x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Awkward Silences

User Interviews

Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and Carol Guest, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews. Take this survey and let us know what topics you want to hear next! userinterviews.com/awkwardsurvey

technology

All Episodes

30:18

#91 - Design Psychology with Thomas Watkins of 3Leaf

Awkward Silences ·

2022/04/20

What is design psychology? Thomas Watkins of 3Leaf compares it to ergonomics—both fields aim to make products feel as comfortable as possible for their users. Where ergonomics is concerned with things like the shape of your office chair’s back or the height of its armrests, design psychology is all about making software experiences more intuitive and reducing cognitive load.This week on the podcast, Thomas chatted with Erin and JH about the similarities and differences between design

en

40:12

#90 - The State of User Research 2022 with Roberta...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/04/05

The State of User Research 2022 Report unpacks the data from our international survey of UX researchers and people who do research as part of their jobs. This week, we met with Roberta Dombrowski, VP of User Research at User Interviews and one of the creators of the report, to talk about how it was made and what she thinks of the insights. She talked about the rise of buy-in and demand for research, what democratization means for professional researchers, and her predictions for the future

en

39:57

#89 - UX Agencies: Setting Clients Up for Success...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/03/30

Doing user research in an agency setting comes with its own set of challenges—from context switching to stubborn clients to less-than-optimal tool stacks.Karen VanHouten, Director of Product Strategy at Philosophie by InfoBeans, spent most of her career in enterprise B2B before transitioning to agency life. In this podcast episode, Karen shared some great advice on setting expectations, fostering ongoing client relationships, and why she thinks more researchers should be involved in the

en

36:07

#88 - Research Operations for Democratization at...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/03/02

The democratization of research continues to grow—and with it, the complexities of research operations. This week, we chatted with Garrett Tsukada, Head of Customer Connect UX Research Operations at Intuit about how research ops supports democratization at scale. He talked about how Intuit approaches research democratization for a 14,000+ team, guardrails and processes to ensure research quality, advice for starting and scaling a research operations function, and more.Highlights[04:39] How

en

41:33

#87 - User Interviews 201: Leveling Up Your...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/02/15

You’ve mastered the basics, but now it’s time to take your interviews to the next level. This week, we chatted with Therese Fessenden, Senior User Experience Specialist at NN/g about how to get even better at interviewing. She talked about how to master the basics, hone your skills, and become an A+ interviewer.Highlights[3:40] You can get more out of your interviews by going in with a solid plan.[9:44] Mastering probing questions.[20:36] Common mistakes people make when they get

en

26:43

#86 - Research is Everyone’s Job: The Democratization...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/02/01

Should everyone do research? It’s a tricky question. Yes, research is a craft that takes years to master. But on the other hand, if we want research to happen all the time, everyone needs to be able to do some of the basics on their own. Today, we talked to Jonathan Widawski, Founder and CEO of Maze about how the democratization of research is actually advancing the craft. He talked about the need for researchers to be good teachers, how research can grow in the same way data and design

en

39:37

#85 - So Meta: Doing User Research at UXR Company...

Awkward Silences ·

2022/01/18

It’s our most meta episode yet. Today, we chatted with Roberta Dombrowski, VP of User Research at User Interviews, about doing user research about user researchers at a user research company. Listen in to learn about how adding a formal user research practice has benefited the UI team, the challenges of going from an IC to a leadership role, and building a research practice from the ground up.Highlights[2:58] What’s different about being a user researcher for a user research

en

41:22

#84 - B2B Recruiting with Matthew Morrison of Braze

Awkward Silences ·

2022/01/04

Recruiting participants for user research is hard. Recruiting participants from a pool of your own customers? Somehow even harder. There’s client relationships, privacy concerns, and lots of red tape. This week on the podcast, Matthew Morrison joins Erin and JH to share what he’s learned after a year of B2B recruiting at Braze.Highlights[2:04]The key problems with B2B recruiting.[8:22] Make your sessions as short as possible, 30-45 minutes is best.[12:53] How to make users feel connected to

en

43:11

#83 - Being Black in UX Research with Dr. Lisanne...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/12/20

What’s it like to be black in UX right now? Are companies sticking by their plans for diversity and inclusion? How do researchers ensure their work is as inclusive as possible? This week on the podcast, Dr. Lisanne Norman joins Erin and JH to talk about all this and more.Highlights[8:13] What to do when people try to make diversity and inclusion your job. [11:12] How including Black participants created aha! moments.[18:01] Creating an environment of openness with participants is key to

en

45:48

#82 - Games User Research — with Steve Bromley

Awkward Silences ·

2021/12/08

Creating a video game requires more than just development time and coding—to make sure the experience is enjoyable, you have to test it. In this episode, User Researcher Steve Bromley joins us to discuss the nuances of conducting user research in the video game industry.He describes integrating user feedback with the developer's creative vision, recruitment for games research, and the evolution of the gaming industry since he first started.Steve talks about…How to integrate user feedback

en

44:13

#81 - Establishing Sustainable Research Practices...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/11/23

