Researchers are the glue
Guest Contribution
Last night I was talking to Mark and he commented that he thought User Experience Research was seeing a similar trajectory to Design Leadership. I disagreed. I said that I don’t think ‘Research Leadership’ is a thing in the same way that ‘Design Leadership’ is a thing. I said that this is because the qualities that make a good researcher mean that researchers are often the glue in a UX team not the shining star. There are some notable exceptions who shine brightly but in general I think researchers have a different role and way of doing things compared to designers. Now of course I maybe completely over generalising but I’ve worked with a lot of researchers over the years?—?Audience, Market and User Researchers.
Let’s think about the qualities that make a good researcher for a moment. This is my list:
- People person
- Facilitator
- Good listener
- Good communicator
- Team player
- Likes solving puzzles and investigating things
- Likes spending time ‘in the weeds’
- Like a dog with a bone. Tenacious
- Methodical and meticulous
- Measured and considerate
- A stickler for the details
- But also ultimately all about how the details fit into the big picture
- Can see the shades of grey and the nuances of a situation
- Takes the time to understand the nuances before jumping to a solution
- Loves to iterate and collaborate but likes to ‘hold the pen’
- Good at plate juggling and managing multiple projects
Qualitative researchers in particular need to have a lot of soft skills?—?collaboration, communication, facilitation?—?they are the ultimate team player. Quantitative researchers can often be slightly more introverted and very measured. Very few researchers that I have worked with are ‘alphas’. Those that have leadership or entrepreneurial qualities tend to rise to the top of existing agencies, set up their own agencies or consult.
“The best team leads are a combination of coach, diplomat, and salesman.”
Peter Merholz
When I was writing this article this morning, I re-read Peter Merholz’s take on Design Leadership and found myself almost changing my mind mid post! I think this is because his words described exactly how I needed to work at Monotype as the Research Team sat in a different silo from both Marketing and UX.
I think this is an exception however and in-house Research Leaders often report into Marketing (who own CX) or Design Leaders (who own UX). As a Research Leader, if you report into a design or marketing leader who is doing the managing up, this leaves you to focus on managing across and down?—?collaborating and providing the glue for the team or the organisation as a whole.
Glue can be used to underpin the foundations of something but also creatively to enhance and make it more polished?—?to stick to that shining star I talked about (there was a reason I chose the photograph with the child’s craft kit). Glue is fundamental and so people who behave like glue play a key role. Without researchers, your UX team will pretty soon become unstuck! Do you agree?
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