Summary
Over the last few years, our simple five-step framework has made it possible to grow our research efforts' impact and scale. It's also helped us shift organizational mindset, establishing Research & Insights team as a trusted and desired partner in key business, product, and design decisions. Whether you do research with customers or need to map out your stakeholder universe to be most effective and increase your work's impact, we hope this framework will help you achieve your goals!
Key Insights
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Identifying and understanding stakeholder needs is critical for effective UX research.
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The two-by-two stakeholder matrix helps prioritize who to manage closely based on their influence and interest.
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Education about the different layers of UX research is essential for aligning team expectations.
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Conducting stakeholder interviews regularly ensures ongoing alignment on research needs and priorities.
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Empowering product managers and designers to conduct their own research can greatly scale research capacity.
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Maintaining a research backlog helps manage and prioritize multiple research requests efficiently.
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Creating a living document for research findings keeps insights actionable and prevents redundant research efforts.
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Using unmoderated testing tools can streamline data collection without sacrificing quality.
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Establishing a collaborative research practice leads to stronger partnerships across teams and better product outcomes.
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Frequent communication and shared goals between researchers and stakeholders can foster a more research-informed development process.
Notable Quotes
"We realized we need to have a clear and prioritized picture of our stakeholders."
"The bliss of being involved in the product development cycle from the get go is somewhat over utopia that is unfortunately a couple of decades long."
"Most of the time our stakeholders perceive that research means evaluating concepts and finding usability issues."
"It's important to educate our stakeholders on the value of research and strive for continuous improvement."
"We need to enable our designers in our product managers to be objective, rigorous, and unbiased."
"It's a great way to not duplicate research because sometimes you're not able to implement things right away."
"Documenting feedback ensures it can be shared and doesn't just die after each call with a customer."
"Once they start conducting research, they appreciate how much effort goes into it."
"Research findings and recommendations need to be kept alive through the product development cycle."
"It's not just about getting a seat at the table; it's about having a voice at the table."
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