The UX research reckoning is here | Judd Antin (Airbnb, Meta)

This podcast episode delves into the complex world of user research, highlighting its challenges and proposing strategies to maximize its impact on product development. It emphasizes the need for researchers to adopt a more comprehensive approach, integrating insights from various disciplines, developing diverse skills, and building strong relationships with stakeholders. The episode also stresses the importance of PMs actively participating in user research and using qualitative methods to gain insights into user behavior. Additionally, it discusses the value of researchers in driving business impact and explores the nuances of product management and user experience. Takeaways • Researchers need to shift their focus from user-centered performance to genuine user-centeredness, prioritizing learning and informed decisions based on user feedback. • Researchers should possess diverse tools and skills, including generative user experience research, evaluative research, survey design, applied statistics, and prompt engineering. • Intuition plays a role in product development, but it should be checked with System 2 thinking to avoid biases and blind spots. • Researchers face challenges in being included in the product development process. Building strong relationships with product managers is crucial for their involvement. • User research can inform product decisions and drive business value by identifying specific problems and turning raw customer feedback into actionable insights. • Common misconceptions in product development include overreliance on A-B testing, asking customers what they want, relying on hindsight bias, and twisting evidence to fit a narrative. • Researchers need to move beyond recommendations and integrate insights from various disciplines. Collaboration and ruthless prioritization are key to maximizing the value of user research. • PMs should actively participate in user research, conducting field visits and focus groups. Qualitative research methods, such as user interviews, are valuable for gaining insights into user behavior and preferences. • Researchers can drive business impact by answering questions that cannot be answered in any other way. Developing skills, pushing back, understanding the value of research, and becoming influential and excellent communicators are essential. • Customer satisfaction is a more reliable metric than NPS (Net Promoter Score) for measuring customer loyalty and providing valuable insights for businesses. • PMs should consider context, priorities, and constraints when evaluating product issues. Product walkthroughs can identify potential issues, but intuition alone should not be the sole basis for prioritization. • Researchers should focus on controllable factors and let go of those beyond their control. Involving researchers early in projects can lead to positive outcomes.