Talk abstract

Human memory is flawed, and as such, relying solely on participant’s memory can jeopardize the reliability of our insights. Much of qualitative research done today is based on asking participants to recall past experiences, though we don’t often think about the limitations to this kind of data collection.

This talk explores how memory biases can impact our research and identifies strategies for overcoming these limitations through mixed methods. We will cover a case study from my research at Spotify to highlight how simultaneously triangulating different methods—including a qualitative diary study along with behavioral data analysis—allowed us to avoid memory biases and gain high-quality insights.

Speaker Bio

Colette Kolenda leads strategic, mixed methods research for Spotify Free. She triangulates quantitative and qualitative methodologies to enable data-driven product and business decisions. Before Spotify, Colette conducted decision-making research in Dan Ariely’s Behavioral Economics Lab at Duke University. She holds a B.S. in Neuroscience from Duke University.

Talk abstract

Hardware is hard, and robots are harder. Robotics products have a research rhythm – and constraints – different from digital products you may have worked on. Moreover, if you are a research team of one or two, you’ll end up studying everything from product-market fit to ergonomics to social interaction.

Each consumer-facing robot is a novel product that needs to find its target market. Prototyping and testing require hardware and software innovation going beyond existing digital tools for mobile and web app design. And if your robot is rolling along in public, you’ve got to research the experience with passers-by who never signed up to have a robot in their lives. Learn how to manage robotics UX research – from product concept to industrial design to rich social interaction.

Speaker Bio

Ellen leads UX research at Postmates X, the robotics branch of delivery company Postmates. She's working on Serve, a socially aware sidewalk robot now delivering tasty food in busy cities.

Previously, Ellen led research at Mayfield Robotics (a Bosch startup) for Kuri, an award-winning – and adorable – home robot. She's worked on UX research and design for companies large and small and taught dozens of courses internationally. She can't wait to share new stories about humans, robots, and designing for the unexpected. #TheFutureIsNow #LoveARobot

Talk abstract

How do you research an experience you don’t understand well? When the only two variables to an experience are syntax and semantics, how do you modify research methods to maximize user insights?

This talk explores research in the original computer interface, the limited, but powerful, command line interface (CLI), which is still used by millions of developers worldwide. We’ll also explore what researching CLIs can teach us about doing UX research in any other environment.

Speaker Bio

Atikh Bana is a Product Designer at Datadog, where he is responsible for researching developer needs/expectations, relevant developer tools, and designing end to end experiences for highly technical products, which include graphical and command line user interfaces. Prior to Storj Labs, he worked for an IT consultancy in the Midwest, supporting companies like Herman Miller, Steelcase, and Thomson Reuters. He currently lives in New York City and likes cheesecake, a lot.

Talk abstract

Nailing down the right copy for an interface can be a challenge. And nailing down the right amount of copy can be equally tricky. Some people say, “Users don’t read” – but is this true?

This talk will explore the classic cognitive psychology research behind how people read and process text, taking a dive into the reading comprehension literature. You will learn how cognitive psychology research methods translate into testing copy in an applied UX research setting – you might be surprised!

We’ll also take an in-depth look at some practical UXR case studies. The speaker will share how her organization has used different UX research approaches to assess users’ comprehension of copy and to drive design changes. This talk will also provide an overview of qualitative and quantitative UXR methodologies for testing copy. You’ll receive guidance on how to pick the right approach to answer your research questions.

You’ll leave with a practical UXR toolkit to tackle any copy debate in your organization – as well as the cognitive psychology “why” behind these methodologies.

Speaker Bio

Jennifer Siedjak spearheads the UX research efforts at Redbox as a UX Research Team of One. (Redbox is one of the biggest entertainment companies in the US. There are more Redbox kiosks in the US than McDonald's and Starbucks combined!)

Before getting into UX, Jennifer conducted research at Northwestern University in Dr. David Rapp’s Reading Comprehension Lab. Here, she conducted cognitive psychology studies on topics ranging from refutational texts to perspective-taking. She presented her research at regional and national conferences. Later, she worked at Rush University Medical Center, helping with clinical trials for new PTSD treatments – and getting a couple of peer-reviewed journal articles under her belt.

