NEW BOOK! We Need to Talk: A Survival Guide for Tough Conversations
Order now

Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing (Videoconference)

Despite our clear value in informing product and advocating for our customers, UX Research (UXR) tends to have a lot to prove within most companies. Whether it’s our value, knowledge, or definition, there are information-holes about UXR that need to be filled. Not only that, but we have a lot to share with the rest of our company. We want to be sure that our insights are heard. With zero marketing experience, I (alongside our Centralized Research Team) took a stab at rebranding and marketing our UX Research (UXR) team with sincere intention. Collecting lessons and dodging roadblocks along the way, we tested and evolved different methods set out to evangelize UX Research insights, share findings between teams, define and demystify UX Research and prove value for UXR throughout the company. What does that even look like? Molly will tell you.

Bringing Voices to the Table for DesignOps with Jay Bustamante

Jay Bustamante has always been about conserving time and resources by building tight processes to create efficiencies in his life and work. In all the jobs and positions he’s held, he would notice gaps, consult with stakeholders, find solutions, and fill those gaps. Eventually he learned there is a name for this type of work: DesignOps. Today Jay is a DesignOps leader and an experienced strategist at VMware. And he’ll be a speaker at the October 2023 DesignOps Summit.

When it comes to streamlining and building efficiencies, AI seems like a no-brainer, right? Not so fast. AI brings big expectations and can result in a lot of frustration if proper groundwork isn’t laid. DesignOps teams that proactively facilitate collaboration between engineers, business teams, end users, and other stakeholders can save time, money, and greatly increase the likelihood of a successful product that will reflect the company’s values.

In this episode, Jay and Lou explore the following concerning AI:
• Good data makes all the difference
• Why AI can easily reinforce existing biases
• Why case studies and knowing the most impactful need are crucial
• Setting proper expectations
• Why Design’s role is to slow things down and to make sure that the right people are invited to the conversation, that the right questions are asked, and that all voices are heard early in the process.

What you’ll learn from this episode:
• How Jay got where he is today
• How to slow down the development of AI solutions to avoid ethical and technical snafus
• Which voices need to be at the planning table
• How DesignOps can steer the design boat and keep everyone on the same page with the same goals
• How companies (even big ones like Amazon) can get tripped up when AI reinforces biases

Quick Reference Guide
[0:00:25] Introduction of Jay and the October 2-4 Design Ops Summit
[0:02:11] Jay’s professional journey into design ops
[0:05:36] Jay joined VMware to do strategy work and ended up doing design ops work
[0:07:35] AI in a design ops context
[0:10:32] An example from Amazon of AI-aided hiring gone wrong
[0:15:39] Design Ops Summit – October 2-4, 2023
[0:17:01] On being proactive with use cases and identifying red flags and slowing down
[0:22:13] On being careful with data
[0:25:43] On bringing voices together and being a facilitator
[0:28:09] Jay’s gift to listeners

[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis

In this high-pressure scenario, the challenge was to conduct 17 user interviews in three days and synthesize a comprehensive report in just one additional day. I’ll explore how we used AI to streamline the research process, from transcription to synthesis, and how tools like ChatGPT contributed to efficient data processing and insight generation. We’ll reflect on the potential and pitfalls of using AI in accelerated user research, from practical aspects to more philosophical considerations on potential changes to the research process.

Takeaways

  • Practical insights into integrating AI with traditional research methodologies to expedite the research process
  • An overview of the effectiveness of AI transcription and synthesis tools in real-world research scenarios
  • Critical examination of AI’s role in data processing and how it compares with human analysis
  • Strategic considerations for service designers when employing AI to support rapid user research
  • Reflection on the ethical implications and potential impact on the quality of insights and researcher well-being when relying on AI to speed up research processes

Get Your Whole Team Testing to Design for Impact

Experimentation can be intimidating to non-data science folk. But Erin wants to get everyone excited about A/B testing. In this talk, Erin shares the Conversion Design process. It centers A/B testing as a way to gather high-quality evidence to make highly informed decisions to improve your digital product. She also introduces the Good Experimental Design toolkit. These easy-to-follow templates usher teams through the logic needed to design trustworthy experiments that you can learn from.

