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Awkward Silences

Awkward Silences

Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and JH Forster, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews.

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userinterviews.com

Episodes

#100 - UXR Productivity Hacks with Michele Ronsen of Curiosity Tank

Work smarter, not harder with the right UXR productivity hacks. Michele Ronsen, founder of Curiosity Tank and our first repeat guest, joins us for our landmark 100th episode to tell us about the best user research hacks she?s learned to increase productivity, reduce cognitive load, and save time. Make your life a little easier with these pro UXR tips on scheduling, archiving, recruiting, screening, and more.

In this episode:

What is a UXR productivity hack? UXR productivity hacks examples and tips Enhancing productivity --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2022-08-17
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#99 - Leading UX Research for Healthcare Apps with Wendy Johansson of MiSalud Health

Healthcare in the U.S. is expensive?and as a result, some communities struggle to afford medical services. This inequity has become increasingly apparent as underserved communities are disproportionately affected by things like the pandemic.  So, what can UXers do to help?

Wendy Johansson, Co-Founder and Chief Product Experience Officer of MiSalud Health, believes the answer lies in health tech. In this episode, Wendy shares how the MiSalud app works and her approach to using qualitative research to help build a great product.

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2022-08-03
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#98 - Customer-Centricity in Practice with Ferdinand Goetzen of Reveall

Let?s face it? most companies these days say they are customer-centric, but the reality just doesn?t bear that out. Because in order to be truly center-centric (or even ?customer-obsessed?), you need to obsessively (i.e. continuously) gather and use customer insights.

Ferdinand Goetzen, CEO and Co-Founder of Reveall, joins us to explain how teams can start actually centering their customers by adopting certain practices that will help you collect, analyze, and interpret customer insights on a regular basis.

In this episode:

How to gather and use customer insights Active vs passive data Making the most of your data

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2022-07-21
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#97 - Tacos and Tide Pods: House Cats, Research Repositories, and the Economy

Roberta Dombrowski, VP of UX Research at User Interviews, is back for the second installment of Tacos and Tide Pods with Erin and JH. In this episode, they discuss the importance of an effective personal productivity process, overestimated expectations, and the (very Tide Pod-y) state of the global economy.

In this episode:

Creating a research repository at User Interviews Setting up an effective personal productivity process Overestimated expectations Meetings vs asynchronous collab

Get the transcript and show notes: userinterviews.com/podcast

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2022-07-13
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#96 - Your UX Career Is a Product with Sarah Doody

Most people?including product people?don't think of their career as a product. And even the best researchers often neglect to do the research to identify suitable roles and opportunities. The result? They stay in roles for too long, or accept one that simply doesn't align with their career goals, interest, or values. They burn out and feel stuck. 

Sarah Doody, Founder and CEO of Career Strategy Lab, joins us to share why you should start thinking of your User Research career as a product and how you can start doing so today.

In this episode:

How to treat your UX career like a product How to build (and follow) your career roadmap Managing the UX role application process --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2022-06-30
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#95 - UX Writing and Content Design with Yuval Keshtcher of UX Writing Hub

In the world of product design, wordsmiths go by many names?UX writers, content strategists, product writers, and so on. But whatever you call them, these folks play an important role in developing seamless user experiences.

Yuval Keshtcher is the Founder of the UX Writing Hub, an online education platform helping hundreds of people perfect their UX writing. He joins us to explain the difference between UX writing and content design, how the discipline is growing, and his favorite writing resources.

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2022-06-17
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#94 - Tacos and Tide Pods: A New Series from Awkward Silences

We?re changing things up a bit! Introducing a brand new series: Tacos and Tide Pods! Every month or so, Erin and JH will chat with User Interviews?s VP of Research, Roberta Dombrowski. They?ll talk about what?s going on behind the scenes at User Interviews, reflect on recent lessons learned, share their thoughts on the UXR space right now, and discuss what they're hoping to see more of in the future.

