Embracing change: Navigating shifting landscapes with compassion and agency
This video is featured in the PDI 2026 playlist.
Summary
What it means to be a researcher and how we understand research are rapidly changing. Jamika Burge will help you embrace these changes with compassion, and explore how you can exercise agency so you shape this transition, not just endure it.
Key Insights
-
•
User research is not declining but evolving and remains crucial for understanding human experience.
-
•
Researchers should view AI as a tool to augment, not replace, their work.
-
•
Building strong partnerships with business stakeholders by understanding their language is essential to increasing research influence.
-
•
Collaboration within and beyond organizations strengthens skills and advances the discipline.
-
•
Ethical interrogation of AI, including biases and socioeconomic impacts, is a unique opportunity for user researchers.
-
•
Applying empathy inward towards colleagues helps build trust and fosters more open, effective collaboration.
-
•
Tools like Dovetail can help speed up research synthesis, freeing researchers for more strategic work.
-
•
Communicating research value effectively means aligning insights with business needs and decision-making frameworks.
-
•
Embracing uncertainty and challenging the status quo are inherent parts of impactful user research.
-
•
The analogy of surgeons using robotic arms illustrates that expertise remains fundamental even as research methods incorporate AI.
Notable Quotes
"User research is not going anywhere. It isn’t a sinking vessel in need of saving."
"There’s an African proverb that says if you wanna go fast, you go alone. But if you wanna go far, go together."
"AI is the new electricity, transforming multiple industries much like electricity powered the industrial revolution."
"The tools that are AI inspired will not replace those who understand how they work or apply complex skills requiring human creativity and judgment."
"We’re trading empathy for algorithms… Personalization has gotten so complex that it’s now out of human control."
"Turn ethnography inward and learn how your peers and leaders make decisions before you try to use data to influence those decisions."
"Meeting partners where they are and folding what they understand into how we connect with them is how we can show influence."
"Sometimes people aren’t willing, and you get a whole lot more with honey than you do with vinegar."
"Navigating uncertainty is part of our work; uncertainty actually becomes a catalyst we didn’t think we needed."
"Surgeons don’t stop healing people because they’re assisted by robot arms. We get new tools to support us and need to learn how to use them."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Take breaks, use chill zones, and create safe spaces within research and workplace settings."
Matt Bernius Sarah Fathallah Hera Hussain Jessica Zéroual-KaraTrauma-informed Research: A Panel Discussion
October 7, 2021
"It doesn’t matter how much data you have if you don’t ask the right question."
Jen Cardello Dr. Shadi Janansefat Alex WrightCurating insight: Strategies for integrating knowledge across research functions
March 11, 2025
"Participation or user research draws from ideas rooted in agency and control, not just optimizing our work product."
Sha HwangThe First Fifty Years of Civic Design
November 16, 2022
"It’s not about solving or fixing complexity. We’re making sense of it so we can operate in it."
Kyle GodbeyNon-linear service design for complex adaptive systems
December 10, 2025
"Conflicts caused by layers moving at different speeds actually keep things balanced and resilient."
Brigette MetzlerScaling ResearchOps: Helping Researchers do Their Best Work
March 30, 2020
"Users were initially excited but six months later expressed frustration and uncertainty about the tool’s usefulness."
Jennifer KongJourneying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
June 5, 2024
"You need thick skin to deal with longstanding institutions who are skeptical because they've seen many projects come and go."
Magdalena ZadaraZero Hour: How to Get Far Quickly When Starting Your Digital Service Unit Late
November 16, 2022
"How can machines be our trusted partners in this new world? That’s where human-centered design comes in."
Husani OakleyTheme Three Intro
June 6, 2023
"Many candidates are filtered out by ATS systems due to keyword matching that overlooks valuable but unconventional experience."
DesignOps and The Great Talent War of 2021
August 19, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How does AI involvement improve the quality and relevance of questions asked during SME review sessions?
What are best practices for new designers to learn AI by building real projects rather than experiments?
How can product teams ensure they prioritize meaningful user outcomes over rapid AI-powered development speed?