Awkward Silences

Baran Erkel, Chief Strategy Officer at UserTesting, aligns research, analytics, and product strategy; Basek Fakhoury, CEO of User Interviews, builds participant recruitment and insights tooling. They discuss how AI reshapes research methods and decision-making, building test-and-learn cultures, consolidating insights across teams, and making executive-ready findings actionable.

Karl Randay, Experience Director at 383, shares insights from his work with brands like Hilton and Jaguar. He discusses the vital role of designers in an automated world, warning against the "beige-ification" of design due to templated systems. Randay emphasizes the need for modern designers to blend creativity with business acumen and communication skills. He suggests using AI as a research copilot rather than a replacement, while promoting authentic, accessible user experiences. Career growth for designers hinges on developing T-shaped skills across multiple disciplines.

Maria Rosala, Director of Research at Nielsen Norman Group, and John Whalen, Founder of Brilliant Experience, share insights on the future of UX research and AI. They discuss the rising pressures of AI on research speed and inclusivity, emphasizing the need for governance in AI tool implementation. The duo also explores the concept of synthetic users for ideation while cautioning against their limitations. Hiring advice for new researchers highlights the importance of critical thinking and communication skills, as they predict a collaborative future between AI and human researchers.

Erin May sits down with Kate Towsey, founder of Cha Cha Club and author of Research That Scales, for Research Ops Appreciation Week. Kate shares insights from producing an audio documentary series on the future of research ops, including her fascinating experience co-creating content with AI. She reveals how research ops teams are increasingly surviving layoffs while research teams are cut, explaining that ops professionals focus on unblocking systems and delivering measurable business value rather than gatekeeping processes.Kate emphasizes the critical shift happening in research ops from administrative firefighting to strategic systems design. She discusses the importance of discovery over knee-jerk solutions when building research ops from scratch, advocating for focused problem-solving rather than generic panel and library building. The conversation covers the newly released research ops career ladder, the growing need for strategy skills in the field, and how to effectively communicate value to executives by aligning with existing business priorities and measuring concrete outcomes.Highlights03:54 Bringing past skills to research ops17:45 AI context and memory limitations26:37 Future vision for strategic research positioning36:28 Quality governance in AI era44:21 Strategy skills gap in research teams50:27 Translating research value to executivesResourcesStrategy ReferencesKate's MasterclassResearch That Scales (Book)Kate's SubstackThe ResearchOps Review

Lyndsi Lee, Senior Manager of UX Research at Turnitin, uses her diverse background in education and counseling to revolutionize user experience measurement. She critiques traditional metrics like NPS and CSAT for lacking depth and introduces an outcome-based assessment framework. Lyndsi explains how to define and prioritize specific user goals, using techniques like card sorting, and emphasizes collaboration with stakeholders. Her insights provide a practical roadmap for teams to achieve meaningful improvements that enhance user success.

In this insightful discussion, Shalin Pei and Natalie Golub from Coinbase Base share their experiences in the fast-paced crypto world. Shalin, a design and research leader, emphasizes overcoming impostor syndrome and the importance of curiosity in their field. Meanwhile, Natalie reveals innovative research strategies, like embedded sprints, to quickly align with user needs. They also explore the challenges of documentation in a rapid environment and the essential balance between short-term goals and long-term vision, especially as AI evolves.