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2022-06-02
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#93 - Digital Ethnography and Real-World Context in UXR with Megan McLean of Spotify

Context acts as the bridge between an abstract idea (?a comfortable user experience?) and a tangible design (?cushioned, breathable running shoes?). Although gaining context through remote research can be tricky, our UXR friends with an anthropological background know the solution: Digital ethnography.

This week, we?re joined by Megan McLean, User Researcher at Spotify. Megan shared the who-what-and-how of digital ethnography, what she?s learned about mapping the digital landscape, and how she ensures her ethnography projects succeed.

Read the episode transcript and highlights on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/awkward-megan-spotify

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2022-05-18
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#92 - What Librarians Can Teach UXRs about Insights Repositories with Nada Alnakeeb of DoorDash and Joanna Perez of Netflix

Public libraries have been using insights repositories for decades?and it?s time user research teams catch up. This week, we?re joined by Nada Alnakeeb, Head of Design and Research Operations at DoorDash, and Joanna Perez, Sr. Taxonomy Strategist/Digital Archivist, Studio Production at Netflix. Nada and Joanna shared learnings from their experience building the insights repository at Meta, using familiar organizational patterns to reduce mental load, tips for effective taxonomies, and more.

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2022-05-05
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#91 - Design Psychology with Thomas Watkins of 3Leaf

What is design psychology? Thomas Watkins of 3Leaf compares it to ergonomics?both fields aim to make products feel as comfortable as possible for their users. Where ergonomics is concerned with things like the shape of your office chair?s back or the height of its armrests, design psychology is all about making software experiences more intuitive and reducing cognitive load.

This week on the podcast, Thomas chatted with Erin and JH about the similarities and differences between design psychology and UX research, risks and need-to-knows for psychologists transitioning into business research, the power of mental models, and more.

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2022-04-20
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#90 - The State of User Research 2022 with Roberta Dombrowski

The State of User Research 2022 Report unpacks the data from our international survey of UX researchers and people who do research as part of their jobs. This week, we met with Roberta Dombrowski, VP of User Research at User Interviews and one of the creators of the report, to talk about how it was made and what she thinks of the insights. She talked about the rise of buy-in and demand for research, what democratization means for professional researchers, and her predictions for the future of user research.

Read the transcript and highlights on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/awkward-roberta-sour

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2022-04-05
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#89 - UX Agencies: Setting Clients Up for Success with Karen VanHouten

Doing user research in an agency setting comes with its own set of challenges?from context switching to stubborn clients to less-than-optimal tool stacks.

Karen VanHouten, Director of Product Strategy at Philosophie by InfoBeans, spent most of her career in enterprise B2B before transitioning to agency life. In this podcast episode, Karen shared some great advice on setting expectations, fostering ongoing client relationships, and why she thinks more researchers should be involved in the sales cycle.

Read the transcript on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/karen-vanhouten

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2022-03-30
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#88 - Research Operations for Democratization at Scale

The democratization of research continues to grow?and with it, the complexities of research operations. This week, we chatted with Garrett Tsukada, Head of Customer Connect UX Research Operations at Intuit about how research ops supports democratization at scale. He talked about how Intuit approaches research democratization for a 14,000+ team, guardrails and processes to ensure research quality, advice for starting and scaling a research operations function, and more.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-garrett

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2022-03-02
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#87 - User Interviews 201: Leveling Up Your Interviews with Therese Fessenden of NN/g

You?ve mastered the basics, but now it?s time to take your interviews to the next level. This week, we chatted with Therese Fessenden, Senior User Experience Specialist at NN/g about how to get even better at interviewing. She talked about how to master the basics, hone your skills, and become an A+ interviewer.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-therese

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2022-02-15
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#86 - Research is Everyone?s Job: The Democratization of Research with Jonathan Widawski, CEO of Maze

Should everyone do research? It?s a tricky question. Yes, research is a craft that takes years to master. But on the other hand, if we want research to happen all the time, everyone needs to be able to do some of the basics on their own. Today, we talked to Jonathan Widawski, Founder and CEO of Maze about how the democratization of research is actually advancing the craft. He talked about the need for researchers to be good teachers, how research can grow in the same way data and design did, and why the future is user-centric.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-jo

