If you’ve ever worked with team members and stakeholders who are either unaware of the benefits of doing UX research properly or are actively undermining UX research efforts, then you know how much of a challenge it can be and how frustrating it feels. You may have encountered such resistance and not known how to effectively counter it. You may have felt baffled by UX ignorance or even a bit of helplessness as the beginning of your objections and attempts to state your case were cut short by all-too-common excuses. You’re not alone. This is actually fairly common and there’s some great advice out there from experienced professionals on how to handle these situations. I compiled some of the best advice I could find online, which comprises what you see below. In the near future I’ll be reviewing a couple of books that deal with this issue.
To be ultra clear, I’m predominantly a messenger here and I’m learning along with you. What I want to do is present the most often cited reasons why UX research is partially or completely undermined and then convey how you could respond, based on the advice from experienced professionals. But first, let’s briefly look at what UX Maturity is, because resistance is naturally likely to be greater in organizations that have less awareness of research and less experience conducting research.
UX Maturity
Organizations can have varying levels of what is termed “UX Maturity” - or a gauge of just how research-knowledgeable the organization is and how good it is at putting that knowledge to use. Take a moment to check out the levels of UX Maturity identified by Nielsen Norman Group.
If the organization (or a specific team within an organization) you are working for is unaware of how to conduct proper UX Research it’s very likely they are unaware of its massive benefits. The more established an organization’s UX maturity is, the more they’ll know how to perform effective research and be open to it in all stages of product development.
Top Cited Research Resistance RoadBlocks
Sometimes push-back on conducting research can be clearly attributed to a lack of awareness and education. Sometimes, though, it can be outright rejected for a variety of reasons. Here I’ll list the top cited roadblocks from subtle to more deliberate dismissals.
- There’s not enough time
- There’s not enough money in the budget
- Existing research data on hand collected for marketing purposes is good enough to understand users
- We can think like the user and empathize with them
- Our company has been doing this for a number of years and has all the expertise needed to solve the problem
- It’s doubtful we can find people to provide us with meaningful and useful feedback
- It’s going to be too difficult to reach the people we need to in order to conduct meaningful research
- We can do some research, but we’ll save it for when we’ve wrapped up the design and most of the development
Identify the Perspective of Those Who Resist
The blockers could be a C-level executive, or a project manager, or even a developer. But, keeping in mind where it’s coming from is going to help, because you’re ultimately working with people. You should start with understanding those people before launching into a counter argument. When you identify who is resisting or pushing back, you’ll need to take some time to understand their point of view. You should think about the prospect of research as they would. But, just as that’s not good enough in UX, merely thinking about it from their point of view will only get you so far – you’ll need to talk to them. Ultimately you want to turn your antagonists into collaborators. That’s a common refrain you’ll hear from many people in UX.
Top Recommended Solutions
Now that you’ve seen some of the top cited roadblocks to research, let’s pour over the advice on how to deal with it. But first, you have to know that most of the time, the effort is a long haul. You’ll need to be patient and persistent and recognize that you’ll likely not change minds overnight. Ian Batterbee, a Senior UX Consultant, describes the effort to counter resistance as a “long, winding road that requires continuous education, evidence, and perseverance.” Knowing that most of the time it’s a continual endeavor that will take regular effort is the key to not becoming discouraged or giving up. Echoing Ian’s point, Sofia Quintero, Founder and CEO at EnjoyHQ, conveys that “Evangelising research is a long term game.” It’s not hard to see when you realize it often involves educating stakeholders.
Get Them Involved and On Your Side
How do you approach a stakeholder who disagrees with the need for research on a particular project, or even ever? Many recommend you go beyond thinking about it from their point of view. Get to know them better and the reasons and values behind their thinking by interviewing them.
Sarah Doody, UX Researcher, Experience Designer, and Founder & CEO of Career Strategy Lab, recommends that when you encounter constant or strong resistance from key stakeholders, some of whom may be high level executives, you should aim to “know thy enemy”. She says “the danger with stubborn stakeholders is that they can become a ringleader. They can get other people on the team to go along with their ideas, making it hard for you to do your job.” The goal of understanding these people is to see the product from their unique perspective and to ultimately address their concerns in a way that increases their participation and creates an ally. Sarah Doody recommends ruminating on how the stakeholder is viewing the product and why. She also has specific recommendations on how to manage a meeting with a stubborn stakeholder. You should really read her article to check out more of her specific advice.