Interrupted UX – Add A Dose of Reality To Usability Testing

It is more important than ever to understand your audience to succeed but it takes rigor to gain valuable insights. Learn how framing usability test scenarios with distractions and interruptions lead to a deeper line of questioning and exponentially increases the accuracy of your user research. Join Marc Majers & Tony Turner, the user experience team from the book Make Your Customers Dance, to discuss techniques that will make a big impact on your product’s competitiveness.

Transforming Language with AI with Peter van Dijck

In the latest episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou sits down with old friend Peter van Dijck, author of Information Architecture for Designers: Structuring Websites for Business Success, one of the first books ever written on Information Architecture. Peter is now a partner of Simply Put, a Colombian company that builds and designs useful AI Agents—including the soon-to-launch Rosenbot!

Peter offers insight into the world of AI. Having been one of the first to speak about IA, it is fascinating to hear what he now has to say about AI. Join Lou and Peter as they take you through the journey where language itself is transforming from design to technology.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

  • An introduction to the Rosenbot, an AI bot that Peter’s company is developing for Rosenfeld Media
  • Some basic vocabulary for speaking about AI and ML so you “don’t feel like an idiot”
  • Mind-blowing truths about the potential of Generative AI’s language capabilities
  • How writing has transformed from a design to a technology and learn what that means for how we interact with the data
  • About the importance of highly curated information when training bots and the tricky balance that comes when you want to present less polished sources like unedited conversations
  • The importance of the human side of things
  • The biggest surprise that has come from working in the industry

Quick Reference Guide
[0:15] – Lou’s introduction of Peter Van Dijck
[3:00] – AI on a basic level
[4:59] – Generative AI’s language capabilities
[18:08] – How we interact with metadata and writing as a technology
[20:00] – How real-use cases make technology more exciting and instantaneous
[22:19] – Information about the new Designing With AI Conference
[23:33] – Some of the jargon around AI and IA
[24:16] – Introduction to Lou’s Chat Bot, the Rosen Bot
[24:39] – The importance of training bots on highly curated information
[28:34] – The tricky balance of curated and less polished content
[30:26] – The human side of things
[31:55] – Different interaction models
[37:58] – The biggest surprise working in the industry
[38:30] – A Gift For You

Cultivating Business Partnerships to Grow Research Ops (Videoconference)

The landscape of Research Operations is vast, and there is no “easy button” for organizations implementing a successful practice. So how do you multiply your effectiveness and increase your impact in a scalable way? Whether you’re a team of one or twenty-one, cultivating relationships across the business is critical in these days of interconnectedness. In this session, Noel Lamb shares examples of how you can get your company to invest in helping you build your Research Ops program.

Business Influence Without Losing Your Soul (Videoconference)

To be an effective design leader requires knowing about the business, but does it require an MBA? Maybe it’s more about exerting influence by leveraging simple models of behavioral science and persuasion to achieve outcomes—and doing it without losing your soul. Join us for an enlightening approach to achieving our goals as designers, in a fireside chat with Ryan Rumsey, Chief Executive Officer, Second Wave Dive. He shares his own journey from Apple to Electronic Arts (EA) and beyond as a design leader learning how to gain effective influence with “the business” side of things.

Framing Tomorrow by Questioning Today

How can you use the humble question to be a better leader?

Over the past year or two, Brave UX Podcaster Brendan Jarvis has been asking great questions of over 75 of the best and brightest design leaders with the goal of surfacing the biggest questions facing the field, and using them as a springboard to becoming a better leader.

Brendan joins Lou for a wide-ranging conversation about questions—a preview for his talk at June’s Design at Scale 2022 conference. Along the way, they cover the importance of diverse perspectives, the controversies of Amazon Alexa, and how designers can get a seat at the table.

Warning: this talk may raise more questions than it provides answers for!

How to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series] (Videoconference)

Three of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions on making UX leadership more effective in this Advancing Research community workshop. Participants engaged with them in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Peter Merholz.

 

“UX Research leaders of tomorrow need to stand tall, assert themselves, and take a seat at the table because we have a purpose and companies cannot afford to make investment decisions based on intuition.” 

 – Sarah Alvarado

“Move out of your UX org.” 

 – Nalini Kotamraju

“Most organizations talk a good prioritization game but fail to actually prioritize their projects, creating the perfect opportunity for Research leadership. Developing and maintaining a stack-ranked ruthless prioritization of projects has the power to grow Research headcount and budget and elevate Research strategically while minimizing researcher overwork.”

 – Anne Mamaghani