Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
A Genuine Conversation about the Future of UX Research
Summary
If you’ve followed LinkedIn of late, it’s clear that UX researchers are frustrated. They feel their work is undervalued, their strategic contributions are marginalized, and their jobs have been made redundant. Multiple fingers have been pointed in multiple directions, and—as you’d expect from social media—the discussion has often ended up in a decidedly sour place. In light of The big design freakout and the UX research reckoning, there is an important conversation to be had about the changing roles of research, design, and product, and where we go from here. In light of this, Rosenfeld’s Advancing Research community is hosting a panel of respected, collaborative, and opinionated experts from the disciplines/functions at the core of this changing dynamic: Jamika Burge, Teresa Torres, Robert Fabricant, Noam Segal, and Peter Merholz—to stop litigating the past, and engage in a positive, constructive conversation about the future of UX research. Panelists: Jamika Burge, Robert Fabricant, Noam Segal, Teresa Torres Moderated by: Peter Merholz
Key Insights
-
•
Aligning user research outcomes with business goals is critical for demonstrating research value.
-
•
AI offers opportunities for continuous discovery but raises concerns over bias and ethical transparency.
-
•
Democratizing research involves enabling non-researchers to conduct basic studies, freeing skilled researchers for complex tasks.
-
•
A mature organizational environment is necessary to successfully democratize research without sacrificing quality.
-
•
Research quality can be evaluated using reliability and validity concepts adapted from academia.
-
•
Not all research activities require advanced skills; even product managers can be trained in targeted, simple research types.
-
•
Organizational change management is as important as research execution for advancing user-focused practices.
-
•
The UX research community debates moving past the term 'democratization' to focus on evolving roles amidst technological change.
-
•
Measuring UX research value is complex because impact permeates across teams and is less quantifiable than engineering outputs.
-
•
Despite evolving roles and tools, there will always be a need for specialized, skilled researchers for longitudinal and rigorous studies.
Notable Quotes
"How do we show the value of the work that enables us to really advocate for the humans whom we are serving?"
"Building for humans is a huge challenge because humans are multi-layered, weird, and wonderful irrational creatures."
"If we are truly going to create customer-centric organizations, every single person needs firsthand exposure to customers."
"Democratization has been happening for over 20 years and it’s only going to keep happening."
"User research itself is not a single function but many disciplines that require integrity and stewardship."
"We need to move past the point of who does what and into how our roles are changing with technology."
"We know what is not good research, but defining and communicating what good research looks like is more challenging."
"The ultimate measure of our research is its impact—did we build the right thing and did it have the expected effect?"
"Organizational change management requires as much care and effort as executing good research."
"There is always more work to be done than we will ever be able to do, so enabling others to participate is beneficial."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"There is a lack of clarity about what’s really needed for entry level roles — every job seemed to want a unicorn."
Joseph Williams Nepani Birondo Matt Readman Allison NgoUnlocking impact and influence through inclusive hiring in research
December 16, 2021
"Shared tools have a lot of benefits, including streamlining license management and enabling us to test out processes efficiently."
Ivana NgLevel Up Your Program with ProductOps
January 8, 2024
"Measuring ops impact by how much people are using the research and embedding feedback loops is much more valuable than just looking at money saved."
Brigette MetzlerScaling ResearchOps: Helping Researchers do Their Best Work
March 30, 2020
"Community-centered design flips the traditional script to give design power to those most impacted by policies and services."
Ashley Cortez Devika Menon Nidhi Singh Rathore Danita J. Reese Mari NakanoShifting Toward Community-Led Innovation in Local Government
December 8, 2021
"Put more in than you take out — that’s the rule of thumb I give for contributing to repositories."
Brigette Metzler Dana ChrisfieldResearch Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community
August 27, 2020
"The term full kit team was coined because you needed the full set of people to produce exceptional experiences."
Carla Casariego Sarah SpencerDesignOps in Wonderland
October 24, 2019
"Behavior over time is your culture; it’s how you choose to behave and incentivize others to behave."
Adam CutlerPeople + Places + Practices = Outcomes
June 8, 2016
"We don't do PRDs anymore; we just vibe code, but that still means putting the right prompt behind it."
Frances Yllana Kaaren Hanson Husani Oakley Dan OlsenDesignOps Exposed: What do our peers really think of us?
September 11, 2025
"Bravery is having the courage to buck conventional wisdom and look at the world for how it is."
Jemma AhmedTheme 2 Intro
March 10, 2022