Jim Ross, Senior UX Researcher at AnswerLab, points out that stakeholders can often have valuable knowledge about a product’s users. Interview those stakeholders: it will have a two-fold positive impact. First, it capitalizes on the information held by these people and will be easier to obtain. Second, it shows the stakeholders that “you value the information they can provide. In the same article, Jim Ross also recommends that you ask them to provide all their specific burning questions they want answered about the users, what they do, and why. It’s a good way to get them invested enough in the research so that they’ll learn to value it.
Christopher Ratcliff, Senior Digital Content Manager at User Zoom, uncovered a number of insightful responses on engaging with stakeholders by conducting a series of interviews with UX professionals. Here is some helpful advice from three of the interviewees:
- Nikki Anderson, Senior UX Researcher at 'From A to B', indicates that it’s critical to find the “why behind the pushback” and get feedback on particulars from stakeholders by treating them essentially as you would a user for whom you are attempting to understand and have empathy. You can ask questions such as: “Why do you feel negatively towards user research? Tell me what happened the last time you did user research? What is your ideal timeline and approach for this project? What could be some ideal outcomes of user research on this project?” She then goes on to recommend that you create a bare bones research plan that can fit their guidelines and “mitigates their worries.” If you get resistance from even attempting a gentle inquiry or negotiation for the inclusion of research, you may need another tactic. But I think what Nikki is recommending here is to preserve and dig deeper into their resistance and use that conversation with the stakeholder as a way to get them to establish research on their terms as a way for them to greenlight research.
- Andy Budd, Managing Director at Clearleft, recommends that you always consider what motivates the stakeholder(s) in question. One may be motivated by quantitative data only while others might be motivated by “social proof”. This approach builds on what I’ve seen others recommend in that it goes a little further into what types of research you should include in your plan or in your pitch to conduct research in the first place.
- Trista Rowan, Sr. UX Researcher/Designer, echoes what others recommend in interviewing stakeholders (especially key stakeholders) and getting their input as a way to lower resistance to research. But Trista also indicates that “including stakeholders in every stage of the research process is critical. Include them in research planning, invite them to sessions and the debrief afterwards.” This is wise because it can help them see value through participating in the ongoing research, thus making them more likely to approve further research, provided the efforts reveal something valuable.
- Chris Callagan, UX and Optimisation Director, McCann Manchester advises: “If you can’t involve stakeholders and your only option is to show them, then videos of real people struggling to turn into customers is a very powerful technique.”
Calm Their Fears and Misconceptions About Research
Jim Ross (AnswerLab) recommends taking a conciliatory approach when trying to get stakeholders and team members on board with any proposed research. Help people understand that user researchers will not force a team to design a specific solution. It’s still up to the team to interpret the research as a means to understand the users. Jim Ross also recommends in some situations that you should “limit the number of participants” and focus on the primary persona to control the overall research scope. This will allow you to counter the age old excuse that “there’s no time or there’s no money for user research”. You will in effect, provide a vital counter to that misconception and demonstrate real value.
Dr. Panagiotis Zaharias, Founder & Lead Researcher at theUXProdigy, warns that stakeholders may be completely unfamiliar with research and what it involves. They may have a perception it requires special equipment to even begin to perform. They might also consider it to be too costly in terms of expense and time. Therefore they may not want to spend the time to try and understand UX research in the midst of planning or at any point. Companies or certain stakeholders may be afraid that research will be disruptive to the progress they see happening. Feedback from users leads these people “out of their comfort zone”. Research may be perceived as having the ability to “destroy their creativity” and even result in solutions that the company has an obligation to implement in a precise way because of research.
It's also worth knowing that if you are too intense in making the case for research, your effort might backfire. Proceed with the right amount of passion and evidence and known when to hold your tongue if you can tell that antagonists are shutting down.
Educate, Educate, Educate
Sarah Doody (Career Strategy Lab) recommends that when educating clients, it may feel as if you’re teaching them UX as you would a student, but that can be what’s needed in some cases. Keep in mind, it is a “fine line to walk” because you don’t want to give them the impression that “you’re undermining their intelligence.”
