From Insights to Intuition
A provocation on transforming the role of research to increase impact and happiness
An objection and an epiphany
“Just one minor correction. Research doesn’t build great products, intuition does.” And with that, my world came crashing down.
I had taken up a role as the first researcher on a newly formed product team. After my usual kickoff meeting with leadership to explain “How research works and how to work with research,” I had been approached by the leader of our organization with this “minor correction.” To him, he was simply pointing out what he knew to be true. With my insecurity, I interpreted it to be so much more. He was implicitly telling me:
“Research is a nice to have. Not required."
“What is required is my intuition.”
‘Research isn’t going to make decisions here. There’s no seat at the table.”
“My intuition will trump anything that is not in line with it.”
“Get in line. (or else…)”
“I don’t believe in your philosophy.”
“I don’t support you.”
“There goes your career growth.”
“Shoulda stayed where you were, buddy.”
“Your life is not going to be easy around here.”
I think you get the point. Did he really say any of those things? No. Absolutely not. (And now that I’ve known and worked with him for the better part of a decade, I can tell you he would never have said any of those statements even if he believed them.) But, in an odd way, that wasn’t the point. The point was that I felt every one of them. My experience had always been that leaders had always been accepting of research — on the surface. His comment that day was incisive. It cut to the heart of what all researchers fear — not being heard and not having “a seat at the table”. If you haven’t heard those conversations (thank you, Judd!), take a look.
After a few weeks in private self-pity followed by time seeking consolation from colleagues, I arrived at an epiphany.
“Ok, I buy it. Intuition builds great products. What builds intuition?”
Observations. Mindful noticing of behaviors and repetitive patterns.
“Wait, research builds intuition!”
He wasn’t disagreeing with me! I had just positioned research way too late in the funnel of his mind. The conversation he and I had after this epiphany — without exaggeration — transformed my perspective on the role of research. My goal was to recognize, challenge, and reform the intuition of our team.
I’ll pause here to recognize two important points:
This is not a unique realization. In 2008, Jane Fulton Suri published this paper on the role of design research in informing intuition. It’s a fantastic exposition covering the depths of how design research, when done properly, can lead to clear benefit for teams, products, and innovation. I will quote her work extensively in my writing as her theory is perfectly in line with the real-world pivot and application I hope to see. (Thank you Nilay Bhandari for pointing me to this amazing work.)
This event happened 12 years into my career. Arguably, I had impact and happiness before this mindset shift. However, the excitement, depth of mission, team-ness, and overall happiness I felt with my work after this pivot is unparalleled. This is why I want to share my experience with you.
So, humor me. Let’s do as Judd proposes and “rethink research.” But this rethink doesn’t require a complete overhaul of our skillsets or a wholesale shift in what we do. No. It is a shift in perspective on our goal.
A Provocation
What if we shift our goal as researchers from delivering data and insights to building and reforming intuition? I believe this mindset shift will unlock deep impact and career happiness.
A brief look at intuition
Let’s rewind and get on the same page about the basics.
What is intuition?
“The power or faculty of attaining to direct knowledge or cognition without evident rational thought and inference.” Thank you Merriam Webster. “Evident rational thought and inference” is exactly what we do as researchers. We gather evident rational thought and infer from it insight that we use to drive products forward. But is intuition really devoid of research? I would argue not. It’s the repeated exposure to an observation that builds your sense of intuition.
Think about the prototypical startup owner. They sleep on a couch for 3 years working on a product because they are absolutely convicted that they see a problem that needs to be solved. Where does that conviction come from? Usually, it comes from having seen the problem again and again. Their personal, first hand experience with the problem made it unbearable for them to see.
Let’s peek behind that curtain. What is required to develop intuition? What could a researcher do to enable these activities?
Cultivate Self-Awareness
Spend time understanding yourself, your perspectives and how they were formed, and your biases. Develop an openness to challenging your own assumptions. Humility, if you will.
Observe Actively
First hand observation of the people you’re building for or the situation you’re trying to effect change on. Ask (non-leading) questions, realize when your intuition is in directly in conflict with your observations.
Practice Empathy
Engage with the situation even more deeply. Dive past the actions into the emotions, feelings, experiences, and meaning under the surface.
Reflect, Reconcile, & Re-present
Journal, converse, sketch – do what you need to do to get your thoughts out individually and as a group. Don’t be afraid of conflict and see where your observations are in conflict with your own intuition, others’ intuition, and their observations. Reconcile these differences to the best of your ability and then represent your new understanding in any form that suits you.
If these are the core elements that enable intuition building, how might research help to achieve them? During my time leading the Next Billion Users UX team, we made this shift and it had a tremendous impact on our organization’s spirit. Changing our perspective on the role of research had a tangible effect at many levels.
Case study and practical application
Rather than write about this extensively, I’d love to discuss it with you live! This way I can answer any questions you have — and get your feedback on what clicks and what doesn’t! From November 14-16 (CST) I’m offering 3 re-runs of this presentation. Sign up below! If you’re reading this after the 16th, just reach out and we’ll chat!
The effects of this mindset shift
As Jane Fulton Suri says, “Both a personal and an organizational mind-shift are required…” Let’s explore some of the changes that happened to me and what can happen for you.
Product Impact
Faster product development. When difficult conversations and reconciliation of varied intuition happens earlier in the development cycle, it greases the path towards launch. Once aligned, the team’s decisions are much faster and easier. No more disagreements with a product development timeline breathing down their necks. Perhaps most importantly, when the team is operating with informed intuition, they are able and willing to pivot faster with less fear of failure. This leads to an exploration of many more options in less time and a higher likelihood of success.
Higher product quality. Naturally, when intuition is rooted in concrete observations, the product is more people-centered. Spending more time in the “field” with the people that we were building for also allows for more direct testing and rapid iteration.
Team Impact
Strong x-functional allies and revised hiring criteria. One of the most powerful changes we saw in our teams once engaging this mindset was a strength across functions. All functions were joined by a common mission with everyone feeling a responsibility to contribute. As the skills of the broader team were being used more effectively, we now had the liberty to hire more selectively for the UX team. We looked for people complemented the existing skill sets and excelled at relationship building, influence, and complex communication.
Mission driven, confident team that cared deeply for each other. Time spent in observation of the people we were building for led to a stronger emotional attachment to the mission and to each other. The team becomes more convicted about the purpose behind their work and confident in their approach to address the issues they perceived.
The sense of team-ness, heading towards a shared goal, and constant forward progress through learning leads to an increase in happiness. This happiness translates first to higher retention rates and then an increased ability to attract top talent.
Overall Impact
All in all, this translated to a new perspective on research contributions. We became known as the architects of valuable experiences, the curators of intuition, joiners of functional expertise, arbitrators of arguments and facilitators of difficult conversations, and creators of thought frameworks — altogether imperative for decision making.
If this post interested you, and you want to learn more about how all this happens, sign up for the live presentation using the button below! Dates: November 14-16 (CST). If you’re reading this after the 16th, just reach out and we’ll chat!
Gratitude
This content of this article was first presented publicly as a workshop at the Learning & Networking Week of EPIC 2023. Thank you to the organizers of EPIC for giving me the space to have this conversation with peers; special thanks to Melissa Zlatow and Jamie Sherman. Thank you to Nilay Bhandari who introduced me to Jane Fulton Suri’s work. Lastly, to Jane Fulton Suri for her spectacular thought leadership in this space.
I’d love to hear from my readers! Please reach out or respond in the comments!
What are your thoughts on this provocation? What might stand in your way of invoking this cultural shift with your team?