Erin and special co-host Ben Wiedmaier are joined by Julian Della Mattia of the180 for a deep dive into being UX team-of-one. Julian has been the first user researcher at a number of companies and shares his top to-dos, milestones, and things to consider before accepting such a role.
The episode digs into the ways a solo UXR can start making an impact, but in a strategic, sustainable way. Julian identifies questions to ask stakeholder teams, processes to consider standing up, and the tools to consider investing in from the start. We also discuss the dual hat-wearing of UXR and Ops on smaller teams/teams-of-one. Julian shares how he balances his time between executing on business-critical work and organizing research workflows so that other teams can start connecting with customers.
Even if you're not a solo UXR or a team-of-one, Julian's experience building bridges between/across departments and his suggestions for aligning user research to core business goals from the start will help you and your team be more impactful.
Episode Highlights
About Our Guest
Julian is a UX Researcher specialized in Research Operations (ReOps), founder of the180 and based in Barcelona, Spain. Whether in-house or working with clients, he repeatedly found myself building Research teams from scratch as the first Researcher in the team. This experience helped him develop a real knack for infrastructure, so he decided to fully specialize myself in ReOps. He likes to talk about this as his switch "from Finder to Builder".
More Resources for Building UX Research Teams
# 28 - The Three Tiers of Culturalization with Chui Chui Tan of Beyō Global
# 27 - International Markets and Anthropology with Leia Atkinson of Shopify
# 26 - Cross Cultural Research in Action with Elsa Ho
# 25 - Why Participants Participate in User Research with Brittany Rutherford of User Interviews
#24 - What's in a Name? Building Custom Research Programs that Stick with Vicki Tollemache
#23 - How to Interview Customers Continuously with Teresa Torres of Product Talk
#22 - Stop Freaking Out About the Evils of Personas with Andy Budd of Clearleft
#21 - Why Surveys [Almost Always] Suck with Erika Hall of Mule Design
#20 - Why Being Wrong is Right with Alec Levin of Learners
#19 - What UX Researchers Can Learn From Children with Noam Segal of Wealthfront
#18 - Juggling Hardware and Software (and Service Design) Research with Susan Rice of Toast
#17 - Is It Ok To Recline Your Seat On An Airplane? with Bob Saris of User Interviews
#16 - How to Facilitate User Research in Any Team with Nicola Rushton
#15 - Starting a ResearchOps Practice with Kate Towsey
#14 - How to Make a Potentially Awkward User Interview Less Awkward with Adam Sigel of Hometap
#13 - Make Qualitative Research Your Competitive Marketing Advantage with Katelyn Bourgoin
#12 - Essential Times for Qualitative Research With Shipra Kayan
#11 - Integrating Research Faster with John Cutler
#10 - Give Us Your Feedback and Reviews (Retro #1) - with Erin & JH
#9 - Running Amazing Remote UX Research Sessions with Sonya Badigian
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