Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

War Stories LIVE! Q&A-Discussion
Gold
Monday, March 30, 2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Share the love for this talk
War Stories LIVE! Q&A-Discussion
Speakers: Steve Portigal , Susan Simon-Daniels , Tamara Hale and Randolph Duke II
Link:

Summary

User research war stories are stories about contextual user research and the inevitable mishaps that ensue. These stories are in turn bizarre, comic, tragic and generally astonishing. For a practice that is not always well-understood or trusted, there’s pressure for us to only speak to the successes, but examining the human messiness of this work can help develop our skills and our community. Steve Portigal will expand the always-growing collection of user research war stories by bringing three new stories to the Advancing Research stage.

Key Insights

  • Researchers often don't recognize a war story while living it; reflection after the fact reveals its significance.

  • Sharing war stories helps communicate the value and complexity of qualitative research to stakeholders focused on metrics.

  • Writing down war stories as narratives, even without immediate lessons, preserves valuable insights for future reflection.

  • The tension between the slow nature of research and the fast pace of business can create pressure but focusing on the human element helps.

  • Being present and adaptable during fieldwork is essential because plans frequently change once in the real world.

  • Asking about research failures in hiring interviews reveals candidates’ coping strategies and their ability to embrace vulnerability.

  • Sharing war stories professionally requires balancing authenticity with maintaining credibility and trust amongst peers.

  • Women and people of color may develop unique adaptive skills in research contexts due to their lived experiences of navigating challenges.

  • Research is an unpredictable, human-driven activity, far removed from clinical or rigid processes.

  • Documenting and sharing war stories builds a shared culture among researchers, emphasizing collective learning and support.

Notable Quotes

"Research is slow and business is fast. We have to be conscious of balancing that."

"I was very conscious of stakeholders watching and the ticking clock, but I had to quiet that and focus on humans."

"Writing war stories down brings back memories you might have buried deep in your research journey."

"There doesn’t have to be a big takeaway; just capture the story and the lesson may come later."

"You don’t know in the moment that something is going to become a war story."

"The richness of mixed methodologies is often lost on those who only value metrics and consistency."

"We’re humans working with other humans. Research is never a perfectly clinical test."

"To share these stories professionally, I needed to show that I couldn’t be lazy—I had to dig deep."

"Some minorities have had to develop flexibility and adaptability, which can be both a burden and a source of power."

"Sharing war stories helps build a culture where imperfect, unpredictable moments are valued and learned from."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jodi Forlizzi
Design and AI innovation
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Designing Systems at Scale
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Tracy McGoldrick
IBM User Experience Program—The What, Why and How (Videoconference)
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Tutti Taygerly
Make Space to Lead
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Cross-Functional Relationship Design
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Ned Dwyer
The Intersection of Design and ResearchOps
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Lisanne Norman
Why I Left Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Amy Evans
How to Create Change
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
John Maeda
About Design Organizations (Videoconference)
2019 • DesignOps Community
Kate Towsey
Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Joshua Noble
Casual Inference (Videoconference)
2023 • QuantQual Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Indi Young
Thinking styles: Mend hidden cracks in your market
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Theresa Slate
Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Product and Design at Bloomberg: A 15-year Evolution
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Joi Freeman
A New Vantage Point: Building a Pipeline for Multifaceted Research(ers)
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Kate Koch
Flex Your Super Powers: When a Design Ops Team Scales to Power CX
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold

More Videos

Jennifer Kanyamibwa

"Process can make things scalable and bring folks together in ways that are not even imaginable."

Jennifer Kanyamibwa

Creating the Blueprint: Growing and Building Design Teams

November 8, 2018

Brigette Metzler

"In large organizations, research teams usually pay for the repo but the value is delivered across the whole company."

Brigette Metzler Dana Chrisfield

Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community (Videoconference)

August 27, 2020

Carl Turner

"We converted process boxes directly into user stories to create a common language for the team."

Carl Turner

You Can Do This: Understand and Solve Organizational Problems to Jumpstart a Dead Project

March 28, 2023

John Mortimer

"Often we designers are in IT departments, separate from the larger organization; that boundary is a hurdle to overcome."

John Mortimer Milan Guenther Lucy Ellis Patrick Quattlebaum

Panel Discussion

December 3, 2024

Dante Guintu

"Extended radio silence to candidates was unnerving and one of the unpleasant truths we heard from teammates."

Dante Guintu

How to Crush the Talent Crunch

September 8, 2022

Richard Buchanan

"Design is a service profession, a humble profession, less significant than the lives of the people we serve."

Richard Buchanan

Creativity and Principles in the Flourishing Enterprise

June 15, 2018

Dan Willis

"Every speaker before me had these pristine backgrounds. I’m a slob and feeling really self-conscious about it."

Dan Willis

Theme 3: Intro

January 8, 2024

Dan Ward

"I may have failed, but I am not a failure."

Dan Ward

Failure Friday #1 with Dan Ward

February 7, 2025

Chris Geison

"What got us here won’t get us where we want to go."

Chris Geison

Theme Two Intro

March 28, 2023