Erin is joined by Samira Jain, Serena Hillman, and Jackie Ianni from Microsoft Azure Data to discuss how they built the Swift Research Lab over the past two years. The team shares their systematic five-step approach for creating research programs that result in stakeholder satisfaction while delivering insights every 1.5 weeks.The Azure Data team also break down their method for fostering relationships, building infrastructure and templates, measuring success, and continuously iterating. The discussion reveals how clear branding, stakeholder collaboration, and systematic infrastructure helped them action on high priority research requests while spotting cross cutting insights across Microsoft's product ecosystem.About Our GuestsDr. Serena Hillman is a Principal UX Research Manager in Azure Data at Microsoft. Her work focuses on Human-Data and Human-AI-Data Interaction, leading a team that explores how people engage with data and intelligent systems. She has studied user behavior across domains like video games, e-commerce, edTech, and enterprise cloud tools, and has published 40+ peer-reviewed papers presented at leading conferences and organizations including CHI, CSCW, Grace Hopper, Yahoo!, and Google.Samira Jain is a Senior UX Researcher on the Azure Data UX Team, where she has been for over five years. She leads SWIFT, a cross-team research program, which encompasses several key initiatives. With a foundation in product design, she brings dual fluency to her research practice—understanding why things matter from a user perspective and how they can be shaped from a design perspective. With extensive experience in both non-profit and enterprise research, Samira is dedicated to enhancing experiences for data professionals.Jackie Ianni is a UX Researcher on the Azure Data team at Microsoft, specializing in rapid evaluative and programmatic research. Before joining Microsoft, she worked as a researcher at both an agency and in-house, conducting global financial services research. Jackie is passionate about advancing UX research practice, exploring AI tools, and sparking conversations about the evolving role of research.Highlights05:47 Five Step Program Development Method09:02 Building Stakeholder Relationships15:39 Continuously Improving Research Programs18:37 Cross Product Insights and Breaking Silos23:24 Collaborative Team Success Formula33:58 AI Tools in Heuristic ReviewsResourcesBuilding a UX Research Team from ScratchCreate Long Term Impact with Strong RelationshipsThe Ultimate Guide to UX Research Strategy

Ben sits down with Jake Burghardt from Integrating Research to discuss his new book Stop Wasting Research and how organizations can maximize the product impact of their customer insights. Jake breaks down the critical problem of research waste, where valuable insights from studies get left behind instead of informing future decisions and planning cycles.Jake introduces his framework of three root causes driving research waste: preparation, motivation, and integration. He emphasizes practical solutions like creating insight summaries with stakeholders, building cross-silo research communities, and establishing recurring touchpoints beyond traditional study deliverables. The conversation covers actionable strategies for researchers at all levels, from individual contributors looking to extend their impact to research leaders building organizational initiatives that elevate research as a collective stakeholder voice.Highlights08:15 Defining research waste and value14:48 Identifying research waste in organizations21:36 Breaking down research silos30:21 Creating insight summary statements37:38 Integration and recurring stakeholder touchpoints42:52 Building research initiatives not individual effortsResourcesConducting Better Stakeholder InterviewsThe 2025 State of Research Strategy ReportThe Research ROI & Impact Calculator

Nancy Baum, VP of Qualitative Research at C+R Research, has nearly two decades of experience in understanding customer behavior. She passionately defends the importance of qualitative research amidst the rise of AI tools and big data. Nancy shares how qualitative methods reveal the 'why' and 'how' behind consumer trends. She highlights the need for customization in deliverables to engage stakeholders and advocates for flexibility in research approaches. Deep listening and curiosity are essential skills for meaningful insights, ensuring qualitative research remains vital.

In just ten years, ResearchOps has transformed from an obscure Silicon Valley speciality into a vibrant global profession. Despite economic headwinds, ResearchOps roles are emerging across industries far beyond tech, and the field is evolving at breathtaking speed. But where have we come from, and where are we going?In this five-part audio documentary, we’re exploring the past, present, and future of ResearchOps—and it’s exciting, fascinating, and, at times, pretty mindblowing stuff! Each episode features the voices of Cha Cha Club members, senior research leaders, and the smart minds behind User Interviews.In this fifth and final—”awwww”, we hear you say—episode of ResearchOps 2.0, we’re turning the spotlight on the people of ResearchOps: the curious minds, problem-solvers, and system-builders who’ve made this profession what it is today. We’ll explore who they are, where they’ve come from, and what drives them to transform how organisations learn from their users.If you’re a ResearchOps professional, this episode will make you feel seen and heard. If you’re a leader looking to hire a ResearchOps role, this episode will help you think differently about who might hire. And if you’re looking to transition into a ResearchOps career, this episode will give you a great sense of the skills you need and the incredible profession you’ll become a part of.