What Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?
Summary
Join the moderator, Andreas Huebner (User Research Manager), as he runs a Q&A session with Amy Takata (User Researcher), and Craig Brookes (Staff Product Designer) to discuss life at Compass, the team culture, and the reasons for joining the Compass team.
Key Insights
-
•
Research and design at Compass operate as a tightly integrated partnership, collaborating daily and shaping product vision together.
-
•
Generative research during the pandemic employed virtual co-design sessions allowing users to interactively construct their journeys using online sketching tools.
-
•
Using low-fidelity sketches in research helps elicit honest user feedback without the pressure of polished mockups.
-
•
Compass’s UX team has grown from a few members to a diverse group with specialized expertise across data, processes, and information architecture.
-
•
Leadership at Compass champions research, enabling the team to focus on open-ended exploratory questions beyond tactical usability tests.
-
•
Research insights and design solutions form a continuous narrative, with learnings shared and explored across project stages.
-
•
Automation of marketing content for real estate agents is a complex challenge requiring personalization for different agent types and regional contexts.
-
•
Remote collaboration tools like Slack and video watching allow design and research to stay tightly linked despite physical distance.
-
•
Increased UX visibility at Compass has led to greater organizational curiosity and eagerness to incorporate research findings in decision-making.
-
•
There is excitement among UX team members about returning to the office to revive social bonding and in-person creative sessions.
Notable Quotes
"Design and research at Compass have become so integrated that we become these powerful partners driving the product vision."
"We used virtual sketching where users could move components into spaces representing their actual workflows on the platform."
"It’s really been helpful that research supports design not just in discovery but also in validating that what we build meets customer expectations."
"The pandemic pushed us to be creative, and it’s been fun for users to participate remotely in the design process."
"Leadership buy-in now means we get to focus on bigger, generative research questions instead of just tactical usability studies."
"The complexity of automating marketing content for agents varies because some want hyper-personalized brand content while others prefer general automation."
"Even though Craig and I work closely every day, we haven’t met in person yet, which shows how remote collaboration works well for us."
"Research and design together tell a continuous story that guides what problems we tackle and how we solve them."
"Our user base is really fun and complex, with different preferences that require nuanced automation approaches."
"I’m most excited to get back in the office because I miss that culture and feeling like I’m working with friends every day."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Our ways of being are roots that grow into ways of knowing, doing, and methods, all nourished by systems of value."
Victor UdoewaBeyond Methods and Diversity: The Roots of Inclusion
March 26, 2024
"Prototyping isn’t a second-class citizen, it should be a first-class citizen."
Bill ScottLean Engineering: Engineering for Learning and Experimentation in the Enterprise
May 14, 2015
"The context of use framework helps teams understand that different experiences aren't bad, just different."
Lija HoganContexts of Use: A Framework for Connection
December 9, 2021
"We support Google HEART metrics to show design impact aligned with business goals."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
"We protect the time and headspace of everyone on the design team so they can focus more on their craft."
Jilanna WilsonDistributed DesignOps Management
February 26, 2019
"Post-training on billions of examples is like training a dog over and over until it gets really good at reasoning and tool use."
Peter Van DijckBuilding impactful AI products for design and product leaders, Part 3: Understand AI architectures: RAG, Agents, Oh My!
July 30, 2025
"Futures anthropology teaches us to separate users' expectations, anticipations, hopes, and speculations about the future."
Nicole Aleong Michaela Mora Prayag Narula Brianna SylverWhat UX research can learn from other research practices [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 14, 2023
"The number of crossings between intention and generation is increasing faster than our ability to examine what happened between them."
Beth ChappellLeading through ambiguity: Supporting a design team relearning their craft
June 9, 2026
"At last year’s conference, we were still scrambling to figure out where AI might be useful in our work."
Llewyn PaineDay 1 Using AI in UX with Impact
June 10, 2025