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2022-02-01
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#85 - So Meta: Doing User Research at UXR Company with Roberta Dombrowski of User Interviews

It?s our most meta episode yet. Today, we chatted with Roberta Dombrowski, VP of User Research at User Interviews, about doing user research about user researchers at a user research company. Listen in to learn about how adding a formal user research practice has benefited the UI team, the challenges of going from an IC to a leadership role, and building a research practice from the ground up.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-roberta

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2022-01-18
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#84 - B2B Recruiting with Matthew Morrison of Braze

Recruiting participants for user research is hard. Recruiting participants from a pool of your own customers? Somehow even harder. There?s client relationships, privacy concerns, and lots of red tape. This week on the podcast, Matthew Morrison joins Erin and JH to share what he?s learned after a year of B2B recruiting at Braze.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-matthew

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2022-01-04
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#83 - Being Black in UX Research with Dr. Lisanne Norman of Gusto

What?s it like to be black in UX right now? Are companies sticking by their plans for diversity and inclusion? How do researchers ensure their work is as inclusive as possible? This week on the podcast, Dr. Lisanne Norman joins Erin and JH to talk about all this and more.

Lisanne is the UX Research Lead at Gusto, a founder of Black UX Austin, and an advocate for diversity and inclusion in tech.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-lisanne

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2021-12-20
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#82 - Games User Research ? with Steve Bromley

Creating a video game requires more than just development time and coding?to make sure the experience is enjoyable, you have to test it. In this episode, User Researcher Steve Bromley joins us to discuss the nuances of conducting user research in the video game industry.

He describes integrating user feedback with the developer's creative vision, recruitment for games research, and the evolution of the gaming industry since he first started.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-steve

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2021-12-08
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#81 - Building a Healthy Research Culture with Gregg Bernstein of Condé Nast

How do you build a long lasting research practice? Aim for a healthy one. Gregg Bernstein, User Research Lead at Condé Nast is here to show you how. He?s led research teams at Vox and Mailchimp.

This week on the podcast, Gregg talked to us about how to contribute to a healthy research practice every day and what a healthy practice even means.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-gregg

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2021-11-23
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#80 - UX Research and Arab Cultures ? with Norah Abokhodair of Microsoft

Doing research with users from different cultures is (very, very) important. It can also be complicated. In this episode, we are joined by Norah Abokhodair, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, who spoke about conducting research in Arab cultures.

She explained some of the nuances of Arabic and Arab cultures, how to recruit diverse participants, and how to adjust your research style depending on the context.



Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/awkward-norah

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2021-11-09
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#79 - Participatory Research ? with Alexis McNutt Unis of Better

What is participatory research? And how do you include it in your UXR practice? Alexis McNutt Unis, Lead UX Researcher, Homeowner Experience at Better is here to explain.

Alexis shared how she involves stakeholders in engaging workshops, co-creates with participants, and takes research readouts to the next level to drive a participatory research practice that works for everyone.

Head to the User Interviews blog for the transcript and episode highlights: https://bit.ly/better-alexis

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2021-10-27
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#78 - Accessible UXR: Recruiting and Researching Participants with Disabilities ? with Samuel Proulx of Fable

We learned so much in this week?s episode of Awkward Silences. Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist at Fable, joined us to talk to us about accessibility and why it (really, really) matters.

He taught us about the assistive technologies that many people with disabilities use to navigate the digital world, why accessibility is more important now than ever, and how designing for accessibility makes everyone?s user experience better.

Get the transcript and links to resources mentioned on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/3iYs9a1

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2021-10-13
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#77 - Breaking Into User Research ? with Eniola Abioye of SVB

Eniola Abioye?Senior UX Design Researcher at Silicon Valley Bank and user research career coach?joined us for a special live episode of Awkward Silences. She answered audience questions and shared some of her best tips for crafting a research portfolio that stands out, transitioning from different fields, and why not everyone needs a bootcamp.

