Podcast Episodes

#167 - Summer Throwback: Teresa Torres on Continuous Discovery Methods

Episode 167

Welcome to Summer Throwbacks, where we revisit some of Awkward Silences' most memorable episodes.

This week brings back an evergreen conversation with Product Talk's Teresa Torres on continuous discov…

Published on 4 months ago

#166 - Summer Throwback: Erika Hall on Why Surveys (Almost Always) Suck

Episode 166

Welcome to Summer Throwbacks, where we revisit some of Awkward Silences' most memorable episodes.

This week features a conversation with Erika Hall on the misuses of surveys. They're overused, often s…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

#165 - High Impact Research on Embedded Teams with Hannah Ghidey of Etsy

Episode 165

Embedded research teams—where UXRs are dedicated to a single product area—are popular. The proximity to design, product, and engineering stakeholders increases subject-matter expertise and user insig…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

#164 - UX Lessons from a Decade Researching AI with Jess Holbrook of Microsoft

Episode 164

Much of the conversation around AI in UX involves how it will shape and change researchers' work. Today's guest, Jess Holbrook, who leads UX research for Microsoft AI, has been thinking a lot about h…

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

#163 - Creating Mindful Product Experiences with Jay Vidyarthi of Still Ape

Episode 163

In this episode, Erin and Ben chat with Jay Vidyarthi, designer, author, and founder at Still Ape. Jay is a leading thinker around designing mindful product experiences. He's also published a new boo…

Published on 6 months ago

#162 - Empowering PwDR Using Research Education with Daniel Gottlieb of Microsoft

Episode 162

Many research activities are completed by non-researchers, but whose work is benefited from user insights. Generally, these folks—designers, PMs, developers, among others—are called "PwDR" or "people…

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago

#161 - Learn More Faster About Customers with Michael Margolis of GV

Episode 161

This episode is all about learning from customers...early and often. Our guest, Michael Margolis, UX Research Partner at GV (formerly Google Ventures), has made a career of helping teams do this succ…

Published on 7 months ago

#160 - Where Design Thinking Went Wrong with Brett Krajewski of Accelerant Research

Episode 160

In 2022, the UX community experienced a series of convulsions: layoffs, reorgs, and reduced budgets. A common thread throughout was accountability: user researchers faced frequent questions about the…

Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago

#159 - Building Cross-Functional Research Impact with Judy Xu of Salesforce

Episode 159

Creating strong stakeholder relationships is important for UX researchers at any company. Doing this at "enterprise" companies—large organizations with many products and an international footprint—ca…

Published on 8 months ago

#158 - Leading Design as a Researcher with Emily Wurgler of McDonald's

Episode 158

Erin and Carol are joined by Emily Wurgler, Global Director of Experience Design at McDonald's, whose journey has had many moments of evolution and iteration. She started as an academic researcher in…

Published on 8 months, 2 weeks ago