What to do & expect as a Solo UX Researcher in a company
Many of us might idealize working in a team consisting of competent people with an appropriate workflow and a mature research process.
However, with today’s job market competition, aiming for a big company may not be as easy as it used to be— so some of us decide to join as solo researchers in a small company instead. Or, perhaps you get a very attractive offering but this company doesn’t have a UX research team yet.
Whatever the story, in the end, you end up being the only researcher in the company. So, when we end up being in this situation, what should we do? What to expect?
Here, I will share my takeaways as the first, Solo UX Researcher in my previous company. Before we discuss what should we do as Solo UX Researcher, it’s better to be aware of what to expect first.
What to expect🤔
I will mention some situations that you possibly face when joining the company as the first-solo-UX-researcher.
👨🏫 You may not have a mentor there
It’s particularly hard if you’re a fresh graduate that still needs guidance to work. That’s why I don’t recommend freshgrads or those with <1 year experience to work solo.
🤷 People are clueless about your jobdecs
You can’t expect anyone in the company to give direction to you to do something. It’s quite the opposite — you are the one who is responsible to define and communicate what you do to others. In this way, people can start seeing your value.
🙏 The current team may not be user-centric
…because they were not used to think from the user’s point of view. They may know very well what’s the problem facing by the business side but they may have no clue about user’s pain points. They also may be more tech-driven and have the vision to build a cool product without step-back and consider whether it’s relevant to what the user needs.
💻 You will not be involved in many agendas yet
But don’t be in a hurry to ask people to invite you to a meeting. Once they realize that research is valuable, you will automatically be involved in strategy discussion, making product roadmap, annual management meeting, etc.
😖 Burn out
Hopefully, it doesn’t happen to you, but if you feel your situation is stressful, it might be because you have a lot (of research projects) on your plate. Don’t be a people-pleaser and tell others that you are not able to accept every research request! Assertiveness is needed for this case.
Phew… many things to expect already, right? So, what can we do after this? Let’s jump to what action we can implement when we are in this situation!
What to do💡
🤝Find ally
When you are in a research team, your fellow researcher will be your first ally. But since you are a Solo, it means that you need to find an ally elsewhere — yep, in another team. You can start by mapping stakeholders first: find out who will work closely with you. PMs, Designers, Analysts, those people can be your close allies. Are you confident enough as a person? Go build relationships with C-levels! There’s no way C-levels (CEO, CPO, etc) don’t care about research (and if they really don’t care, well — it’s a 🚩).
❓Ask why this role is hired
Find someone in the company who first suggested hiring a UX researcher and listen to their story of why they think this role is needed. What is their story? What happened back then? What makes them realize that they need a UX Researcher? What is a problem that potentially happens if there’s no UX Researcher? How can UX Researcher give value to the team? This action can help manage the expectations of both parties.
🚧 Make framework
Start small. Find the most important thing first to do by asking yourself:
- Do you find you are overwhelmed by research request? Create request flow first.
-Is your top concern is the quality of research itself? Build research flow & detailed process of each common method used.
-Working in a very fast-paced company? Make research plan and slide template to make your work efficient.
📚 Make your research repository accessible
Because it’s very tiring if all people in the company must ask you about previous research. You can use many tools for this: from simple G-drive and Google Sheet to Confluence. Just remember to pick a tool not based on “oh, it seems cool to use” but how it’s easy to navigate by everyone in the company.
🗣️ Try to advocate
It’s undeniable that working alone is difficult. After you have done various research projects well and the teams started to see the value of a researcher, now this is the time to advocate the need for more researcher headcounts!
I believe there are so many things to do and expect besides what I mentioned above, so that’s why it’s very important to just prepare yourself to face anything that might happen. And… I wish you good luck on your journey!👍