Get the transcript and links to resources mentioned on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/eniola-ep77

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2021-09-29
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#76 - UXRs Need to Care About the Business, Too ? with Zack Naylor of Aurelius

This week we?re joined by Zack Naylor, CEO and co-founder of UX research tool Aurelius. We spoke about what researchers need to know about their company, why tying research outcomes to business impact is so important, and how to navigate the waters when business goals and user research don?t align.

Zack talked about?

Conducting stakeholder interviews to deeply understand your business. Choosing a company that aligns with your values and personal goals. Using business knowledge to get high level stakeholder buy-in.


Get the transcript and episode highlights on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/awkward-aurelius

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2021-09-21
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#75 - Debunking UX Research Myths with Zach Schendel of DoorDash

As a seasoned researcher who has led teams at Unilever, Netflix, and DoorDash,  Zach Schendel has come up against every type of skeptical stakeholder you can imagine.

He joined us to chat about the research myths he runs into most often, how he debunks them, and why he wants to banish ?let?s do a qual? from everyone?s vocabulary forever.

Zach talked about?

The 4 UX research myths he?d like to debunk once and for all. Stories from his time at Unilever, Netflix, and DoorDash. How he gets stubborn stakeholders onboard, even if they?re hesitant about the merits of research.

Get the transcript: https://bit.ly/zach-doordash

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2021-09-08
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#74 - Building a Product Vision with Rajesh Nerlikar of Prodify

Rajesh Nerlikar works with companies to help them build great products. As the CEO of Prodify, he and his team advise startups on how to build impactful, vision-led products that get customers excited. In his experience, the best way to get teams on the same page is with a compelling product vision that?s easy to understand.

In this episode, Rajesh joins Erin and JH to chat about why great product visions are like comic strips, the hard work of actually putting those visions into action, and how to get stakeholders on board with it all.

Get the transcript on the blog: https://bit.ly/rajesh-pod

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2021-08-24
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#73 - Getting Stakeholder Buy-In at a Large Organization with Meg Pullis Roebling of BNY Mellon

Meg Pullis Roebling, Head of CX Research, Data & Analytics Solutions at BNY Mellon, talks us through her approach to building relationships with stakeholders, finding people to support her research efforts, and making research visible to the whole organization.

Meg discussed...

How she convinces relationship managers to get clients involved in research. What metrics she uses to make the case for research. How to know when research is weaving its way into the fabric of your organization.

Get the transcript: https://bit.ly/awkward-meg

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2021-08-10
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#72 - How to Ask Great UX Research Questions with Amy Chess of Amazon

Great user research projects start with great research questions.

This week on the podcast, Amy Chess, UX Researcher at Amazon, explains why you can?t do great user research without the asking right research questions. She also talked about the difference between interview and research questions, building trust with stakeholders, and why you definitely can?t choose a methodology before you establish a research question.

Get the transcript on the User Interviews blog: https://bit.ly/a-chess

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2021-07-27
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#71 - Running a Blended Research Team with Dave Chen of Flipp

Insights can come from a lot of different places. Dave Chen, Director of Consumer Insights at Flipp, talks about how he streamlines insights with a blended UX, CX, and market research team. His team takes feedback from CX, large survey studies from market research, and qualitative insights from the UX research team to get a more complete view of their customers and their product.

Transcript and episode notes available on the User Interviews Bloghttps://bit.ly/ux-cx-mktg 

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2021-07-13
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#70 - Radical Listening and Practical Empathy with Babz Jewell of Variant

What the heck is empathy, anyway? What does empathetic research really look like in practice? Babz Jewell?an ethnographic sociologist and Principal UX Researcher at Variant?joined Erin and JH to share her practical approach to empathy and active listening and how these skills have transformed her UX research process.

Babz talked about?

How active listening can help UX researchers improve their entire research process. Building better relationships with stakeholders. Using notetaking to be a better active listener.

Visit the blog for the full transcript and links to resources mentioned in this episode: https://bit.ly/babz-jewell

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2021-06-29
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#69 - Thinking Styles and "Average" Users with Indi Young

Indi Young, independent Qualitative Data Scientist, researcher, author, educator, and thought leader joined our hosts to explain how designing for the ?average user? can marginalize and harm real people. Indi shared how she finds patterns in people?s behaviors, thoughts, and needs?and how she uses that data to create thinking styles that inform more inclusive design decisions.

