Previously we shared our 2024 resolutions and how we plan to approach things. We looked into the UX Research community to see what they want to improve or do differently this year. There were some great ideas that you as a researcher can change. Topics discussed were collaboration, self-management and workload. With these resolutions, I am sharing my take on how to improve on these areas.

Photo by Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash

🔨 Steer clear of product research when it is not appropriate. AKA Avoiding the 'Hammer-Nail' approach

I will prioritize refraining from excessive research for product issues that require problem-solving rather than assumption validation or solution testing. While I'm committed to supporting the team, I acknowledge that research isn't always the solution to every business question.

At times, the product team may persist in requesting research due to a lack of clarity on subsequent steps. However, they typically have a clear understanding of the problem and its impact on users. It's important to recognize that not all business queries necessitate a research-based approach. While I'm dedicated to aiding in the resolution process, I exercise caution in investing time and resources into empirical research when it's unnecessary, the research is already done or redundant. - From a UXR Community Member

It is not uncommon for those newer to an organisation or product management to use research as a crutch. Everything seems ripe for UX Research, much like when you have a hammer, many things look like a nail. Using research to get familiar with an area is not a problem. Ideally ramp up is done with existing research, rather than kicking off a project. Unnecessarily kicking off projects can create a misconception of research delaying product releases, especially if the teams are following strict product development timelines. As a researcher, you should partner with a product manager to enable them to have insights and data at the right time. By doing so, you are helping them with timely insights to aid decision-making. There are things you can build into how you work to be more of a partner and guide respective teams. This can help ensure research is not used as a way to outsource thinking or to help bolster a product manager’s confidence unnecessarily. It helps to also think in a root cause analysis way about the problem. Is it a lack of customer context or is it a lack of understanding the problem?

Suggestions to avoid doing unnecessary research:  

• Sitting in product and planning meetings. Focus on planning meetings so you can get a sense of where product managers are struggling to make decisions. These meetings also help you to understand what is coming around the corner. You should be attending these meetings anyway but it will help with ensuring research is not misused.

• Creating an accessible and well-known library or database of research.  This will help Product Managers and anyone else who needs to make decisions can have access to the right reports promptly. 

• Understand the product manager's career architecture. Learn what skills they should have at their level and what they are motivated or incentivised by.

• Use different forms of information delivery systems. Understand what lands and what is most digestible by your audience. Are you sharing in the right place or the right way? Think of different formats. Memos, slack messages or updates, “what you should know” framework, different formats and other frameworks. These may need to highlight short-term or long-term information. This is a good time to exercise your desktop or secondary research skills. Compile existing internal research, industry reports and other types of information and data.

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🤹 Avoid overcommitting

This is a common problem with all UX Researchers, no matter how senior or experienced you are. It is easy to take on more work and projects and then realise you are way over your bandwidth. The only difference is the more senior you are the more likely the scope of projects is bigger. A week or two added to a bigger project may not throw things off course that much. However, a couple of tactical research projects which are only 1-2 weeks in length, tightly scheduled back to back with delays will have a flow-on effect. It is still something everyone tries to improve. With UX research projects it is tempting to be very service-oriented and to agree to make your stakeholders happy. Unforeseen delays can and do happen. For example, slow or poor recruitment, last-minute scope changes, stakeholder changes, and even organisational priority changes.

How to reduce the likelihood of over-committing: 

• Look at your historical data to see how much work can be done moving forward.

• If you do not have enough history, do a back-of-the-envelope calculation e.g. one quarter - perhaps 3 “larger” 4 week projects and a few tactical-type research.

• Scoping a project well and thoroughly. Have clear inputs and invest time in kicking off with all factors considered. This article may help explain more on setting up your project well.

• Build in a time buffer for every project. Give yourself some breathing room in case something happens. The most common being recruitment is delays, especially in B2B. Other things can happen too, the design/artefact is late, you can not access resources in time, or there is some last minute conflicting deadline. This time buffer can also ensure you spend adequate time with the socialising and utilisation of insights and results. Often this is the first area that gets reduced in favour of moving on to the next project.

• Consider what to cut out whilst projects are “in field”. Reduce attending meetings that are recorded and you are not contributing to, or mundane tasks that can be done later.

🎤 Gaining better visibility

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it actually fall? This is especially important for UX Research. If the work is not read, nor utilised it is not helpful and does not meet the intended goal. It risks being viewed as more academic or unnecessary work. Visibility for both the individual and the work is important.

How you can improve your and your work’s visibility: 

• Sitting in product meetings. These meetings help to gain context and the opportunity to share consistent updates. What is the project status? What are some interim insights? Can stakeholders start to make decisions on some of the findings right now? If not now, when can they utilise the work?

• Choosing the right method for the right audience. Either ask them or see how they communicate and what resonates for them, what format etc. Then be prepared to use a customised format for the audience. 

• Make sure you know who your primary and secondary stakeholders are. 

• Spend a lot of time and effort bringing up the primary stakeholders up to date.

This article will be helpful - Building visibility and credibility for your project or team in a distributed company.

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💪Focusing on showing UXR prowess without being completely “user” (ie stakeholder) centric

Sometimes it is easy to over-index to make your stakeholders happy. One person in the community wants to be helpful as a UX researcher without compromising on being an unbiased researcher. It is similar to being so stakeholder focused you end up with unwanted outcomes. An example might be delaying the product roadmap deliverables by kicking off unnecessary research. The stakeholder feels like they need research to proceed when they do not need it.

The community also responded with how they might handle it. Suggestions included helping stakeholders understand what is a good candidate for research and what is not. One community member suggested using a firm answer like - "It is not a research question worth pursuing".

How you can ensure research is both valuable and helpful without kowtowing to stakeholders:

• Better screening/intake questions before a project commences. You can either ask them in a kick off meeting, or set up an intake process. They fill in something like a document or a form indicating what questions they are trying to answer and why they need to know. Be mindful that a good UX researcher is not simply providing a service inside an organisation. Move beyond being a service provider towards someone who has good organisational context and can guide a requester. The goal is not about maximising the number of projects per year but maximising the influence of the insights. This article will be helpful - The best way to get your UX Research project started.

• Sharing examples of the criteria for good projects. This could include being timely (a decision can still be made or something can be done with what you are researching), there is an audience (you know who the stakeholders are), and there is an actual question that they are trying to answer with no existing material.  This article will be helpful - Questions to assess if your research tactical or strategic. 

• Solving the customer context problem. Are there other ways in which you can increase their general knowledge about the customers and the knowledge space. Consider using a memo with links to relevant existing reports, even better if you tell them which areas of the report to focus on based on what they are working on. E.g. “check out Slide 5 it covers some key needs this type of user has in doing this task”. Other methods to use - have product managers join in on other existing research projects to shadow for a greater level of exposure in general.

• Build up case studies and close the loop. It is easier to see the impact over time but it needs to be tracked. A lot of effort is put into projects but not enough typically on sharing, following up and measuring the effort.

What changes do you plan to make this year or in the future? Community discussion has highlighted that a lot of these challenges are universal and require consistent attention and changes to have long-term progress. Some of these tasks are similar but have outcomes that can help in different areas and challenges.

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