Jim Ross (AnswerLab) points out that educating stakeholders may involve getting them to truly understand the value of UX research early on. Help those people understand that if you don’t base your designs on user research, you can end up working with “...incorrect assumptions [that] can lead to a lot of flailing around and excursions in the wrong direction…”. Doing research at the beginning of the process will ultimately save time and provide more relevant knowledge to base the design upon, which will lead to more useful usability testing outcomes as well. Educate your team on the value of user research at the beginning of the project because it will save time/money versus just relying on usability testing. Assumptions are dangerous and costly when it comes to what users need and why.
Outline a Plan of Your Proposed Research
Jim Ross (AnswerLab) explains: when stakeholders provide the excuse that it is too difficult to reach the users, you can respond by providing a clear plan of “who the users are and how you’re going to find and screen them”. Also, you can reassure stakeholders that often “most people are very happy to participate in research and actually feel flattered to have you consider their needs.”
This goes hand-in-hand with getting stakeholders on your side. It’s legitamite to call this out as a separate tactic, but it seems to be something you'll always want to do when proposing a research plan. Some stakeholders might appreciate a thorough plan outline more than others. It could make the difference between an easily dismissable idea that has an essentially unknown project scope and a proposal that has enough finite details that it can’t be outright rejected based on lack of certainty.
Show Documentation of Existing Research
Sarah Doody (Career Strategy Lab) points out that stubborn stakeholders will “need evidence.” Bring examples of other websites or products that demonstrate what would be preferable and present research to support your claims of why something will or will not work well.
Dr. Panagiotis Zaharias (theUXProdigy) offers a useful perspective: recognize that “The output of user research is information and insights” and that any product UI will have a much more tangible (i.e. visual) evidence of value. If you visualize the knowledge gained in conducting research for a particular project, it can help people see real value and therefore be more open to it in the future.
Aleksandra Melnikova, Experience Design Director at Radley Yeldar, warns that researchers, in their effort to convince stakeholders, not lose sight of the full scope of research. “When UX gets diminished into ‘that wireframing bit’, very little can save it in terms of demonstrating value in the eyes of the business. UX is systems thinking - psychology, research, empathy, analysis, logic, creativity, and modelling [sic] of new and better worlds - it’s imperative to elevate your presentation to show the many sides of this practice.”
If All Else Fails...
If you should find yourself in a position where research is not possible, Vy Alechnavicius, UX Team Manager, UX, Designer and UX Educator, recommends that you should “try to [conduct research] by proxy.” Try to do proper UX as much as you can and document everything along the way, so that you can make a case study” and ultimately provide “evidence” that shows your work was relevant to the project.
Vy acknowledges that in taking this path (where you conduct your own research on the side - doing extra curricular work), you will end up “eat[ing] a lot of crap along the way.” But the upside to spending the extra time to do this work is that your communication and perseverance (i.e. “leadership values”) will improve while you also create worthy portfolio material.
Turning Advice Into Action
When it comes to taking all of this great advice from professionals on how to convince people that UX research is indispensable and get stakeholders to sign onto some kind of plan of action, there’s no one-size-fits-all recipe. You might discover that using only one of the tactics identified in this article is necessary to make progress. Furthermore, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, try picking one approach and apply a process of trial and error to see if that works or if another approach will work best. If you’re struggling for a basic outline on how to proceed, you could do the following:
- Assess the situation to see what’s needed most in terms of research for the project
- Size up the nature of the resistance and who is generating it
- Determine if any of the problematic stakeholders can be involved in the research
- Formulate a proposal (formal or informal) based on an achievable scope
- Pitch the research plan (including any involvement of stakeholders in executing research)
- Evaluate the response you get from stakeholders
- Reshape the plan as needed
- Execute the plan
- Capture evidence of the research
- Present research findings and recommendations
Parting Words
Perhaps all of this guidance from UX professionals who have been in the proverbial trenches will give you confidence and focused motivation. If you’re really dreading the thought of approaching the antagonists in your particular situation, Vy Alechnavicius (VAExperience) has some inspiring words for you. You really need to learn how to “influence others [and] share the knowledge of other people.”
“
Everytime you face resistance,
everytime someone pushes back,
everytime someone disrespects the practice of user experience –
you’re going to learn how to persevere,
you’re going to learn how to convince them,
you’re going to learn all the ways and the thinking of that opposing force,
so that the next time the challenge and the obstacle repeats itself, you know exactly what to do: how to dodge it, how to avoid it, how to influence it.