbook.

Settling in

We want you to feel supported in your new role here. To facilitate this, we operate a buddy system. We’ll pair you up with another UR from our community to support you with any questions you may have in your first month. Buddies are available for ad hoc queries and to help you understand the landscape of the BSA. You’ll be introduced to your buddy in your first week.

We’ll add you to several Teams chats within your first week. Some of these are project based, others community based (UR and UCD). Please get involved on these platforms and introduce yourself. It’ll help you settle in quicker, you’ll get to know people better and it can open doors regarding future opportunities

In your first few weeks, take time to get to know your project team, making sure you understand the individual roles within the development team and our agile working practices. There may be URs within the community who previously worked on your project. It would be worth linking in with them to gain their knowledge and insight.

Matrix management

We operate a matrix management approach. This splits the management responsibility between 3 individuals, your people manager (PM), lead UR, and the delivery manager (DM) on your project:

• PMs focus on behaviours. They’re responsible for supporting your wellbeing and addressing any issues related to professionalism, such as time management.
• Lead URs focus on competency. They’re responsible for ensuring you understand how to be an effective UR and supporting you to upskill and develop within the discipline.
• DMs focus on delivery. They’re responsible for monitoring your contribution to your project team and reporting any issues to your PM.

Your PM is your line manager. You’ll have monthly 1-2-1s with them to discuss your progress and any issues. While PMs approve your annual leave on Imperago, you must get project sign-off for any leave from the DM and senior UR (SUR) on your team before you request this on the system.

Probation

All new starters have a 6 month probationary period. Your PM monitors and manages this process. During this time, they’ll collect feedback from those you work with to establish how you’re adjusting to your role. Your PM will review this at month 3 and will set up a meeting with you to share and discuss the comments and feedback. will be shared with you for discussion and consideration. Success at probation depends on feedback about your behaviour, competency and ability to deliver. The option to extend probation will be discussed with you ahead of month 6, if necessary.

Before your probation period ends, we expect you to be:

• regularly conducting UR, using various methods
• communicating findings to your team through engaging playbacks, reports, mindsets and personas
• demonstrating a good understanding of agile working and delivering within sprints
• abiding by storage expectations using the data and insight libraries
• regularly attending and contributing to UR communities
• effectively engaging in mentoring sessions

Mentoring

SURs act as mentors for others within the UR community. Each SUR can be allocated up to 3 URs to mentor at one time. Establishing this mentoring relationship should be a joint exercise, with investment from both the mentor and mentee to establish the frequency, style and aim of the sessions.

Mentoring sessions should focus on what the mentee wants to explore. This includes skill advancement, career progression and personal development. Some topics you may wish to discuss include:

• increasing confidence within the work setting
• improving networking skills
• refining your soft (or ‘essential’) skills
• realigning a work-life balance
• securing your next position
• developing your leadership skills

SURs do not have mentors within the BSA, but can seek a mentor through the NHS Leadership Academy mentoring scheme.

---

Improve the playbook

If you spot anything factually incorrect with this page or have ideas for improvement, please share your suggestions.

Before you start, you will need a GitHub account. Github is an open forum where we collect feedback.