About five years ago, Jennifer made the pivot to UX Research because she wanted to conduct applied research – and UX was the perfect blend of her interests in cognitive psychology and design. For her first UX Research gig, Jennifer consulted for Fortune 500 companies in the tech, pharma, finance, e-commerce, and auto industries. Now at Redbox, she conducts research across multiple products: kiosk, mobile app, website, and apps on Smart TVs and streaming sticks. She uses UX insights to help bridge the gap across the omni-channel experience.

Talk abstract

In today’s interconnected digital media environment, people multitask between disparate types of digital experiences such as laptops, tablets, TVs, phones, email, social media, news, shopping, and food delivery. This rapid switching behavior, as quickly as once every 11 seconds, has consequences for how people interact with and feel about products, and therefore impacts the design recommendations UX researchers make.

For UX researchers to glean effective insights into how people interact with media in real life settings, researchers need to fully understand an individual’s entire thread of media experience. This includes taking into consideration the pace of switching, the content consumed before, during, and after the interface being studied, and the different devices used to interact with the interface. Screenomics, a framework developed by Stanford University and others to collect, analyze, and make sense of this data will be discussed, including how practitioners can take this knowledge and apply it to their current research.

Speaker Bio

Leo directs research to understand how psychological processes and human-computer interaction paradigms affect product design. He received his PhD in Communication at Stanford University, is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree in Enterprise Technology, and is part of a multi-institutional effort at Stanford studying digital fragmentation in daily life. Leo is currently the Head of User Research at VMware, leading a team of mixed-methods researchers in conducting strategic research in the cloud infrastructure space. Previously, he led quantitative UX research at Waymo on the design of self-driving cars, established the UX research practice at Vine, designed mixed human-robot interfaces at NASA for life support systems on the International Space Station, and ran the largest ever quantitative study of Firefox users at Mozilla.

Talk abstract

In today’s organizations, UXR faces a variety of extreme variations that challenge the definitions and foundations of our work. Align with Design, Data Science, Marketing or Product? Specialize in a few skills, or be a jack of all trades? Hire only people with advanced degrees, or teach anyone the basics? The impacts of which direction is chosen is often not well understood - or reflected on. In addition, the organic evolution of these extremes are eroding our ability to function well in many organizations -- and could threaten the science of the work that we do. In this talk, I’ll argue that we need to take deliberate control over the destiny of our function -- ensuring that we continue to evolve and grow.

Speaker Bio

Molly has 20+ years experience in understanding the needs of users in a variety of domains around the globe. She looks to build diverse cross-functional teams that can deeply understand the similarities and differences in user needs and behaviors. She is currently the Director of UX Research at Booking.com.

Talk abstract

At some point, every company rebrands. In almost every case, the process is controversial, convoluted, and long. Everyone has an opinion, but often struggle to back up comments like “I don’t like that” or “I think blue is better than green”.

The most successful brands tell a story that resonates with their customers… So why is the customer voice so rarely included in rebranding work? And if teams are lacking data to back up opinions, why isn’t Research in the room?

“Rebranding with Research” offers a deep dive into the strategy, methods, and stakeholder management the Brex Research and Brand teams used to keep user experience at the center of rebranding decisions.

Speaker Bio (Nicky)

Nicky leads Research at Brex, where he asks “why?” a lot. Mostly to customers and people who could someday become customers. Also to product managers, marketers, designers, executives, salespeople, engineers, customer support reps...everyone he works with.

He’s a strong believer that formal Research teams should support the entire company, not just Product and Design, to raise the bar for customer-focused decision making. He’s motivated to empower learning and better decision making by building systems that make it easy for anyone in the company to talk to customers and test assumptions.

A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, Nicky has worked in a range of fields and positions, from corporate lobbyist to first employee at a startup (it failed). He discovered user research by running usability tests (though he didn’t know that term at the time) with students in a UCLA dorm, and carried his passion through business roles at Square and Brex before moving into Research full time.

He encourages anyone reading this to contact him directly to discuss any and all topics related to research. Learning from each other is the best way to grow! So ask him why he loves asking why.

