Collaboration: learning from other fields beyond our own [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

Key Insights

• •

  Collaboration is essential not only for better insights but also for elevating the standing and strategic value of insight teams within organizations.

• •

  Lack of collaboration across adjacent insight domains can lead to missed signals and real-world harms, as illustrated by the UK race riots example shared by Jim Ahmed.

• •

  Democratizing insights rather than just research empowers broader teams to engage meaningfully, but requires building trust and credibility with stakeholders and participants.

• •

  Collaboration challenges often arise from different agendas and priorities across siloed teams, requiring intentional relationship building and conversation beyond transactional exchanges.

• •

  The shift from specialists working in isolation toward 'learn it all' mindsets promotes openness to being wrong and encourages collaborative growth amid rapidly changing domains like AI.

• •

  Combining qualitative UX research with quantitative data analytics provides a more comprehensive understanding of user pain points and behaviors.

• •

  Collaborating early and co-creating in discovery phases, including involving engineers and other disciplines, leads to deeper insights and stronger shared ownership.

• •

  Sustained, horizontal collaboration with research participants and communities is preferable over vertical, extractive research models, though power dynamics remain a challenge.

• •

  Emotional regulation and trust-building are crucial soft skills in collaboration to ensure stakeholders feel cared for and engaged rather than rushed or dismissed.

• •

  There is no one-size-fits-all approach; successful collaboration depends on organizational scale, maturity, context, and continuous culture change efforts.

Notable Quotes