Gabriela Ospina — Lead Product Designer & Strategist at Independent
OOUX & ORCA Explained: Research, Organize, and Commit to Success
September 20, 2024
13:00
Research Ops
🇬🇧 English
Research Ops
From finders to builders: being the first UXR at a company
About
More and more companies are hiring their first ever UXR and this trend will continue in the upcoming years. But being the first researcher at a company is a very special type of challenge. Being the 1st UXR is not just being a “finder”, it’s being a builder: you need to build the infrastructure, the culture and the relationships. In this talk, I’d like to explore what it means to be a builder and how can you get started on this journey.
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From the recording
Talk in brief
In his presentation at WaysConf 2024, Julian Della Mattia addresses the shifting landscape of user experience research, where organizational demand for insights is rising but the demand for dedicated researchers is stagnating. Drawing on industry data, Della Mattia explains that companies are increasingly relying on non-researchers to conduct research. To survive and thrive, particularly as the first UXR hire in an organization, researchers must shift their mindset from being mere finders of data to builders of organizational capability. This transition requires focusing on three pillars: cultivating a collaborative research culture, establishing robust operational and knowledge infrastructure, and developing a strategic voice as an internal counselor rather than a passive order taker. By adopting a playmaker approach to elevate the research skills of colleagues across various departments, the first UXR can embed research into the company's core operating system and secure a highly valued, stable position.
Key takeaways
- 01
The Insight-Researcher Paradox
Industry data shows that organizations are hungrier than ever for user insights, yet they are increasingly relying on non-specialists and tools rather than hiring dedicated UX researchers.
Watch from 3:01 - 02
Shifting from Finder to Builder
First-time UXRs often struggle when focusing solely on data collection, which isolates them; instead, they must build a sustainable research ecosystem that outlasts their individual output.
Watch from 11:01 - 03
Adopting a Playmaker Mindset
Rather than acting as a striker who only scores individual research goals, a successful solo researcher acts as a playmaker to elevate the research capabilities of the entire team.
Watch from 16:54 - 04
Dual-Track Research Infrastructure
Building infrastructure requires establishing both operational systems for participant management and compliance, alongside knowledge systems that connect disparate feedback streams across the company.
Watch from 21:46 - 05
Becoming an Organizational Counselor
To avoid being treated as a simple order taker, the first UXR must establish a strong voice and act as a strategic advisor who guides product decisions.
Watch from 26:15
Read edited transcript highlights
These concise notes were edited from automatic captions and checked against the talk structure. They are not a verbatim transcript.
The Rise of Research Without Researchers
Industry data reveals a challenging paradox for the UX profession: while a high percentage of surveyed organizations plan to increase their research activities, only a small fraction intend to hire dedicated researchers. Instead, companies are leveraging AI, purchasing new tools, and relying on non-specialists to gather insights. This trend has led to a historically low ratio of dedicated researchers to other team members who conduct research, shifting the corporate question from why research is necessary to why professional researchers are needed at all.
Watch from 3:32The Trap of the Isolated Finder
When a UX researcher is hired as the first specialist in a company, they naturally default to finder mode, focusing entirely on conducting interviews and gathering data. However, this isolated approach often backfires. The researcher disappears into the metaphorical woods to collect insights, only for the organization to forget they went there in the first place. Without an established research culture or operational framework, the solo researcher quickly becomes a bottleneck, and their findings fail to gain traction or influence decisions.
Watch from 10:55The Playmaker Analogy in Product Teams
To make a lasting impact, a solo researcher must transition from acting like a striker to acting like a playmaker. A striker focuses solely on scoring goals—or in this case, delivering isolated research reports. A playmaker, however, elevates the performance of everyone on the field. By helping designers, product managers, and marketers improve their own research activities, the UXR ensures that the entire organization develops a stronger research muscle and makes better-informed decisions.
Watch from 16:57Connecting Internal Insight Reservoirs
A critical responsibility for the first UXR is building a knowledge infrastructure that connects existing data streams. When joining a company, researchers are often standing on a massive reservoir of customer data managed by support, sales, and marketing teams. Rather than ignoring these sources, the researcher should build systems to integrate and triangulate this qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring that high-quality, actionable insights flow smoothly across the entire organization.
Watch from 21:54The Five Cs of Repository Design
When asked about building a research repository during the Q&A, Della Mattia introduced his 5 Cs framework. Before selecting a tool or storing data, teams must define who will consume the data, who will create and nurture it, what types of information will be stored, how often the repository will be cleaned, and how the insights will connect to other sources. He cautioned against spending months building a repository as a substitute for solving stakeholder buy-in issues, noting that they are distinct challenges.
Watch from 30:48Scaling the Ladder of Decisions
Addressing a question about fast-paced environments where C-level executives bypass research, Della Mattia suggested focusing on a ladder of decisions. While changing executive mindsets overnight is highly difficult, researchers can start by influencing smaller, tactical decisions alongside designers and product managers. By successfully demonstrating the value of research at these lower levels, the UXR can gradually build trust and scale up to influence higher-level, strategic business decisions.
Watch from 40:10
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