Speaker Bio (Kira)

Kira Klaas is Brex’s Director of Brand, where she leads a team of marketers and designers focused on telling the story of what it means to dream big in financial services. She views research as key to her team’s success, and is a strong proponent of integrating Brand and Research teams from the outset.

Kira’s career has spanned a range of marketing functions, from social media strategy to product and content marketing at companies including Gusto and Kiva. Stepping into Brand leadership at Brex has allowed her to put her particular passion for storytelling into practice, with the voice of the customer at the center.

In Kira’s view, branding is what makes up for the difference between advertising and advocacy, and research helps bridge that gap. She’d love to hear from anyone interested in how her team uses research findings to make better decisions, and from anyone curious about brand more generally.

Talk abstract

Researchers are producing studies at a faster pace now more than ever. However, instead of deliberately building upon existing knowledge and filling in gaps, teams are pressured into pursuing “quantity” over “quality” in their projects and rush to validate new hypotheses over informing ongoing visions. This sometimes means hopping from “scrappy” project to project and trading off opportunities to refine and build in-depth understanding of a problem space. This talk will cover the distinctions between research projects and programs, the role projects play in building immediate success and long-term confidence, and the benefits of systematic program development and long-term evaluation.

Speaker Bio

Rannie Teodoro, Ph.D., is the Head of Research at Thumbtack, an online marketplace that matches customers with local service professionals. Rannie started off her career in academia studying health and information-seeking behaviors and later transitioned into tech when she landed a job at Facebook. Today, she manages a team of researchers and category strategists who support end-to-end product development and operations. Her work has informed strategies for news-based platforms, search products, local services, and emerging markets. Rannie loves studying the intersections of community engagement, behavior change, and communication technologies.

Talk abstract

Have you ever felt like you’re stuck in a solo researcher hamster wheel, cranking out lots of work but going nowhere? You’re not alone: the UXR team of one role is plagued with inherent dysfunctions that only become obvious over time.

In this practical talk, Roy will lay out the five obstacles that prevent solo researchers from having a more significant impact on their organizations. You'll learn about how to approach research as a strategic function, the importance of business metrics, the critical role of consistent communication, how isolation affects solo researchers, and why task omissions are just as important as priorities.

At the end of this session, you'll walk away with ideas that you can implement to become a better UXR team of one.

Speaker Bio

Roy has been involved in user research and service design for the past eight years. He currently runs the Research Operations practice at Zapier. Prior to this role, he led the UX research practice at Buffer.

When not working or hanging out with his wife and three young boys, he can be found obsessing over Arsenal, his favourite football (soccer) team.

Roy hails from Kenya and currently resides just outside of Toronto.

Talk abstract

Starting a user research practice in an organization can be daunting, exciting, and eye-opening experience. In this talk, Snigdha will present a 30-60-90 day (and beyond) plan for researchers looking to achieve impact through a new or existing research practice. Snigdha will cover ways to do work that matters, score quick wins, and balance long-term strategy with tactical work. She will provide key takeaways through real life examples, including how to generate excitement and partner with teams new to research, scale research despite resource challenges, and impact product strategy, design, and success measures.

The first thirty days will focus on listening and engaging with potential partners and leadership, to avoid early pitfalls. Sixty days will include scoring quick wins, by creating partnerships with “on the fence” colleagues by exploring their comfort zones and taking them along for the ride. Ninety days will cover establishing repeatable processes to scale, including creating and growing a research panel, and crafting and communicating a vision. Finally and most importantly, as being a change-maker is hard work, and the talk will conclude with a discussion on preventing burnout.

Speaker Bio

Snigdha is a researcher with over 10 years of experience in UX and cognitive neuroscience research. She founded the User Research practice at Bitly in NYC. Her impact as a UX Research team of one is rooted in listening with empathy, being adaptable, and forming effective partnerships with cross-functional teams that are new to research. At Bitly, she gathered insights from over 200 users within the first year to shape strategy for a new product area, inform the design of core workflows shipped, and impact key results. In her former role as the first UX Researcher at FactSet, she created frameworks and processes used by the team, and played a key role in scaling research to three departments and over ten products. Snigdha arrives at UX with a deep understanding of human behavior and cognition fostered by her Ph.D. training.