Indi talked about?

Why researchers should look for patterns, not anecdotes, to understand real user needs. What are thinking styles and how to uncover and use them. Why your ?average? user often doesn?t exist in the real world, and how we can do better --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2021-06-18
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#68 - Actionable Generative Research with Lucy Denton of Dovetail

Lucy Denton, Product Design Lead at Dovetail, spoke with Erin and JH about how she tackled a large-scale opportunity research project with a small team. She talked about how she got the whole team involved, how they turned all that research into actionable insights, and what they?ve built with them so far.

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2021-06-02
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#67 - Growing a UX Research Startup with Basel Fakhoury of User Interviews and Benjamin Humphrey of Dovetail

This week we?re mixing things up a bit. In this special episode, Basel Fakhoury, CEO and cofounder of User Interviews, and Benjamin Humphrey, CEO and cofounder of Dovetail, sat down for a conversation about starting a company in the UX research space, current projects, and what they think the future holds for user research tools.

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2021-05-18
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#66 - Agile Research Ops with Joey Encarnacion of Slack

How do you measure success in a still-evolving field? Joey Encarnacion, Senior Research Operations Lead at Slack, has been working in research ops since 2017. He joined us on the pod to talk about Slack?s Rolling Research program, what success looks like for his team, and how he builds systems that scale.

Joey discussed?

Ensuring research ops can scale by building the smallest operable system first
How he measures the success of his efforts in such a new field
Slack?s Rolling Research program
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2021-05-04
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#65 - The Best of Awkward Silences (So Far)

To celebrate our launch on Product Hunt, we're taking some time to reflect on what Awkward Silences is all about. We'd appreciate your support in our (belated) launch here: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/awkward-silences-podcast

Guests featured in this episode, in order:

Jon Macdonald, Founder of the Good

Cat Noone, CEO of Stark

Roy Opata Olende, Research Operations Manager at Zapier

Maria Rosala, User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group

Joel Klettke, Founder of Case Study Buddy

Erika Hall, Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at Mule Design

Harrison Wheeler, Senior Manager, Product Design at LinkedIIn 

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2021-04-30
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#64 - Civic Tech with Cyd Harrell

Whether you?re paying a parking ticket or getting a divorce, chances are high that you?ll go through some (if not all) of that process online. Chances are also good that the UX of that process will be? not great. Cyd Harrell wants to change that.

Cyd?prominent Civic Design Consultant and Service Design Lead at the Judicial Council of California?has been working in civic tech since 2012. She?s passionate about helping governments create digital services that meet people where they are. In this episode, Cyd joins Erin and JH to talk about her past projects, navigating the public sector, what inspired her to get involved in civic tech, and how people can contribute to the field.

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2021-04-20
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#63 - Information Architecture in UX with Page Laubheimer of NN/g

Information architecture is everywhere. Page Laubheimer, Senior User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, joins our hosts to shed some light on the complicated topic of IA and how the way we organize data impacts how we interact with products. He explains how and when to do IA work on a UX project, which research methods you?ll need, and how to launch your IA career.

See the blog for the transcript and highlights from the episode: http://bit.ly/IA-podcast

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2021-04-06
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#62 - The State of User Research with Katryna Balboni

Katryna Balboni, the content director at User Interviews, joins our hosts to dive into the data from our State of User Research 2021 report. They chat about the challenges of survey design and distribution, the impact of stakeholder engagement on UX researcher fulfillment, and the changing landscape of UX research. Bonus fun facts about medieval data collection included.

See the blog for the transcript, links to resources, and a bonus medieval fun fact: http://bit.ly/sour-podcast

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2021-03-23
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#61 - The Role of Research in CX Transformation with Kim Salazar of Nielsen Norman Group

Is your company truly customer-centric? Are your systems actually helping you create better experiences for your customers?

