Back in March, I celebrated one year as a UX researcher. With everything that was going on back then, it didn’t cross my mind to take a moment and reflect on it. Also, I’m not used to stopping to celebrate progress – there’s always something more interesting to do next.
But two recent conversations made me think twice. I realized that it might be good to stop and reflect on what I’ve learned in year 1 as a UX researcher.
How I got (in)to UX research
Ever since I can remember I always liked asking questions. And I like getting to the heart of it, finding out why something works or why it doesn’t. Add to that one odd personality mix of creative and analytical and voila… my big challenge to find a career that fits.
I tried graphic design first. However, I didn’t like the fact that it’s pretty limited there when it comes to measuring the impact of your work. Then I got a marketing job with a company that owned multiple digital products and I discovered this field.
I learned a lot there and I also got better acquainted with measurement and analytics. Yet at some point I realized something. It doesn’t matter what you do (and I did a few things – email, ads and got to see product, too), if it’s not relevant for the people it’s meant for, the results won’t be that great.
Good products and good marketing are built around users’ needs and their problems. But that means taking the time to ask the right questions and asking them correctly.
Luckily for me, UX design and research had been ground all this time. One thing led to another and on the 18th of March 2019, I finally started as a UX researcher.
Before I started in UX research
To be honest, I didn’t have any high expectations before I started, so there’s not much to cover here. I was excited to finally be a part of figuring out what should go into a product and what do end-users actually need. From the outside, seeing how much UX was gaining traction for all things related to technology and business.
After 1 year in UX research
Yes, I learned new tools and processes. But that’s the easy part. Talking about that would be a bit like talking about trees and leaving out the forest.
Yet the overall picture – the forest – is always more interesting.
So, here are the bigger things I learned about the field throughout the year.
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UX research is figuring itself out
UX research brings research methodologies, which are mostly scientific and applies them in a business context.
Now, these two are at odds a bit. Science takes time and business wants to deliver. On the one hand, science has its way of doing things. It focuses on rigor, on following the method as correctly as possible. Business, on the other hand, is business: you have deadlines, priorities, goals, budgets, one or multiple teams to support.
Ideally, UX research would be right in the middle between science and business. In practice, that scale’s position constantly varies and UX research is constantly out whether it’s more business or more science. And since the field has little to no history, there’s no default or no precedent to refer to.
Also, whether UX research is more science or more business depends on the context you work in. Bigger companies can afford to place UX research closer to the science side. For smaller ones, the scale is closer to the business side. Yet, as a company grows, UX research can shift from the business side closer to the science side.
I think it’s important to figure this out because it gives you a good idea of the type of research you can perform. When UX research is more science than business, you can focus on longer-term research like diary studies or customer journeys. When UX research is more business than science, you need to be creative and focus on things that can be implemented quickly – like usability tests and surveys.
Let’s take customer journey maps, for example. Creating one is great from a research perspective. However, for a startup looking for product-market fit, a customer journey map won’t provide the highest value. An established company, on the other hand, could make very good use of that information.
As a UX researcher, I think it’s essential to develop some comfort with this ambiguity. It’s essential to accept that UX research is a mix of skills and practices. Yes, it’s important to apply research methodologies correctly – so you don’t bias or mess up your results. But you also need to be flexible and adjust to conditions.
For me, that’s part of the beauty of it: you learn and adjust as you go along.
2. Doing UX research includes selling UX research
Probably this is one of the biggest realizations of the year.
For almost any other position, the path is more or less already laid out. You know why you need developers and why you need marketers, for example. But in UX research, you mostly carve out the path by both performing and educating about UX research.
I think this happens for two reasons.
First – people outside the industry rarely know about UX research. They don’t know what it is or why it’s useful. And that goes all the way up to upper management and executives.
Second – companies are used to having answers. They’re not used to asking questions. Also, they’re just starting to work with experimentation. Up until a few years ago, experimentation wasn’t part of how to run a business. Especially a big one.
With UX research, there’s a fundamental change. There’s a switch from the old way of doing things where you think you have the answers to reaching out to other people for the answers.
But for that change to actually happen, you have to show why it’s valuable.
This is why doing UX research includes a big part of educating about UX research. Being able to convey the value of UX research and how it improves business is key.
It’s up to you to show stakeholders, managers, and executives how UX research minimizes business risk. At the same time, learning about your users and their pain points gets you closer to the people you’re building and designing for. There’s tremendous value in that because you learn your audience’s language and what’s important for them.
