Tailor-made vs. predefined
Efficiency in UX research is found at the equilibrium between predefined methodologies and tailor-made ones. In both client-based and fundamental research I am required to maintain this balance throughout. However, the convergence of both is quite like the similarity between the art works of Constantin Brâncuși and Marcel Duchamp :).
“Simplicity is an essential part of complicated things.”
— Constantin Brâncuși
My approach
Before beginning work with any product or development team, I enjoy taking time to understand the needs and desires of each person involved. This work informs later the choice of research objectives and methods. Sometimes, teams have predefined ideas about what methods they would like to use. Other times, they only know what results they would like to obtain. In either case, one of the most pleasant parts of research for me is making sure that teams obtain the right kind of insights from their data for their goals, and that they understand that the tools that “everybody uses” may or may not be the ones appropriate for this product, this team, these stakeholders, these resources, time-frame or the kind of results that are expected and needed. Sometimes things run smooth and other times frustration kicks in. For each of these situations, there are ways to mediate, manage and reconcile. Because, what usually stands between the objectives and the right methodology is other peoples’ ideas about what research should look like.
