Awkward Silences

User Interviews
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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

  1. #184 - Use Context For More Influence with Kristen DeLap of Econify

    2D AGO

    #184 - Use Context For More Influence with Kristen DeLap of Econify

    Ben talks with Kristen DeLap, fractional COO at Econify, to explore how UX'ers can build influence without formal authority. Kristen brings a unique perspective, having evolved from interior design to leading product teams at Herman Miller and now working as an operations executive. She shares practical strategies for understanding decision-making processes, translating design work into business impact, and creating the conditions where teams do their best work. They also cover essential skills for today's design professionals, including decision literacy, stakeholder translation, and the art of challenging assumptions diplomatically. Kristen emphasizes that while AI can generate design artifacts, it cannot create alignment across teams or orchestrate complex organizational dynamics. She offers concrete tactics like using customer stories to explain roadmaps, minimizing big presentation moments in favor of ongoing stakeholder engagement, and treating colleagues like users to better understand their motivations and constraints. Highlights 11:08 Design Skills That Can't Be Replaced by AI15:56 Decision Literacy in Organizations21:42 Surprising Realities of Leadership Meetings24:36 Building Influence Without Organizational Power29:01 Storytelling via Roadmaps Exercise35:47 What Trade Off Are You Most Uncomfortable MakingResources A Framework for Decision-Driven ResearchUsing Research Roadshows for InfluenceThe UX Designer's Guide to Research

    40 min
  2. #183 - The Best Ways to Use AI in UX Research with Laura Klein of NN/g

    FEB 17

    #183 - The Best Ways to Use AI in UX Research with Laura Klein of NN/g

    Erin and Ben chat with Laura Klein, Principal Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group, about the practical realities of AI in user research. Laura teaches a class on AI for researchers and brings a refreshingly balanced perspective to cut through the hype. She explains why those "five simple prompts that will change your life" are mostly nonsense and shares where AI actually works well versus where researchers need to proceed with extreme caution. Laura also shares her green, yellow, and red light framework for AI adoption. She champions AI for tasks like transcription and meta-analysis of old research data, while warning against using it for synthesis and insights generation without serious human oversight. The conversation explores how AI can help teams move faster without sacrificing quality, the importance of collaborative analysis sessions, and why junior researchers need extra guidance when using these tools. This episode offers practical guidance for any researcher trying to separate AI reality from the marketing promises flooding their inbox. Highlights 07:07 Green light, yellow light, red light framework11:59 Framework for deciding when to use AI21:06 Will AI change the researcher role31:23 Focus on what AI makes possible35:17 Skills for advocating against AI hype42:07 AI makes things that look like insightsResources Laura's NN/g AI CourseThe AI in UX Research ReportUsing AI Moderation for Research

    48 min
  3. #182 - The Future of Research (In a Moment of Change)

    FEB 3

    #182 - The Future of Research (In a Moment of Change)

    Ben sits down with Basel Fakhoury, CEO and Co-founder of User Interviews, and Baran Erkel, Chief Strategy Officer at UserTesting, for a conversation about the research industry's evolution. With AI reshaping customer behaviors and business decisions, both executives emphasize how the need for customer insights has never been greater, even as budget pressures mount across organizations. Basek and Baran share frameworks for executive decision making, explore how AI tools are moving beyond simply replacing human moderators toward creating entirely new research methodologies, and stress that as AI transforms products and experiences over the next few years, customer insights will be fundamental to shaping organizational cultures that keep customers at the center. Highlights 05:15 How research influences corporate strategy12:25 Building effective decision making cultures19:07 Data formats that drive executive decisions26:28 AI everywhere in research tooling landscape29:30 Consolidating insights across teams and tools36:45 Customer centric approach during acquisition integrationResources Read more about the acquisitionThe State of User Research ReportVisual Design for Research Workshop

    41 min
  4. #181 - Why We Need Design Now More Than Ever with Karl Randay of 383

    JAN 20

    #181 - Why We Need Design Now More Than Ever with Karl Randay of 383

    Ben Wiedmaier sits with Karl Randay, Experience Director at 383, to explore how designers can stay relevant in an increasingly automated world. Karl shares insights from working with major brands like Hilton and Jaguar on digital innovation projects that blend strategy, research, and rapid prototyping. They also talk about the "beige-ification" of design, where templated systems and AI tools risk creating homogeneous experiences across brands. Karl explains how his team uses AI as a research copilot while maintaining human craft and creativity. He also breaks down the skills modern designers need beyond visual craft, including business acumen, stakeholder communication, and the ability to translate design impact into executive language. Highlights 06:26 Design challenges across multiple touchpoints19:04 Simple questions unlock stakeholder priorities25:31 Multi-skilled designers beyond specialization32:23 Career growth through T-shaped skill development36:53 The beige-ification of modern design42:44 AI as creative exploration partnerResources Designer's Guide to UX ResearchThe 4 Steps to Redesigning SitesConnecting Research & Design Leadership

