A lot of (UX) research is garbage and worthless

I’ve recently listened to The Futur Podcast with Michael Margolis – the CEO of Storied, a strategic messaging and leadership firm that helps leaders and teams stand out through story.

In the podcast, Michael shared his view: “I find that the majority of research is garbage and is a distraction”, he further elaborated:

“…research is really valuable once you actually have the guts to put a stake in the ground and say, here’s the thesis. Here’s what we think matters, here’s what we think is true. Great, now let’s go test and validate that. Too oftentimes people do this open-ended research fishing expeditions that basically comes back with, it’s either a pizza with nothing on it, or it’s a pizza with 32 toppings and it has no sense of coherence, right? I’ve worked with a lot of UX research teams and they’ll come up with these beautiful frameworks that’s 12 different ways we could think about the product. And the heads of product are like, dude, just give me a POV. What’s your stance? Cut through this noise for me.”
Michael Margolis on the Futur Podcast

I agree with this view whole heartedly, it’s hard and pointless to research something without a thesis already existed for you to validate or prove wrong. Take for example if you want to start a business in your area, you decide to do research by asking the locals which business would they like to see or support. This is open-ended research which the results could be vary tremendously, everyone could have very different answer based on their age, needs, occupation and education.

Whereas you can plant your thesis as “People would love a modern coffee shop with high-speed interenet designed for working remotely”. From there, you can start asking meaningful question such as:

Do people in the area usually like to work at coffee shop?
Do they even like coffee?
Have there been any similar business openned in the area?

From there, a researcher can conduct his/her research with a thesis in mind and analyze the research feedbacks objectively for clearer and effective result.

When I conduct user research for my web projects, I usually have my users with similar interests and ask them about their painpoints and goals regarding directly to the business I’m working on so I can devise the correct content and layout for the website.

What do you think? Do you think user research is a waste of time?

How would you do your user research for your business?

The shownote:

https://thefutur.com/content/storytelling-is-a-superpower

Listen on Spotify

I’ve recently listened to The Futur Podcast with Michael Margolis – the CEO of Storied, a strategic messaging and leadership firm that helps leaders and teams stand out through story.

In the podcast, Michael shared his view: “I find that the majority of research is garbage and is a distraction”, he further elaborated:

“…research is really valuable once you actually have the guts to put a stake in the ground and say, here’s the thesis. Here’s what we think matters, here’s what we think is true. Great, now let’s go test and validate that. Too oftentimes people do this open-ended research fishing expeditions that basically comes back with, it’s either a pizza with nothing on it, or it’s a pizza with 32 toppings and it has no sense of coherence, right? I’ve worked with a lot of UX research teams and they’ll come up with these beautiful frameworks that’s 12 different ways we could think about the product. And the heads of product are like, dude, just give me a POV. What’s your stance? Cut through this noise for me.”
Michael Margolis on the Futur Podcast

Do people in the area usually like to work at coffee shop?
Do they even like coffee?
Have there been any similar business openned in the area?

From there, a researcher can conduct his/her research with a thesis in mind and analyze the research feedbacks objectively for clearer and effective result.

What do you think? Do you think user research is a waste of time?

How would you do your user research for your business?

The shownote:

https://thefutur.com/content/storytelling-is-a-superpower

Listen on Spotify

I’ve recently listened to The Futur Podcast with Michael Margolis – the CEO of Storied, a strategic messaging and leadership firm that helps leaders and teams stand out through story.

In the podcast, Michael shared his view: “I find that the majority of research is garbage and is a distraction”, he further elaborated:

“…research is really valuable once you actually have the guts to put a stake in the ground and say, here’s the thesis. Here’s what we think matters, here’s what we think is true. Great, now let’s go test and validate that. Too oftentimes people do this open-ended research fishing expeditions that basically comes back with, it’s either a pizza with nothing on it, or it’s a pizza with 32 toppings and it has no sense of coherence, right? I’ve worked with a lot of UX research teams and they’ll come up with these beautiful frameworks that’s 12 different ways we could think about the product. And the heads of product are like, dude, just give me a POV. What’s your stance? Cut through this noise for me.”
Michael Margolis on the Futur Podcast

Do people in the area usually like to work at coffee shop?
Do they even like coffee?
Have there been any similar business openned in the area?

From there, a researcher can conduct his/her research with a thesis in mind and analyze the research feedbacks objectively for clearer and effective result.

What do you think? Do you think user research is a waste of time?

How would you do your user research for your business?

The shownote:

https://thefutur.com/content/storytelling-is-a-superpower

Listen on Spotify

binh

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