Every researcher knows that sinking feeling. The interview’s over, you’ve just had a brilliant, insight-packed conversation… and then you see it. The recording app is blank. The file’s a dud. Nothing. Just that cold, empty feeling of loss.
I’ve been there. More recently than I’d like to admit. But thanks to a habit I picked up years ago, I didn’t panic. Back when I was at DWP, I wasn’t allowed to record user sessions at all. I had to capture the gold in the moment, armed with nothing more than a pen and a notebook. Those habits stuck — and they’ve bailed me out more times than I can count.
Here are three ways I make sure my notes can save my arse when the technology fails.
Catch the Quotes That Bounce
Not every word is worth writing down. But every now and then, a participant drops a line that just hits — the kind of thing that smacks you in the face like a metaphorical lemon sherbet bath and makes you think, “That’s it.”
It might be a perfect, pithy summary of their frustration, or a line that nails the problem better than I ever could. When that happens, I don’t paraphrase. I capture it word-for-word and then highlight it in a box, exclamation marks, just something to make it pop.
Those quotes are the ones that land hardest in playback, stick with stakeholders, and bring the research to life.
The Live Sanity Check
Before I move on to the next topic, I’ve made it a habit to check I’ve really got it right:
“So, what I’m hearing is logging in feels harder than it should, and sometimes you just give up altogether — is that right?”
“Just to playback what I've heard so I've got things right, you know how the notifications work, you just don't want notifications cluttering up your phone? You only want your phone to buzz if it's a text or call?”
That simple playback does two things:
It shows the participant I’m actually listening (which builds trust).
It makes sure I’m capturing what they meant, not just what I think they said.
It’s live quality control for my notes — and it saves me from writing up an assumption as fact later.
It also helps put things in my words - sculpted by the user I can easily play back (which also consolidates it for any observers watching).
Build the Profile, Not the Transcript
Trying to write everything down is a fast-track to madness. You miss the forest for the trees.
Instead, I focus on high-level handwritten notes: who this person is, their main goals, and the blockers in their way. It’s just enough to sketch a quick profile so I can see the human, not just a jumble of words.
Later, those simple profiles are what let me spot patterns quickly and tell the bigger story without drowning in detail. Archetypical characters that provide jumping off points that help tell the narrative. By making them ‘characters’ - participants are part of a wider story.
Bullet points not paragraph purgatory.
The Big Lesson
Recordings are great — they give us a backup and a safety net. But relying on them can be dangerous. When you can’t record, you’re forced to listen harder, capture sharper, and make meaning in the moment.
That’s why, these days, if the tech fails I don’t panic - I mean I totally panicked and swore incredibly loudly at my computer when it called up earlier in the week, but the insight lives on. My notes have my back. Because they weren’t an afterthought — they were built to be the primary source of truth.
And the lesson’s simple: your best tool isn’t a transcript or recording. It’s paying attention during a structured conversation.