    51 min
  5. #180 - What to Fix in '26 with Maria Rosala of NN/g & John Whalen of Brilliant Experience

    JAN 6

    #180 - What to Fix in '26 with Maria Rosala of NN/g & John Whalen of Brilliant Experience

    Ben is joined by Maria Rosala from Nielsen Norman Group and John Whalen from Brilliant Experience to wrap up 2025 and make some predictions for 2026. Maria and John share practical insights on everything from AI moderation tools to synthetic users, offering a balanced view of where these technologies excel and where human researchers remain irreplaceable. Maria and John also dig into the democratization of research across product teams, the importance of governance and strategy when implementing AI tools, and how researchers can position themselves as orchestrators of both human and artificial intelligence.  Highlights 08:22 AI tools creating pressure for faster delivery17:18 Governance and oversight for AI implementation24:55 Composite and synthetic users explained41:56 Hiring advice for new researchers44:27 Demonstrating AI proficiency in job applications49:25 Research industry predictions for 2026Resources Research Wrapped 2025The State of User ResearchUltimate UX Jobs Board

    56 min
  6. #179 - The Future of Research Operations with Kate Towsey LIVE

    12/22/2025

    #179 - The Future of Research Operations with Kate Towsey LIVE

    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. Highlights 03:54 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 executivesResources Strategy ReferencesKate's MasterclassResearch That Scales (Book)Kate's SubstackThe ResearchOps Review

    55 min
  7. #178 - How to Measure What Matters with Lyndsi Lee of Turnitin

    12/09/2025

    #178 - How to Measure What Matters with Lyndsi Lee of Turnitin

    Ben talks with Lyndsi Lee, UX Manager at Turnitin, about moving beyond traditional metrics like NPS and CSAT to measure user experiences more effectively.  The conversation centers on outcome-based assessment, a framework that breaks user experiences into atomic outcomes. Rather than asking broad satisfaction questions, this approach focuses on specific user goals like "users can complete repetitive tasks without friction." Lyndsi explains how teams can identify these outcomes through existing research and customer feedback, then prioritize them using methods like card sorting with actual users.  The framework helps product teams move away from vague directives and toward specific, measurable improvements that directly impact user success. This episode offers practical guidance for researchers and product teams struggling to demonstrate impact beyond traditional satisfaction scores. Amazon Prime article Highlights 13:49 Complicated Opinion on NPS and CSAT18:51 Outcome Based Assessment Framework27:36 Getting Strategic with Stakeholder Buy-in32:00 Traffic Light System for Stakeholders38:57 Revisiting Outcome Statements Timeline41:40 AI's Role in Quantitative ResearchAbout LyndsiLyndsi is a Senior Manager of UX Research at Turnitin, where she leads efforts to make the student and educator experience more meaningful, measurable, and user-centered. She started her career in public education as a school counselor and School Psychological Examiner, working alongside educators to support students’ learning needs. Eventually, she found her way into UX research, where she combined her love of psychology, education, and technology. Lyndsi is passionate about helping teams stay focused on what truly matters to users, and firmly believes that good research is part art, part science, and part really well-organized sticky notes. Resources Defining UX Success MetricsUX ROI CalculatorGetting Started with Analytics

    47 min
  8. #177 - From Informing to Influencing with Shalin Pei & Natalie Golub of Coinbase

    11/25/2025

    #177 - From Informing to Influencing with Shalin Pei & Natalie Golub of Coinbase

    Ben is joined by Shalin Pei, Head of Design and Research and Natalie Golub, Head of UXR , both from Coinbase's Base product. Base is part of the crypto space, functioning as a network that offers secure and low cost ways to build decentralized apps, essentially helping create what they call the new internet. The conversation reveals how their small but mighty teams operate in one of the fastest moving industries. Shalin and Natalie share how they've weaved internal stakeholders with customers, played with their structure to maximize visibility and effectiveness, and enabled partners to get more involved. It's a practical conversation on the value of experimentation, cooperation, and building influence. Highlights 14:00 Overcoming Impostor Syndrome in New Industries25:37 Embedded Research in Live Design Sprints32:33 The Power of Cross-Functional Collaboration36:21 Documentation Challenges in Fast-Moving Industries40:39 Partner-Led Research Methodology43:33 Future of AI in Design and ResearchResources The Designer's Guide to ResearchAligning Research for More ROIEffective Product > Research Collaboration

    53 min
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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    User Interviews
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    190
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 045109
  • Show Website
    Awkward Silences

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