Fantastic insight, Ryan. Thanks for sharing. “The other half is selling design to colleagues and peers on other teams.” I am newish to UX leadership, and I’ve found that sharing my vision and influencing culture change is the single most important part of this job. I don’t believe we can truly improve the product unless we fix our culture. I’m not working from the top down; I’m starting at the ground level. It’s working at my company.

I also spend a ton of time selling the value of our research efforts as an input to design. Our product is so broad and deep that we struggle to keep up with users’ diverse motivations and usage patterns. I’ve recruited a sharp research team but we just can’t keep up with demand for surfacing new data. I’d love to hear how you handle design research. If design is still the new kid on the block I’m convinced research is the NEW new kid on the block…