It's our 150th episode! To celebrate, we brought together three thought leaders for a discussion about UX research's future. Erin and Carol are joined by Judd Antin, Dave Hora, and Christiana Lackner, who bring over 40 years of combined experience in UX research, both as practitioners and leaders.

This wide-ranging conversation combines our guests' reflections on the trends that brought UX to its current moment with an analysis of what the future holds—and how we can prepare ourselves (and our teams) for it. From strategies on creating more business value for our work to tips for creating stronger cross-functional partnerships, this conversation will equip you with practical steps to future-proof your research practice.

Episode Highlights

• 09:28 - The evolution of the UX research industry
• 15:48 - Adapting UX methods for team dynamics
• 21:56 - Balancing our focus between the business and the user
• 30:45 - The role of UX research in fostering shared understanding
• 41:18 - Planning strategically and anticipating team needs
• 47:27 - The promise of AI for user experience professionals

About Our Guests
Judd Antin is an executive coach, consultant, advisor, writer, and teacher, leveraging his 15 years of experience as a research, design, and product executive at top companies (Meta, Airbnb) and his PhD in Social Psychology & Information Systems from UC Berkeley to help individuals and organizations achieve their goals and overcome their challenges.

Dave Hora is the founder of Dave's Research Co. where he helps product teams drive critical initiatives with the right mix of data, insight, and common sense. He began professional research work in 2011, eventually starting the practice as the first research hire at six companies, including PlanGrid and Instacart.

Christiana Lackner is a UX research leader and dot connector. She's building research maturity within organizations so that teams involve the right people, ask the right questions, and act on the answers.

More Resources on the Future of UX Research

• The role AI will play in the future of UXR
• Connecting UX research to business revenue
• The 2023 State of User Research Report

In this episode, Erin and Carol sit down with Tyler Wanlass, lead product designer at CommandBar, to explore practical strategies for conducting user research without a dedicated research team. They dig into techniques that designers and product managers can use to gather valuable insights efficiently, especially in resource-constrained environments. Tyler's approach is scrappy, flexible, and creative.

Tyler shares some of the tools that create his research toolkit, including efficient note-taking, creative approaches to participant recruitment, and mixed-methods continuous discovery methods. He explains how session recordings and account impersonation can offer deeper insights when primary research isn't possible. Tyler reinforces the value of proactive research, such as social listening and competitive analysis.

This is a useful conversation for anyone without "researcher" in their title, but who wants to increase their customer engagement, build more thoughtful products, and do so in a way that respects both budgets and timelines.

Episode Highlights

• 03:16 - The scrappy mindset: learning from real-life experiences
• 10:21 - Broadening perspective through cross-industry inspiration
• 16:12 - Proactive user research for connecting and learning
• 24:17 - Streamlining customer feedback with TL;DR summaries
• 36:51 - Tools and tactics for customer insights
• 44:09 - The importance of pricing and packaging

About Our Guest
Tyler design interfaces for software products, builds internet businesses, and occasionally writes books. In his off time he's renovating a 100 year old Victorian house in the Pacific Northwest. In a past life he designed video games.

More Resources on UX Research for Designers and PMs

• The Product Manager's Guide to UX Research
• The UX Designer's Guide to Research
• Uncomplicated Recruitment for Non-Researchers
• "People Who Do Research," a Discovery Study

In this episode, Erin and Carol tackle one form of research impact growing in importance and necessity: revenue. Their guest is Claudia Natasia, co-founder and CEO of Riley AI. Before starting Riley, Claudia grew product teams at early-stage companies and worked in the financial industry. These experiences showed her the importance of linking user research outputs to the bottom line of a business.

During their conversation, Claudia breaks down what revenue typically looks like for a company and where you can find the specific revenue goals for your company. Then she digs into the important processes of weaving those revenue goals into a research strategy from the start, offering examples from her time on product teams.

The discussion also explores the importance of triangulation, or combining multiple data types to form a more complete whole. Claudia explains that user researchers should balance conducting primary research with existing information to help clarify how UX is linked with wider business goals. She offers suggestions for teams big and small looking to make impact with the highest level decision makers and company executives.

Episode Highlights
06:07 - Strategic frameworks for company growth and revenue
12:05 - Leveraging competitive analysis for market success
22:06 - Creating meaningful insights for your business
30:05 - Tracking research impact: Setting expectations and routine updates
37:13 - Elevating projects: Moving from junior to senior stakeholders
44:39 - Triangulating data: Connecting research to company success

About Our Guest
Claudia is a leader with 10+ years experience leading product, strategy, and data teams across the enterprise and financial technology space. Her work has directly influenced companywide strategies, leading to a $5B total valuation, a successful international acquisition, and multi-million dollar growth fundraising rounds. She advises and angel invests in early stage startups, in North America and Southeast Asia. Her areas of focus are enterprise, finance, and consumer AI-generated content.

Resources on Research Impact and Revenue

• A guide to showing the value of user research
• Claudia's textbook of choice for learning about revenue
• The three aspects of high-impact UX research
• The Business of Research Slack Community