Awkward Silences

Updated: 29 May 2025 • 168 episodes
www.userinterviews.com

Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and Carol Guest, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews. Take this survey and let us know what topics you want to hear next! userinterviews.com/awkwardsurvey

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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 discovery methods. Since this episode first aired, more companies have brought non-researchers (such as Product Managers, Desi

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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 shoddily designed, and can get in the way of a better approach for the question (which might include not doing research a

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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 insight integration. But how can those working in this structure balance deep diving product-specific work with longer-term st

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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 how this technology can be improved with design and UX best practices. Jess has spent over a decade working on the UX of A

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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 book, RECLAIM YOUR MIND, which examines the balance of technology use and mindfulness in our everyday lives. Jay shares his

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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 who do research." In addition to their own work, many UX researchers and operations specialists are focusing on educatin

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