3. Asking good questions is a key skill
UX research constantly toggles between smaller details and the bigger perspective. It toggles between labels, copy, buttons and what feature should you work on next, where does your product fit into the user’s world?
We spend a lot of time perfecting research methods to find those answers, especially in the beginning. But, what I quickly found out is that the questions you ask in a study matter just as much. The quality of your findings depends on those, too.
From this perspective, asking good questions is key.
I know what you might be thinking. How hard can it be to ask a good question?
Two things come into play: the research method you work with and getting the question right.
First, each research method has its own specifics when it comes to what type of question you can ask. Some methods allow you to ask broader questions, while in others you need to be narrow and specific. For example, if you’re looking for lengthy answers detailing experiences, surveys are not the best way to go.
Second, it often takes a while until you get the question right. Sometimes, you have to refine it in order to get relevant information. Also, you need to be careful about how you phrase it so you don’t bias the answer. A good question will always be easily understood by users and will provide enough context without framing the answer.
Asking good questions is a key skill. But, until you have to write the test scripts, you don’t understand just how important it is.
3. Communicating research findings is paramount
If no one reads your research, did it really happen?
But it’s not just about reading. If stakeholders don’t understand the research results, it’s all for nothing. And that doesn’t depend on the format.
It depends on how well you communicate research findings.
From my experience, this boils down to:
- Synthesize and prioritize
Don’t overload your stakeholders with information – they will get lost in it and won’t know what to do with it. Summarize the research findings, outline which are important and which are not. - Back up with evidence
Research without proof is simply another opinion. Evidence adds power, it supports and reinforces findings. To this end, user quotes, recordings, screenshots are essential. Add or link to these whenever possible. - Explain the impact
Whenever possible, include the consequences for business. Help stakeholders understand why those findings are important and how these affect the product. - Follow-up with action steps
If research is to have an impact, it needs to translate information into action in order to move things forward. Close the loop by providing some actionable steps on how to fix issues or how to implement important findings.
Also, it’s important to adjust the level of detail according to the stakeholder you’re working with. A product manager will always want to know more than an executive, for example.
Another thing to remember is to keep a balance. Mostly because bad is stronger than good. If you want to be believable, include good points that came up during the research, no matter how trivial those may seem.
Whether it’s a usability issue or a strategic insight, communicating research insights matters from two perspectives. First, it translates information into action, giving more purpose and meaning to user research. Second, it shows how UX research is valuable. If stakeholders don’t understand the findings and their impact, it’s unlikely that they will see a lot of value in it.
5. UX is a team sport
From the outside, it might look like UX is the designer and the researcher’s job. The designer creates the pixel-perfect design, the researcher tests it. After that, a dev team implements it according to user stories and specs. And there’s a product manager who oversees the whole process.
In practice, things are a bit different.
For starters, UX is not just a task. It’s a mindset. Its purpose is to understand the user and to solve his/her problems. What’s more, this mindset should reflect in everything: business and product decisions, prioritization, and communication.
Also, every team that comes in contact with the user shapes the experience.
That’s why it’s essential for all teams to embrace the UX mindset. It’s not enough if only design does. Other teams need to pitch in, too. Development, customer support, marketing, and sales – everyone needs to get on board.
This matters even more as all teams should be working towards the same goal. But, if everyone’s pulling in a different direction, you won’t make big progress as a team.
What happens when teams aren’t aligned? Let’s take a simple example.
Design and development launch a new feature, one that’s pretty useful for users. Still, marketing doesn’t want to make a big fuss about it since it’s not that sexy. And sales keeps leaving it out of pitches because they don’t think much about it either. What you have now is a valuable feature that users have to discover for themselves.
To help all teams embrace the UX mindset, strong communication between them is a must. Silos are useless. Workshops are a good way to start, but that’s only the beginning. It takes follow up and work to actually establish that process.
What’s next?
I’ll be a bit vain now. I liked what I did before writing this. Now, I like it even more.
The truth is that it’s been an exciting year in which I learned a lot. And one thing that contributed to that was the amazing team at the studio.
That said, I’m looking forward to seeing what year 2 as a UX researcher brings.
From my side, I plan to explore research methods in more depth, either by isolated or mixed, like in this Spotify case study. Also, I would be interested in seeing how new technologies like AI work in this field.
Besides those, I also plan to read (and maybe even write) more on innovation and how to actually create value with technology. Just putting a button and making an app won’t cut it anymore – probably there’s an app for that right now.
If you’re interested to see what’s next, subscribe for updates or reach out for a chat.
Photo by Yeshi Kangrang on Unsplash