Research After UX
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Decoupling research from UX can provide researchers with more agency to frame broader business problems beyond design.
-
•
Identity work is a fundamental challenge when moving research out of UX, requiring careful leadership attention.
-
•
Playing the long game through persistent business case building and internal socialization is essential for organizational change.
-
•
Research teams positioned alongside product management, engineering, and data science gain higher visibility and influence.
-
•
Measuring research impact becomes more complex but broader, shifting from simple metrics like study counts to influence and strategic involvement.
-
•
Research operations functions are crucial infrastructure that enable scalable, efficient research beyond UX.
-
•
Control over budget and headcount advocacy improves significantly when research reports outside UX.
-
•
COVID-19 amplified issues around identity and belonging for team members during organizational transitions.
-
•
In B2B companies like Salesforce, much product decision-making happens before UX, necessitating research involvement earlier in the lifecycle.
-
•
Providing reassurance and support for new research skills helps ease team anxieties during structural changes.
Notable Quotes
"What happens if research does not report into UX? What might happen if we uncouple research from UX?"
"We made this move in January 2020 — our research and insights team moved out of UX but stayed within product organizations."
"Conscious uncoupling is about identity — how one thinks of oneself defines oneself and how others define you."
"I believed we could do more — more for the company, customers, stakeholders, and ourselves if we had more agency."
"Our research practice was perceived largely as design testers, empathy vehicles, and policing functions — a narrow, reactive role."
"After the move, our work had more impact, more visibility, and we're present across the entire product life cycle."
"Research operations is the spine of any successful research and insights group."
"For the first time, I was able to advocate for funding directly for the research function at high executive levels."
"I underestimated how much identity our team tied to UX and how scary that loss felt to many of them."
"Our shift is structural, not because of personalities — it was needed to influence earlier, more business-centric decisions."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Artificial intelligence can’t produce meaning the way humans do; it industrializes plausible content generation."
Savina HawkinsHarnessing AI in UXR: Practical Strategies for Positive Impact
March 26, 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
"By automating deliverables analysis, we saved 12 hours per week within one design team alone."
Farid SabitovAutomatization for Large Enterprise Teams
January 8, 2024
"We need to get really good at strategy board games to outsmart threat actors."
Heidi TrostTo Protect People, You Have to Protect Information: A Human-Centered Design Approach to Cybersecurity
January 23, 2025
"You don’t know what you don’t know. Let’s write surveys that cover those blind spots."
Chris EngledowlA Mixed Method Approach to Validity to Help Build Trust
April 28, 2023
"Layoffs are a collective trauma – it’s okay to acknowledge the emotions and grief you feel."
Corey Nelson Amy SanteeLayoffs
November 15, 2022
"Try to make your component hierarchy as flat as possible because tall, nested structures become hard to navigate."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"Accessibility isn't about dumbing down interfaces; except for color, most guidelines do not require changing the look or behavior of components."
Sheri Byrne-HaberThe Importance of Accessible Design Systems
January 8, 2024
"Our job is to make sure research conducted by non-researchers is objective, rigorous and unbiased."
Anna Poznyakov Richa PrajapatiGet The Most Out Of Stakeholder Collaboration—and Maximize Your Research Impact
March 12, 2021
