{"id":184778,"date":"2016-01-20T13:10:52","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T13:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.rm.gfolkdev.net\/?p=184778"},"modified":"2022-10-14T12:17:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T12:17:20","slug":"whose-job-is-user-research-an-interview-with-tomer-sharon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rosenfeldmedia.com\/whose-job-is-user-research-an-interview-with-tomer-sharon\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose Job is User Research? An Interview with Tomer Sharon"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part 2 in the series Whose Job is User Research. \"Tomer<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As part of my ongoing series of posts where I try to get to the bottom of who owns user research, I reached out to Tomer Sharon, former Sr. User Experience Researcher for Google Search and now Head of UX at WeWork. He wrote a book called <\/span>It\u2019s Our Research<\/span><\/i><\/a> which addresses this exact topic. His new book,\u00a0<\/span>Validating Product Ideas<\/a>,<\/span><\/i> is also now available. He\u2019ll be speaking at the upcoming <\/span>Product Management + User Experience<\/span><\/a>\u00a0hosted by Rosenfeld Media, designed to help\u00a0teams work together to learn more about their users. <\/span><\/p>\n

Tomer\u00a0recently announced<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that UX at WeWork won\u2019t have a research department and what drove that decision. I took this opportunity to ask Tomer a few questions,\u00a0and to learn what\u00a0suggestions he has for creating a team that conducts research well and uses it wisely. <\/span><\/p>\n

Everybody Owns Research<\/span><\/h2>\n

Possibly the most important lesson you can learn from Tomer is this: \u00a0stop asking the question \u201cwho owns research?\u201d \u201cEverybody owns research,\u201d he explains. \u201cResearch is a team sport. What research is needed is determined based on different sources\u2013decisions the\u00a0team is trying to make, known knowledge gaps, dilemmas and arguments among and between teams and more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Research is a team sport. The team needs to decide what it needs to know together.\u00a0– Tweet This<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

He encourages people to use all of these sources to generate research questions. For example, if a team has trouble deciding on development or prioritization of new ideas, then a research question might be \u201cWhat are the top needs or challenges our users have?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cResearch questions are questions the team needs answers to, not questions that you ask research participants during a study,\u201d he says. That means that the team needs to decide what it needs to know together. <\/span><\/p>\n

By making research a key part of everybody\u2019s job, it gets rid of the problem many teams have of ignoring research reports. Instead, research becomes a tool everybody can use to answer important questions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Use Researchers as Facilitators and Coaches<\/span><\/h2>\n

Of course, that all sounds delightful, but it does bring up three important questions: <\/span><\/p>\n