Last week, Kim Salazar, Senior User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, joined us for a live podcast episode to share valuable insights from her own work with teams trying to create truly customer-centric companies through CX transformation. She highlighted the importance of drawing from multiple sources of data and communicating the business benefits of CX work.

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2021-03-09
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#60 - Discovery Research and Interview Skills with Maria Rosala of Nielsen Norman Group

Are your research discoveries really discoveries? Or are you collecting validation for your own assumptions?

That?s just one of the big questions Maria Rosala, UX Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, tackled in our second-ever live ?podinar.? Maria shared her expertise on conducting thoughtful discovery research and user interviews.

Listen to (or watch!) the episode to learn:

Why the discovery process is a non-negotiable part doing quality user research  Maria?s favorite discovery methods How to get stakeholder buy-in Tips for conducting better, more insightful interviews & more... --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2021-02-18
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#59 - Ethical Hacking, Information Security, and UX with Ted Harrington of ISE

Building great products is hard. Building great, secure, products is even harder. This week on Awkward Silences, we talked to Ted Harrington about the intersection between security and UX. He outlined what exactly ethical hackers do, how he challenges stakeholder assumptions about security work, and what teams can do to ensure their systems are secure.

Ted talked about?

What UX and security work have in common How teams can ensure their work is more secure Some of the common issues and myths he encounters --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2021-02-02
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#58 - The Lone UXR: Being a UX Research Team of One with Izzy Nichols

Being a research team of one isn?t easy. When you?re the only researcher at a company, you have to do every type of research, recruiting, planning, and analysis by yourself?all without the resources of a large team. But for Imani ?Izzy? Nichols, being a UX research team of one is an exciting challenge. She?s been a team of one twice now and has learned a lot from her experience. In this episode of Awkward Silences, Izzy talked about how being a team of one allowed her to focus on championing research, leveling up her career in meaningful ways, and growing her skills.

Izzy talked about?

How she finds mentors and a sense of community. How to educate your teammates about the differences between market and UX research. How to conquer the inevitable imposter syndrome that comes with being the first and only researcher. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2021-01-19
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#57 - Research Amid Sudden Change: Working on Google Classroom During COVID with Amanda Rosenburg of Google.

In March 2020, Google Classroom?s user base grew from 30 million to hundreds of millions almost overnight. As schools closed, teachers needed new ways to conduct lessons and manage their work. This meant that Amanda Rosenburg, a Staff UX Researcher & Team Lead working on Google Classroom, had a lot of work to do. Research requests were suddenly piling up, and her team needed to execute quickly to help the product team adapt to new and unexpected challenges.

Amanda talked about?

How she adjusted her research strategy to cover more ground, faster. Her biggest challenges, and the changes she?s sticking with. How students and teachers are coping with all this change.

Read the transcript here: 

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2021-01-05
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#56 - 2020, UXR Year In Review

The year is wrapping up and it?s finally time to say bye forever to 2020 ?. The hosts of Awkward Silences, Erin May and JH Forster, took this opportunity to reflect on some of the things that happened in research this year, what changes they think are here to stay, and what they see on the horizon in 2021. They also revisited some of the best conversations we?ve had on the podcast so far, like chatting with Vivianne Castillo about self-care, Cat Noone about accessibility, and Randy Duke about diversity and inclusion in UXR. Erin and JH talked about? How work and research changed this year. What changes they think are going to stick. What they expect for 2021. Highlights [2:48] Erin and JH talk about the world going remote and vulnerability at work. [16:08] Dark design patterns and how UXers are working on fixing them. [19:31] UX Collective's 2020 lessons and what we learned. [22:49] Accessibility is a growing focus for researchers and designers. [26:46] How are we going to adjust to life after COVID? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2020-12-22
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#55 - So You Want to Be In Research Ops? How Roy Olende of Zapier Made The Switch

There is a growing need for research operations.

As more companies embrace the importance of user research and scale their UXR efforts, a dedicated ops function is quickly becoming a necessity.

Research ops?which involves things like participant recruitment, research processes, and programs to help non-researchers do better research?can be a career path for many different kinds of people. Roy has worked with ops pros who come from traditional business operations, marketing, UX, and of course, research. He says the key to succeeding in a research ops role isis to being comfortable with blazing a new trail and taking joy in creating processes that work.

