Winning that elusive buy-in for UX research (Google TLV)

This presentation was delivered at Google Tel Aviv in cooperation with Campus TLV, Dr. Jacob Greenshpan, and UXPA Israel and was the first in a series of UX learning meetings.
UX practitioners, researchers, and leaders need to engage people, teams, and organizations with research results to inform design, prioritize development, shape product roadmaps, and sometimes even initiate company-wide changes of focus. Many of them experience frustration and isolation because they are sometimes required to deal with difficult people who don’t understand or respect the UX process. Tomer showcases eight stories and lessons he has learned from his experience and how to overcome challenges of people and situations and highlighted what works and what doesn’t.

Transcript

1. WINNING THAT ELUSIVE BUY-IN FOR UX RESEARCH
2. THANK YOU!
3. HI, I’M TOMER
4. Facebook.com/itsourresearch
5. It’s our research page
6. @tsharon @itsourresearch
7. UX DRINKING GAME @uxdrink
8. THE CHALLENGE
9. Yeah, but this study will delay our launch date. Yeah, but we already know what the problems are. Yeah, but aren’t our designers suppose to know what people need? They are the experts. Yeah, but we can’t learn much from only five participants. Yeah, but we just want to launch and see if it sticks. We’ll fix it later. Yeah, but we can’t pay that much for this. Yeah, but our product managers already do interviews and look at analytics. Yeah, but A/B testing gives us all the answers we need. Yeah, but how statistically significant is a study with five participants? Yeah, but can’t we run a quick study with internal users instead? Yeah, but research sounds so academic. Yeah, but Market Research already answered our questions.
12. THE PERSON WHO ALWAYS POKED HOLES
14. DEVELOP EMPATHY TOWARD STAKEHOLDERS
16. THE HOSTILE STAKEHOLDER
17. ?  
18. CHANGES HAPPEN
20. THE DIRECTOR WHO KICKED ME OUT
22. FIGHT OR FLEE BASED ON MATURITY LEVELS
25. THE BEST TIME TO COLLABORATE
26. IT’S ALWAYS A GOOD TIME TO COLLABORATE
29. THE ONLY PERSON WHO CARED, LEFT THE COMPANY
31. LISTEN & PLANT SEEEDS
33. COLORING THE EXPERIENCE
35. INVITE THE SKEPTICAL TO WATCH
37. BUT I DON’T WANNA WRITE A REPORT
39. USE ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO REPORT
41. PIVOT TO END-OF-LIFE
43. USE THE LEAN STARTUP TERMINOLOGY
44. PERFECTLY EXECUTE THE WRONG PLAN.  
45. PROGRESS MEANS LEARNING, NOT MAKING STUFF.  
46. BUILD- MEASURE- LEARN, MVP, PIVOT
47. STORIES LESSONS LEARNED 8 8
48. STORY The person who always poked holes in UX research The hostile stakeholder that wouldn’t cooperate The director who kept kicking me out The best time to collaborate with stakeholders The only person who cared left Coloring the experience for stakeholders But I don’t wanna write a report Pivot to end-of-life LESSON LEARNED Develop empathy toward stakeholders Some people don’t get it but changes happen Fight or flee based on maturity levels It’s always a good time to collaborate with stakeholders Listen and plant seeds Invite the skeptical to watch Use alternative ways to report results Learn the Lean Startup terminology
49. ONE FINAL THOUGHT
51. THANK YOU @tsharon
52. “If a client asks for a report, I charge them twice as much” -Steve Krug, Author of Don’t Make Me Think “Researchers are toxic, research is essential” -Steve Blank, Father of the Lean Startup movement “If you want a seat at the table, you need to know when dinner is served” - Klaus Kaasgaard, VP of Design, Intuit “UX people need to research the UX of people who need UX” - Seth Godin, America’s greatest marketer http://itsourresear.ch
53. MY Getting Stakeholders to Hate User Experience Research Projects
54. MY Getting Stakeholders to Hate User Experience Research Projects
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