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How to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
Summary
Three of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions on making UX leadership more effective in this Advancing Research community workshop. Participants engaged with them in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Peter Merholz. “UX Research leaders of tomorrow need to stand tall, assert themselves, and take a seat at the table because we have a purpose and companies cannot afford to make investment decisions based on intuition.” – Sarah Alvarado “Move out of your UX org.” – Nalini Kotamraju “Most organizations talk a good prioritization game but fail to actually prioritize their projects, creating the perfect opportunity for Research leadership. Developing and maintaining a stack-ranked ruthless prioritization of projects has the power to grow Research headcount and budget and elevate Research strategically while minimizing researcher overwork.” – Anne Mamaghani
Key Insights
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Effective UX research leadership requires shifting focus from justifying research to strategically embedding insights into business decisions.
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Positioning UX research as an independent organizational pillar, separate from design or product, offers greater unbiased influence.
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UX research leaders may gain more strategic impact when reporting outside traditional UX organizations into product or strategy teams.
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Saying no to non-critical research empowers teams to focus on high-impact projects and prevents resource overextension.
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Prioritization of research should incorporate business goals, user experience risk, and opportunities for innovation.
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Cross-functional collaboration and regular cadence meetings improve research prioritization and alignment with stakeholders.
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Democratizing research is beneficial but challenging; it requires strong partnership and leadership support to avoid overloading non-researchers.
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A research portfolio mix balancing near-term evaluative work with forward-looking strategic initiatives is critical for impact.
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Organizational politics, allyship, and influence tactics are integral to advancing UX research agendas and securing resources.
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UX researchers often excel at applying methods to external users but need better application of research principles to internal leaders.
Notable Quotes
"It's time for us to shift our focus away from justifying our existence to leveraging our skills to drive strategy and measure impact."
"UX research needs to consider functioning as our own critical, unbiased, independent pillar."
"UX leadership can't really lead the way that it should while it's within a UX organization."
"Research teams are spread way too thin and forced into evaluative research, missing out on impactful idea-sparking research."
"Prioritization is key—we have to say no and still be great partners to the company."
"Getting everyone to agree on what research should answer and in what order is where the fruitful back and forth happens."
"Democratization models sound great but often people have to squeeze research on top of already full-time jobs."
"The more you worry about every question not being answered, the more it distracts from influencing what matters most."
"One should work what needs to be done into what's already existing and let that carry the movement forward."
"UX researchers are really good at applying their methods to people outside the business but terrible at applying them to the leaders they work with."
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