Undervaluing User Research is a Deadly Disease

During our UX strategy workshops, I ask design leaders to visualize the user research activities in their projects. They start with a timeline of a recent project, which shows the project’s kickoff date, when the project shipped, and major milestones that occurred along the way.

On top of that timeline, I ask them to answer questions about three groups of team members:

1. When, during the project, did the team’s user experience professionals spend time observing real users interacting with the design under development? This group of UX professionals includes researchers, designers, content writers, or anyone else who sees themselves as designing the user experience.
2. When did the other full-time professionals working on the project spend time observing real users interacting with the design? This group includes developers, product managers, and other stakeholders whose main responsibility was the delivery of the product or service.
3. When did the other influencers working on the project spend time observing real users interacting with the design? This group includes the influencers who pop into the project for short durations, exerting influence in their wake. This includes executives who swoop-and-poop, critical high-ranking stakeholders, and folks like Legal and Compliance.