Mastering UX research: from analysis to actionable insights with Steve Portigal
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What is the main topic of this episode?
Welcome back to the Insights Unlocked podcast. In this episode, we're talking with UX research expert and author Steve Portigal about moving beyond analysis to synthesis, turning data into actionable insights that drive real change. We'll explore Steve's tips for communicating findings that stick with stakeholders and dive into the impact of remote work and in-house teams on the future of UX research and customer experience. Enjoy the show. Welcome to Insights Unlocked, an original podcast from User Testing, where we bring you candid conversations and stories with the thinkers, doers, and builders behind some of the most successful digital products and experiences in the world, from concept to execution.
Welcome to the Insights Unlocked podcast. I'm Nathan Isaacs, Senior Manager for Content Production at UserTesting. And joining us today as host is UserTesting's Leah Hogan, Principal for Experience Research Strategy. Welcome to the show, Leah. Thank you. Hi, everyone. And our guest today is Steve Portigal. Steve is an experienced user researcher who helps companies harness the strategic power of insights. He's the author of two books, the classic Interviewing Users, How to Uncover Compelling Insights and Doorbells, Danger and Dead Batteries, User Research War Stories. He's also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast, where he interviews people who lead user research in their organizations. Welcome to the show, Steve.
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for having me. Great. I'm so thrilled to be getting a chance to have this conversation with you, Steve. And where I really wanted to start is just. Actually, because of where it is that you've been in the world of UX, user research, over the past more than 20 years, you've had, I think, a unique perspective on how the industry has changed, how the practice has changed from earlier on until now.
How has user research evolved over the past 20 years?
And now I think that that change has even accelerated, if possible. I'd love to hear your thoughts about what do you think the most significant changes have been and how those changes have really impacted how we understand users today and maybe how that might change. Yeah, I can think of three that I'd want to mention today. You know, so when you kind of got at this, right, we were few in numbers when I started. And, you know, I was the field precedes me. So even fewer in the earliest days, kind of an obscure practice, fewer people. And now we are a much more established practice. community of practice, it's a field, it's a discipline that's larger in scope. So that means there's more of us and the point of more of us means there's more knowledge sharing, there's more communities, there's more meetup groups, there's more books, There's more conferences, there's more podcasts. And so this community of practice means we share things, we document things, we collectively argue and debate and align or not about how to do things.
We have examples of what's worked that constantly get updated as circumstances change or new things are being tried. And so that idea of a community of practice that has knowledge that shares it is not something that we relied on maybe as strongly as we do today. I think that's one change. Another that, you know, and speaking as someone who's spent his whole career in consulting, you know, with my own agency and working in other agencies, you know, I feel this very directly, this shift from a previous time that people may not know about where if anyone was doing research, it was work that was being done by agencies. It was work that was being done by consultants. And just to be pedantic, I don't mean freelancers. Freelancers are often people that come into a company that work in a way that's similar to how an employee might work. finely slice them in a language. So when I think about agencies or consultants, it's separate entities, separate businesses that are contracted for a piece of work. There were not in-house research teams.
There were not in-house researchers. Often there were none. There was not research leadership inside organizations that would advocate for resources, would advocate for how research should be done, would form peer relationships with heads of other disciplines, and figure out how research could be integrated at the right time.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic of this episode?
0:02–2:16
2
How has user research evolved over the past 20 years?
2:16–5:46
3
What are the significant shifts from agencies to in-house teams?
5:46–12:27
4
What impact has remote work had on user research?
12:27–21:24
5
Why is synthesis important in UX research?
21:24–28:49
6
What practical advice can new researchers follow?
28:49–35:31
7
How can researchers effectively communicate findings?
35:31–42:10
8
What does the future hold for research-led companies?
42:10–46:07
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Insights Unlocked
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