Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

Thursday, November 9, 2023 • Advancing Research Community
Share the love for this talk
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
Speakers: Megan Blocker , Lada Gorlenko , Fatimah Richmond and Molly Stevens
Link:

Summary

Three of your research colleagues discussed and defended their respective positions on what UX research “maturity” looks like. Participants then engaged with them in a discussion and Q&A, facilitated by Lada Gorlenko.   “Absent a strong baseline level of data fluency, product teams struggle to harness the power of insight in their work. As UX and UXR leaders, we are uniquely positioned to define what fluency looks like for our organizations and help teams transform to achieve it.”   – Megan Blocker “Research has come a long way, but we have a long way to go. Our future success rests on two pivotal aspects of maturity: our leadership’s proximity to power and the use of ‘Strategic Research Programs’ to deliver value beyond Design and Product.“  – Fatimah Richmond “Does UX maturity matter in the age of Generative AI? Is your ability to do well as a team going to depend on your UX skills? Or your tech or people skills?”  – Molly Stevens

Key Insights

  • Research maturity is not just individual capability but an organizational culture of data fluency and strategic decision-making.

  • Research operations and programs should evolve from facilitators to strategic leaders influencing organizational metrics and impact.

  • Self-assessment frameworks for teams help foster a collaborative approach to advancing research maturity without condescension.

  • Maturity involves knowing when not to do research, choosing the right method, and focusing on outcomes rather than volume of work.

  • Embedding research leadership outside traditional design reporting lines (e.g., under strategy or customer operations) can increase influence.

  • AI accelerates efficiency in research tasks like data synthesis and interview guide creation, but human insight remains irreplaceable.

  • Measuring who champions research and the level of decision-making influence post-research provides actionable insights beyond anecdotes.

  • Research teams need dedicated roles focused solely on measuring impact and translating research output into business value metrics.

  • Organizational access to niche participants strongly affects research velocity and impact, particularly in enterprise contexts.

  • Future research roles will integrate more deeply with insight-driven organizations, moving beyond UX and design silos.

Notable Quotes

"Maturity is not just knowing what to do, but also knowing what not to do and being smart and grown up about saying no."

"The longer I’m in UX, the less I think I know—there’s always more to learn and ways to develop."

"We seldom question whose table we want a seat at or why we don’t rebuild the entire table altogether."

"Research operations should move from execution facilitators to key players in research strategy and metrics."

"If we stay focused on research maturity alone, we'll have problems in the coming years because the ecosystem around us is changing."

"We have to step outside research and understand AI, technology, and product processes to put ourselves in the right space."

"Teams that improve their data fluency and understanding of research get to answers faster and deliver more value."

"Creating personas as a team is more valuable than the persona itself because it creates ownership and empathy."

"Having data to debate and measure research’s organizational impact is critical to escalating our influence."

"It’s a moral obligation for organizations to engage with research and ethics; being mature is not optional anymore."

Ask the Rosenbot
Zariah Cameron
ReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Laura Gatewood
Beyond Buzzwords: Adding Heart to Effective Slack Communication
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Ruzanna Rozman
Getting in Flow with Your Team
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Fredrik Matheson
First-time users, longtime strategies: Why Parkinson’s Law is making you less effective at work – and how to design a fix.
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Josina Vink
Navigating the pitfalls of systems thinking in service design
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Marc Majers
Interrupted UX - Add A Dose of Reality To Usability Testing
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Patrick Boehler
Fishing for Real Needs: Reimagining Journalism Needs with AI
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Corey Long
Hiring in DesignOps: A Critical Study on How to Hire and Get Hired
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Susan Weinschenk
Evaluating the Maturity of UX in Your Organization
2020 • Enterprise Community
Leah Buley
Ask Me Anything with Leah Buley and Joe Natoli, co-authors of The User Experience Team of One (2nd edition)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Briana Thomas
The Quiet Force: Uncovering Hidden Leadership in High-Impact Design Teams
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Feyikemi Akinwolemiwa
Play to innovate: How curiosity and experimentation transform UX
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Gillian Salerno-Rebic
Redefining Speed and Scale: How Accenture’s GrowthOS Uses AI-Simulated Insights to Reduce Risk and Accelerate Innovation
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Cara Maritz
The Art of Extrapolation
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Sarah Brooks
Fireside chat with Sarah Brooks and Jen Pahlka
2021 • Civic Design Community
Kritika Yadav
Optimizing AI Conversations: A Case Study on Personalized Shopping Assistance Frameworks
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold

More Videos

Xenia Adjoubei

"The tapestry exhibition will be a three-dimensional map co-created with refugees and local school kids to reflect their stories."

Xenia Adjoubei Sean Bruce

Empowering Communities Through the Researcher in Residence Program

March 29, 2023

Tamara Kartoziia

"We are no longer just a collection of cars, we are a focused racing team ready to hit the track."

Tamara Kartoziia

Think global, adapt local: how service design accelerated B2B market entry by 6 months

November 20, 2025

Jay Bustamante

"It is not our job to know all the answers, but to make sure the right questions are asked."

Jay Bustamante

Navigating the Ethical Frontier: DesignOps Strategies for Responsible AI Innovation

October 2, 2023

Nicole Aleong

"Potential refers to not yet actualized possibilities that may or may not come to fruition."

Nicole Aleong

Future Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology

March 26, 2024

Nick Lewis

"Using generative AI for design risks losing the human creativity that makes design special."

Nick Lewis

Designing and building low-carbon websites independently

November 18, 2025

Vicky Teinaki

"Even if you had designed it, I wouldn’t have prioritized it."

Vicky Teinaki Michele Marut Tim Parmee

Short Take #3: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers

December 6, 2022

Laura Weiss

"The true enabler of a successful innovation is not the new technology or clever business model, but the human beings involved."

Laura Weiss

Turn Down the Heat: 3 Ways to Handle Conflict in the Moment

November 20, 2024

Joerg Beringer

"Most product teams don't really have user research outputs or they come too late and disconnected from design."

Joerg Beringer Thomas Geis

Scaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes

June 10, 2025

Shelby Switzer

"The nitty gritty is a space to become resources for each other so people know who to talk to when they have questions."

Shelby Switzer

Making Space for Community Knowledge-sharing in a Distributed World

December 10, 2021