How do you build a long lasting research practice? Aim for a healthy one. Gregg Bernstein you how. This week on the podcast, Gregg talked to us about how to contribute to a healthy research practice every day and what a healthy practice even means.Highlights[3:26] Can you have a healthy research function without dedicated researchers?[14:20] Sharing contextualized insights with relevant teams can help you build value as you work.[24:40] What's an unhealthy research culture?[33:13]

en

37:18

#80 - UX Research and Arab Cultures – with Norah...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/11/09

Doing research with users from different cultures is (very, very) important. It can also be complicated. In this episode, we are joined by Norah Abokhodair, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, who spoke about conducting research in Arab cultures.She explained some of the nuances of Arabic and Arab cultures, how to recruit diverse participants, and how to adjust your research style depending on the context.Highlights[2:11] If you want to build products for everyone, include a more diverse

en

41:49

#79 - Participatory Research – with Alexis McNutt...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/10/27

What is participatory research? And how do you include it in your UXR practice? Alexis McNutt Unis, Lead UX Researcher, Homeowner Experience at Better is here to explain.Alexis shared how she involves stakeholders in engaging workshops, co-creates with participants, and takes research readouts to the next level to drive a participatory research practice that works for everyone.Highlights[1:29] What is participatory research anyway?[4:58] How Alexis does participatory research.[11:54] The

en

49:54

#78 - Accessible UXR: Recruiting and Researching...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/10/12

We learned so much in this week’s episode of Awkward Silences. Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist at Fable, joined us to talk to us about accessibility and why it (really, really) matters.He taught us about the assistive technologies that many people with disabilities use to navigate the digital world, why accessibility is more important now than ever, and how designing for accessibility makes everyone’s user experience better.Highlights[2:09] What an Accessibility Evangelist

en

51:37

#77 - Breaking Into User Research – with Eniola Abioye

Awkward Silences ·

2021/09/29

Eniola Abioye—user research career coach—joined us for a special live episode of Awkward Silences. She answered audience questions and shared some of her best tips for crafting a research portfolio that stands out, transitioning from different fields, and why not everyone needs a bootcamp.Highlights[6:16] How to learn more about user research on your own. [17:17] Tailoring your resume to UX research roles.[22:38] Building a standout user research portfolio.[26:40] Eniola’s honest opinions

en

35:48

#76 - UXRs Need to Care About the Business, Too –...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/09/21

This week we’re joined by Zack Naylor, CEO and co-founder of UX research tool Aurelius. We spoke about what researchers need to know about their company, why tying research outcomes to business impact is so important, and how to navigate the waters when business goals and user research don’t align.Zack talked about…Conducting stakeholder interviews to deeply understand your business.Choosing a company that aligns with your values and personal goals.Using business knowledge to get high level

en

47:42

#75 - Debunking UX Research Myths with Zach Schendel...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/09/08

As a seasoned researcher who has led teams at Unilever, Netflix, and DoorDash, Zach Schendel has come up against every type of skeptical stakeholder you can imagine.He joined us to chat about the research myths he runs into most often, how he debunks them, and why he wants to banish “let’s do a qual” from everyone’s vocabulary forever.Zach talked about…The 4 UX research myths he’d like to debunk once and for all.Stories from his time at Unilever, Netflix, and DoorDash.How he gets stubborn

en

40:25

#74 - Building a Product Vision with Rajesh Nerlikar...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/08/24

Rajesh Nerlikar works with companies to help them build great products. As the CEO of Prodify, he and his team advise startups on how to build impactful, vision-led products that get customers excited. In his experience, the best way to get teams on the same page is with a compelling product vision that’s easy to understand.In this episode, Rajesh joins Erin and JH to chat about why great product visions are like comic strips, the hard work of actually putting those visions into action, and

en

33:39

#73 - Getting Stakeholder Buy-In at a Large...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/08/10

Meg Pullis Roebling, Head of CX Research, Data & Analytics Solutions at BNY Mellon, talks us through her approach to building relationships with stakeholders, finding people to support her research efforts, and making research visible to the whole organization.Meg discussed...How she convinces relationship managers to get clients involved in research.What metrics she uses to make the case for research.How to know when research is weaving its way into the fabric of your

en

40:00

#72 - How to Ask Great UX Research Questions with Amy...

Awkward Silences ·

2021/07/27

Your research question is where it all begins. It’s what drives your research forward, informs when you’re ready to wrap up your project, and it’s what gets everyone involved on the same page. But how do you know you’re asking the right research questions? This week on the podcast, Amy Chess, UX Researcher at Amazon, chatted with Erin and JH about how she chooses which questions to ask in her user research projects.Amy talked about…The difference between research questions, research

en

192 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs