War Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
Summary
The speaker recounts their first project as lead researcher and designer for an internal IT group, accompanied by an apprentice named Laura. Tasked with improving internal software, they faced tight deadlines and unpredictable fieldwork. Meeting Carol, a key user with critical feedback, unexpectedly shifted the session away from planned questions when Carol introduced 'flat Carol,' a life-size cardboard cutout of herself used humorously around the office. Rather than forcing the agenda, the speaker chose to embrace the unplanned, focusing on presence and listening deeply. This approach facilitated rich insights and teaching moments for Laura about handling surprises in research. The talk highlights the value of flexibility, rapport building, and embracing unexpected moments to uncover deeper user needs.
Key Insights
-
•
User research often uncovers surprising and unplanned elements that challenge preconceived agendas.
-
•
Building rapport by being present and open can reveal deeper user stories beyond formal software feedback.
-
•
Apprentices in field research benefit from witnessing real-time adaptation to unexpected situations.
-
•
A user’s personal artifacts or rituals, like Carol's 'flat Carol,' can provide valuable cultural context.
-
•
Tight deadlines in research require balancing planned deliverables with responsiveness to emergent insights.
-
•
Critical or unfiltered user feedback, like Carol's, can indicate important pain points or cultural factors.
-
•
Observing both verbal and non-verbal cues helps researchers gauge how to steer field conversations.
-
•
Mentorship in research includes modeling flexibility and emotional resilience.
-
•
Embracing unexpected moments can transform research from transactional data collection to meaningful dialogue.
-
•
User experience research is as much about human connection as it is about technical problem solving.
Notable Quotes
"I know who you are and I have opinions."
"I’m going to need to bring my A game."
"I hadn’t realized that we were both going to need that advice."
"Flat Carol was a nearly life-size cardboard cutout of Carol."
"I put down my question guide and just talked with Carol."
"Do I find a way to make this conversation more about the software as scheduled or do I show Laura how to react to the unplanned?"
"Research is about being ready for anything, even what you didn’t imagine."
"Carol was really grateful for our conversation."
"Laura let out a sigh of relief and said, I don’t think I could ever recover the way that you did."
"We all walked away better for it."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"There is overlap between design and research when it comes to different types of research; it’s not a strict divide."
Prayag NarulaHow to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To
June 10, 2022
"Helping users express their individual sustainability values opens more possibilities than enforcing rigid standards."
Mike Brzozowski Laura Palotie Steve Isley Nancy TsangUX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices
July 17, 2024
"Now it's really accessible for everyone, not just designers, to do visual thinking using these tools."
Shipra Kayan Robert Kortenoeven Eileen TangEmerging principles for using AI in Design: What the product design team at Miro has learned from deeply integrating AI in their workflow
June 11, 2025
"You want to write a brief for each initiative and confirm it with your stakeholders before putting a team together to execute it."
Peter BoersmaHow to Define and Maintain a DesignOps Roadmap
October 3, 2023
"The only time you get to build design ops at the same time as the organization structure is like in startups, but they’re so chaotic you don’t get to enjoy it."
Dan WillisFilling the Void
November 7, 2018
"Please don’t implement the Spotify model. It works for them, it won’t work for you."
Louis RosenfeldDiscussion: What Operations can teach DesignOps
November 6, 2017
"We were lost in the forest and you come across this compass, maybe all time rusty, but still something a little bit useful."
Benjamin RealMaturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
October 1, 2021
"I spent 40% of my day verifying what the system already knows."
Bethany BrownRewiring operations with service design and AI
November 20, 2025
"It’s about empowering a maker culture where the collective ‘we’ accomplishes something far beyond what any individual imagined."
Uday GajendarThe Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX
May 13, 2015
