Setting up an observer room for user research - alphagov/notifications-manuals GitHub Wiki

How to set up an observer room

1. Find a previous observer session in the calendar, right-click it, and duplicate it for the same time as the upcoming research session. (I usually check user researcher’s calendar if I forget the time.) Duplicating saves you time adding the same recipients and any descriptions if they exist. Amend title as necessary.
2. When creating the duplicated event, add it to the GOV.UK Notify team calendar. That way, you don’t need to add any recipients manually, and you won’t get a bunch of out-of-office replies in your inbox (thanks Chris Hill-Scott for the tip!).
3. About 2 minutes before the session starts, join both the main research Google Meet (the one with user researcher) and the observer room.
4. In the observer room, share your tab for the main research room.
5. Keep the observer room mic on for the whole session, but mute your mic in the main room.
6. During the session, share anything important in the observer room – like written prompts being shown to the participant – and keep an eye out for questions from the internal team.

Important NOTE: If you (as the observer) are asking or answering any questions during the session, it's helpful to unmute yourself in both the main room and the observer room so observers can hear what's being said.