Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

The Problem Space
Thursday, May 16, 2019 • Advancing Research Community
Share the love for this talk
The Problem Space
Speakers: Andrea Gallagher
Link:

Summary

Over 3 decades of software design and development, we have seen the creation and proliferation of tools that help our teams be great at the solution space - diagramming, sketching, prototyping, tracking, measuring.  How might we make ourselves better at working in the problem space?  In this videoconference, we brainstorm and explore the topic, and maybe even inspire someone to build that perfect tool.

Key Insights

  • There is a wide variety of prototyping tools, but tooling for early problem space research is underdeveloped.

  • UX researchers spend significant time manual coding and synthesizing interview transcripts without much tool automation.

  • Language mapping using natural language processing could help extract user narratives and keywords to better understand user thinking.

  • Data repositories across organizations often fail due to tool complexity and lack of cross-disciplinary accessibility.

  • Collaborative tools like Mural facilitate real-time brainstorming and affinity mapping in remote teams.

  • Hypothesis definition is a largely social and iterative process, reliant on team communication rather than technical tooling.

  • Mapping assumptions from user and business outcomes supports prioritizing testable prototypes early.

  • Tooling that connects research questions, assumptions, tests, and outcomes could provide critical ‘glue’ for the research process.

  • Research approaches differ greatly depending on context, from startups to established enterprises requiring flexible tooling.

  • Remote work increases reliance on digital collaborative tools but also surfaces challenges in managing distributed inputs and synthesis.

Notable Quotes

"We have eight million prototyping tools but not many tools that help us spend more time in the problem space."

"I suspect there are specific tasks we could support more effectively with dedicated tools."

"Langauge is what shapes us, and extracting keywords helps us create narratives to understand how people think."

"Data repositories often fail because of the complexity in cataloging and who can access the information."

"We still do a lot of coding transcripts by hand, and I’m not sure where the ideal digital intersection is."

"The hardest thing with hypotheses is looking for the disconfirming evidence, not just the confirmatory."

"I’d love a tool that combines research questions, assumptions, tests, and outcomes all in one place."

"Different organizations need different approaches; it’s hard to generalize research tooling needs."

"Tools like Mural are great for remote real-time sticky note brainstorming and affinity mapping."

"Once you have a testable prototype, you can validate and iterate quickly, which makes a broad early approach useful."

Ask the Rosenbot
John Mortimer
Panel Discussion
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Nicole Wright
Democratizing Research at HoneyBook
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Anna Avrekh
User Research, Design, and Product - A Love Story
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Brenna Fallon
Learning Over Outcomes
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Matt Bernius
Learnings from Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to the Research Process
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Ali Jeffery
How DesignOps Helped Enable Wall Street to Work Remotely
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Steve Portigal
Discussion
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Briana Thomas
The Quiet Force: Uncovering Hidden Leadership in High-Impact Design Teams
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Megan Blocker
Panel: Excellence in Impact
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Gabriela Barneva
Operationalizing Inclusive Design in Service Design
2025 • Advancing Service Design 2025
Conference
Terry Buckman
Wargaming (An Introduction)
2023 • Enterprise Community
Husani Oakley
Theme Two Intro
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Lisa Spitz
Building Trust Through Equitable Research Practices
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Laureen Kattan
Centering Patients and Clinicians in a Complex Government Ecosystem
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Rebecca Topps
Planning and conducting remote usability studies for accessibility
2020 • Advancing Research Community

More Videos

Marjorie Stainback

"Remote, unmoderated usability studies give designers feedback in less than a day."

Marjorie Stainback Kelsey Kingman

Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization

October 24, 2019

Alexandra Schmidt

"Design ethics can impact some harms of new technology but not all."

Alexandra Schmidt

Why Ethics Can't Save Tech

November 18, 2022

Carol Smith

"Data is a function of our history; it reflects priorities, preferences, and prejudices."

Carol Smith

Operationalizing Responsible, Human-Centered AI

June 7, 2023

Fisayo Osilaja

"Timely engagement helps stakeholders make faster, more informed decisions leading to better business outcomes."

Fisayo Osilaja

[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist

June 4, 2024

Allison Sanders

"Onboarding isn’t a one-time activity, it’s an ongoing event that helps people connect and find their place."

Allison Sanders

Operating with Purpose

January 8, 2024

Malini Rao

"Re-platforming is transformative not just for the product but also for the people, teams, and organization."

Malini Rao

Lessons Learned from a 4-year Product Re-platforming Journey

June 9, 2021

Peter Van Dijck

"Trust the user and trust the model are the two lessons I’m getting over time."

Peter Van Dijck

Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people

October 22, 2025

Indi Young

"We can use mental model skylines with thinking styles to find support gaps we didn’t see before."

Indi Young

Thinking styles: Mend hidden cracks in your market

January 8, 2025

Brigette Metzler

"Research Ops needs an operational brain — it’s not the kind of brain researchers usually carry."

Brigette Metzler Dana Chrisfield

Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community

August 27, 2020