Roy talked about?

How to decide if research ops is a good career for you
What he does on a day to day basis
How research ops works at Zapier
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2020-12-08
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#54 - From Start to Finish: End-to-End Experience Teams with Danielle Smith of Express Scripts

Understanding your product from start to finish is easier said than done. The same goes for integrating research into every stage of a project. Danielle Smith found that she would often work on foundational projects for a product team, then move right along to the next thing, losing sight of the end-to-end experience. When she was tasked with building the research team at Express Scripts, she knew she wanted to have a better view of the big picture. So she brought  data scientists, analysts, pro survey designers, and user researchers together to create a superpowered experience team.

Danielle talked about?

How combining different disciplines has improved her recruitment process. Being able to support more cross-functional career interests. What she?d do differently if she built a team like this from the ground up again. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2020-11-24
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#53 - Everything in Context: Anthropology and User Research with Vanessa Whatley of Google

User research and anthropology have more in common that you may realize. Both involve studying the way people interact with their surroundings and make critical decisions, though anthropologists focus on the cultures and societies that shape behavior. This week on Awkward Silences, Erin and JH chatted with Vanessa Whatley?a Senior UX Researcher at Google?about what researchers can learn from anthropology.

Vanessa talked about?

How anthropology can teach user researchers to look more closely at the context of participants? decisions and behaviors The benefits of a diverse research team, And how she puts insights into perspective for stakeholders. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2020-11-10
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#52 - The Missing Ingredient: How Storytelling Can Make User Research More Impactful with Harrison Wheeler, UX Design Manager at LinkedIn

People are 22% more likely to remember something when it?s presented as a story, rather than a cut and dry fact. So if you?re struggling to get stakeholders to care about and utilize your research, storytelling can be the key to getting research to stick. 

This week on the podcast, Erin and JH chatted with Harrison Wheeler, UX Design Manager at LinkedIn and host of Technically Speaking, about the power of storytelling. Harrison talked about how getting everyone on board with storytelling can make the facts of research stick around for longer, learning if your research presentations are engaging, and reminding everyone that it?s all about the users. 

Highlights

[4:13] Ideally, research is the base for everything. Your whole team starts with research and learns to use it to tell compelling stories about the product.

[8:17] Understanding your audience, their expertise, and how they like to consume data is incredibly important to telling a story that sticks.

[13:47] Telling your user story by using quotes is really impactful at the beginning of a project.

[19:07] Practicing telling fact-based stories about research helps you reflect on how well you know the information.

[23:23] Knowing what kinds of media resonates well with your key stakeholders can help you tell a better story on their terms.

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2020-10-28
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#51 - Uncharted Territory: AI, User Research, and What?s Next with with Hana Nagel Service Designer at Element AI

AI is becoming a part of everything we do. With voice-activated smart homes, ad targeting algorithms, and increasingly smart cars, AI is more and more a part of the fabric of daily life. But how do we make sure AI is built in a way that is user-friendly, unbiased, and ethically sound? That's where user research comes in. Erin and JH chatted with Hana Nagel, a Service Designer at Element AI, about how she researches for AI, why inputs are just as important as outputs, and the ethics around improving AI through your data. 

Highlights

[2:53] Establishing the ethics around AI is a collaboration between private enterprise, governmental organizations, and the civic sector.

[4:53] The difficult part of researching for AI is assessing how people may feel about something they've never interacted with before.

[9:25] A big challenge for theAI industry as a whole is how comfortable are we with giving up our data in exchange for optimization?

[14:42] How the system as a whole is responsible for AI outputs, not just the individuals who work on the AI.

[24:59] It is incredibly important to identify our own biases when building AI systems. This involves a lot of self-reflection to root out biases you may not know you have.

[32:42] In Hana's dream world, the work of creating and researching AI would be more widely shared among people with different expertise to create something more reflective of many perspectives.

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awkwardsilences/message
2020-10-14
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