Awkward Silences

Ruby Pryor, founder of Rex and former management consultant, helps teams quantify UX research impact. She outlines a four-level impact framework and talks about scoring early optimization wins. Ruby explains ways to convert product metrics into dollar value, document research influence, and tailor impact stories to different stakeholders.

Sam Ladner, sociologist and senior principal researcher who studies the future of work, explains where AI truly helps and where it falls short. She discusses AI for transcription and closed coding. She highlights emotional, embodied moments AI cannot grasp. She covers handling outliers, designing AI-friendly codebooks, and when to keep humans in the loop for imagination and storytelling.

George Whitfield, MIT lecturer, Google software engineer, and founder of Find Our View, applies AI to make sense of large-scale qualitative data. He explores where language models help versus when human judgment is essential. The conversation touches on preserving context in transcripts, human-in-the-loop workflows, hypothesis-driven prompts, and a multimodal future for richer insights.

Erin May sits down with Aneta Kmiecik, founder of Be Your Own Design Team, to tackle one of the biggest questions facing designers today: how to position AI skills in portfolios and resumes. With 15 years in creative industries and a community of 200,000 followers, Aneta brings unique insights into navigating career strategy during this AI transformation.Aneta reveals her Past Present Future framework for career positioning and explains why most companies aren't explicitly requiring AI skills yet, but smart candidates should still showcase them strategically. She discusses the three designer archetypes emerging at AI native companies and shares practical advice on standing out when AI can generate portfolios and case studies for everyone.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro04:06 AI Skills in Job Descriptions Reality Check06:52 Research Strategy for AI Portfolio Positioning14:23 Audience Context Determines AI Skill Positioning17:49 Past Present Future Portfolio Framework27:10 Common Portfolio Mistakes in AI Era35:46 Future of AI Skills in Applications38:39 Favorite Research Interview TechniquesRESOURCESLenny’s Podcast featuring Jenny Wen, Design Lead for Claude - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh8bcBIAAFo 2024 AI in User Research Report - https://www.userinterviews.com/ai-in-ux-research-report CONNECT WITH ANETA KMIECIK:- LinkedIn: Aneta Kmiecik- Instagram: @ux.aneta- Newsletter: Be Your Own Design Team- Portfolio Course: uxportfolio.co

Ben Wiedmaier sits down with user research consultant Nikki Anderson to explore how researchers can stay relevant when budgets are tight and stakeholders are stressed. Nikki runs Drop in Research where she helps teams conduct research, facilitate better meetings, and build research practices from the ground up. She shares how companies are increasingly coming to her with validation requests rather than discovery work, driven by pressure to ship fast and hit numbers. The conversation reveals practical strategies for mixed methods research, using facilitation to drive action from insights, and leveraging AI tools without compromising research quality.Nikki explains why she creates forcing functions to slow stakeholders down when they want to rush into AI features without understanding the problem. She advocates for parallel convergent research design where surveys, interviews, and secondary research happen simultaneously to deliver insights faster. The discussion covers why synthesis remains a bridge too far for AI, how to turn research presentations into collaborative workshops, and specific ways researchers can demonstrate value through facilitation skills.Highlights00:00 Intro05:20 Mixed Methods and Data Triangulation10:07 Finding Small Tests When Teams Won't Wait14:46 Stakeholder Stress Driving Validation Requests23:30 Facilitation as Core Research Skill40:03 Using AI for Research Planning45:39 Demonstrating AI Skills to StakeholdersResources- AI for User Research 101 Course- 30+ Tools for every phase of UX Research- AI Context Engineering for Research Course

Kristen DeLap, fractional COO and operations leader who moved from interior design into product, shares how to gain influence without authority. She discusses decoding decision-making, translating design into business language, using customer stories to explain roadmaps, and treating colleagues like users. Practical tactics focus on ongoing stakeholder engagement, decision literacy, and orchestrating team alignment.

Laura Klein, Principal Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group and UX author/educator, cuts through AI hype with a practical lens. She outlines a green/yellow/red framework for safe AI uses. Short takes cover where AI shines—transcripts, meta-analysis, tooling—and where to be cautious: synthesis, insights, and mentoring juniors. The conversation focuses on choosing tools, collaborative analysis, and realistic tradeoffs.

Baran Erkel, Chief Strategy Officer at UserTesting, aligns research, analytics, and product strategy; Basek Fakhoury, CEO of User Interviews, builds participant recruitment and insights tooling. They discuss how AI reshapes research methods and decision-making, building test-and-learn cultures, consolidating insights across teams, and making executive-ready findings actionable.

Karl Randay, Experience Director at 383, shares insights from his work with brands like Hilton and Jaguar. He discusses the vital role of designers in an automated world, warning against the "beige-ification" of design due to templated systems. Randay emphasizes the need for modern designers to blend creativity with business acumen and communication skills. He suggests using AI as a research copilot rather than a replacement, while promoting authentic, accessible user experiences. Career growth for designers hinges on developing T-shaped skills across multiple disciplines.

Maria Rosala, Director of Research at Nielsen Norman Group, and John Whalen, Founder of Brilliant Experience, share insights on the future of UX research and AI. They discuss the rising pressures of AI on research speed and inclusivity, emphasizing the need for governance in AI tool implementation. The duo also explores the concept of synthetic users for ideation while cautioning against their limitations. Hiring advice for new researchers highlights the importance of critical thinking and communication skills, as they predict a collaborative future between AI and human researchers.