This volume is a great reference source, not just for undergraduates but also for practitioners in the broad field of user experience. The book is an easy-to-follow guide, employing simple and clear language suitable for both experts and non-experts. Its practical focus, including several examples and case studies from leaders in industry and academia, distinguishes it from other more formal books in the broad domain of user experience. It is a practical volume, sensitive to workplace politics, and offers appropriate strategies for workplace problems and drama. It presents real-life office workplace situations and issues, and describes the strategies appropriate for their resolution.

Its main pro is that it is thoroughly researched, and this is in line with what the authors claim. The main cons are the level of detail in the description of the case studies and the techniques that a practitioner can adopt for tackling real-life design problems. The format of the book is not formal and sometimes it is easy to go off track. Although the book successfully describes methods for collecting data from difficult people, different departments, and so on, there is only a small section on data analysis and this acts as a bottleneck for the rest of the book, which is about identifying, organizing, and collecting data. Limited effort has been put into the description of those techniques, research methods, and tools relevant for the analysis of data collected in a typical study; as a consequence, the goal of understanding the end users of a given product cannot be precisely achieved. This is another justification of why the book is appropriate for laypeople and practitioners. Research methods are not placed in their philosophical, epistemological, or ontological context, nor are they presented with relevant theories. Along the same line, the notions of validity and reliability of research findings are totally missing. These facts are in contrast with what the authors claim about academics being one of the target audiences of the book.

In summary, the title does not truly reflect the content of the book. On the one hand, the book clearly describes the broad notion of user experience, the traditional techniques, and many emerging techniques that can be employed in practical fields to assess user experience. On the other hand, it is more about how to successfully gather information from people and companies, but approaches to research are subordinated to the gathering of information itself, in which other professions are presented as obstacles. Perhaps this book is not for professionals, but rather for beginners who do not know where to find information, or even what information they really need. The vital and fundamental step needed to complete a real research study, meaning the evaluation and analysis of existing or new data, has been neglected. A more appropriate title for this indeed interesting book would be: Understanding your users: a practical guide to traditional and emerging design practices.

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