The B-side of the Research Impact
In large companies, we are seduced by OKRs, and, in general, growth. And it seems that to be “on the business side” researchers need to speak the same language, have the mindset that, to be strategic, you need to shoot for sales or growth. Although we agree that companies should have profits, for us this is a result, not a purpose. And, speaking of purpose, there is another kind of impact: research provides context and must be able to question the organization and its limits. This is the B-side of research impact.
Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)
Design teams are often faced with lack of research resources that can lead to bottlenecks in execution, an ever growing backlog of research questions or worse releasing products without sufficient research. This can lead to rework and expensive development costs.
A rapid research program is a tactical, flexible framework that helps teams build better products by executing on more research faster. This model requires aligning resources to operationalize the process and reduce the overhead and time of standard research processes like recruiting.
User Research, Design, and Product – A Love Story
Come listen to real stories of how User Research has worked closely with Product Design and Product Management at Compass. Moderated by Anna Avrekh, Director of User Research, this Q&A session will cover how teams work closely with user research, how they have taken action off of user research, and the keys to successful relationships. Feel the love!
Bringing Customer Research to More Internal Teams
Learn how Brad Orego, Head of Research at Auth0 is bringing research to teams of designers, marketers and product owners. His passion for customer research is infectious and in this 30-minute session, you’ll learn his tips and tricks for getting more teams to do great research.
Solve a Problem Here, Transform a Strategy There: Research as an Occasion for Expanding Organizational Possibility
Researchers use our work to drive organizational action, by closing knowledge gaps, clarifying user needs, or identifying opportunities. But the extent of that action is often limited. We frequently want our research to be about strategy, but that’s not how organizations usually work. Our stakeholders want tactical research on tight timelines. By contrast, Peter highlights a different, and distinctive, approach to making strategic impact: considering research as a form of “robust action,” work that solves specific problems while visibly expanding the organization’s field of future possibility. Peter gives examples of work he’s done in this fashion at Intel, Autodesk, and Airtable, and provides some guiding principles to help make our work more valuable.
Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
Over the last three years Southampton University in the UK has been doing a complete website redesign following an Agile process; user research and performance analytics have been an integral part of the Agile process from the very start. The website has a variety of products aimed at potential students and research collaborators.
Performance analytics informed the business case and objectives and qualitative research in Discovery uncovered the user needs to improve the user experience. During alpha qualitative research informed the design of the early prototypes and in beta analytics and user research integrated qual and quant in a variety of metrics around performance and the user experience. The same metrics have been taken forward and enhanced in Live to ensure continuous improvement which sits alongside the new product roadmap.
The presentation will outline the integration of qual and quant and give examples of what has been done, the metrics, and how they are informing the user experience and business objectives.
What’s Next for Research? (Videoconference)
For the next Advancing Research Community Call, we’re going to switch things up. We’ll be breaking into small discussion groups to get thoughts from you about the current challenges, opportunities, and key themes for the future of research. You’ll have the opportunity to facilitate or contribute to your group’s discussion of the burning issues in our field.
How are you thinking about users, participants, stakeholders, and communities we serve? What changes do you see to the frameworks, toolkits, and methods we apply to understanding the problem space? Into which areas (e.g., industry, academia, government, nonprofit) can research move and from which areas can research borrow; where are the opportunities for us to bridge divides? Join us on June 17th to share and learn what’s next for the practice of research.
From Users to Shapers of AI: The Future of Research
Discover the transformative power of shifting from passive users to active shapers of AI in Tricia’s compelling closing keynote. Unveiling the insidious “User Trap,” Tricia exposes the pervasive sense of powerlessness entrenched in our tech-driven world. She champions a radical shift in the researcher’s mindset, advocating liberation from the confines of being “user researchers” to versatile professionals adept at navigating the complexities of human-tech interactions, especially ones that force people into becoming users. As AI tooling improves, Tricia envisions a future where human ingenuity stands as the cornerstone, complementing and enhancing the capabilities of advanced AI tools. In this world, researchers who can truly understand human beings, gather thick data, and communicate complexity and context-loss with clarity, will become even more indispensable.
The Future of ReOps as a Strategic Function: A Roadmap for Getting There
Imagine a future where UX Research Operations (ReOps) is not just part of research execution, but a pivotal force driving business performance and competitive edge. In this session, we will explore the hidden and often untapped superpowers of Strategic Programs already available in your team. Discover how ReOps can evolve from a supportive function for research alone to a strategic linchpin that fuels your business competitive position, at scale. Through engaging case studies, actionable program plans, and measures, this session will equip you with a practical roadmap to assess the current research lifecycle, effectively advocate for resource gaps with research intelligence, and creative approaches to your research hiring & people strategy. Don’t miss the opportunity to transform your approach to Research Ops into a strategic pillar of business strategy. This evolution will lead to a significant shift in research perceptions, excellence, and maturity.
The Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps (Videoconference)
During this call, Advancing Research 2021 conference curators invite a special panel of researchers to discuss the future of research. In particular, panelists share their perspectives about the research practice and how they expect the discipline to evolve. To provide additional grounding for our conversation, we discuss, broadly, results from the survey we recently launched, which is designed to learn more about the topics and themes that you, the community, believe will be important to advancing the research and insight industry over the next year. Our esteemed panel of cross-disciplinary researchers, includes: Steve Portigal (Principal Researcher & Rosenfeld Media Author), Dr. Gloria Osardu (Senior Researcher at Amazon), Alba Villamil (Principal Researcher and HmntyCntrd Facilitator) and Sam Ladner (Principal Researcher at Workday). Dr. Jamika Burge (Entrepreneur and Head of Experience Products & Platforms Research at Capital One), one of our AR curators, will be moderating the discussion. Join us!
