Building User Research Teams: How to create UX research teams that deliver impactful insights

Successful products require good decisions. Good decisions need good information.

User researchers run robust and repeatable studies to find that information, but they need some tools and support to get started.

Building User Research Teams is a step by step guide covering how to start a new UX research team.

Learn how to:

• Convince colleagues that user research is worthwhile
• Budget for and equip a research team
• Create the templates and tools needed to run research
• Run studies that are impactful and accurate
• Optimise your research team's workflow
• Grow a research team long-term

This book is useful for:

• Companies looking to hire their first researcher
• New research leaders establishing a team
• Independent researchers in companies looking to maximise their impact
• Designers, product managers and UX professionals wanting to incorporate research best practice into their work

What's in the book?

Building User Research Teams is a practical guide covering how to build a research team of any size. It covers the whole journey, from convincing colleagues that they need a user research team, through to the development and implementation of the tools and processes needed, to running high quality studies and mapping the future development of a growing research team.

In the book, you will find out how to:

Part 1 - Make the case for research

• Learn how research and design work together in product development
• Explain the benefits of research in business terms
• Avoid some common mistakes for new teams
• Techniques for educating companies about research
• Make friends with other disciplines
• Create a budget for research
• Set research standards

Part 2 - Build research capability

• Set up participant recruitment
• Build a user research lab
• Create a process for research
• Create research templates
• Store team knowledge and research files
• Meet ethical and legal standards

Part 3 - Run good research from the start

• Define research objectives
• Plan research studies
• Run studies
• Analyse research findings
• Debrief findings and run workshops
• Continually improve and iterate the research process

Part 4 - Grow a research team long term

• How to grow a team over time
• Create a demand for research
• Develop new research methods
• Hire and develop researchers
• Make research collaborative
• Build a research repository