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Holy ShIft!?:
Learnings from UX
Research role over the
years

HELLO!
I am Shrut Kirti
I am here to talk because
researching & mentoring
folks is my bling.
You can ?nd me at
@shrutkirti on
2

“
“In a cross-functional world, researchers
move from being methodology gurus to
discovery guides. Researchers don’t deliver
the voice of the customer; researchers
enable everyone to speak and to hear the
voice of the customer. Your job is no longer
the executioner of research, but about
embedding yourself in the business as
partners; to enable everyone to experience
the customer and to facilitate that
cross-functional conversation about that
experience; to best impact product.”
- Tricia Wang, Co-founder of Sudden Compass, 2019
keynote address, Mind the Product Conference
3

“
“A key evolutionary step for us is to
?gure out how to scale the application
of these skills to meet the newfound
demand. The answer does not lie in
adding more researchers who focus on
learning on behalf of the many. It’s in
expanding the role of researchers to
focus on empowering everyone to
learn.”
- Monty Hammontree, Partner Director of User
Experience Research at Microsoft in the The Future
of UX Research
4

UX Research skills industry
need data over the years
7
2019 2020 2021

96%
Research
Methods
8
2021 — In-demand skills for UX Researchers

94%
Communication skills
91%
Collaboration
91%
Process management
9
2021 — In-demand skills for UX Researchers

Primary & secondary UX researcher soft skills
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UX research characteristics: An analysis of 100 open jobs

How can you adapt yourself
to the changing needs of the
industry?

12
IDENTIFY
What skills do you
currently possess?
Why do you need to
identify them?

IDEO CEO Tim Brown, gave
an interview in which he
described the “T-shaped
person” his company
regularly hires. T-shaped
people have a depth of
skill in one area—the
vertical line of the “T”—and
an ability to work
cross-functionally across
disciplines—the horizontal
line of the “T.”
13

Today, organizations
tend to focus on
cultivating and hiring for
the skills that de?ne
T-shaped
leadership—broad
enterprise thinking and
the ability to collaborate
cross-functionally.
14

“Both types are essential in
any organization…The point
is not that the Ts have it—that
it’s always better to be one of
them. It’s that most people
would be well-advised to
develop T characteristics…
There’s nothing wrong with
being a card-carrying I as long
as you can also be a T in some
signi?cant sense.” Bottom
line: The key is to invest in
developing both sets of
skills.”
-Andy Boyton, Boston College
Professor
15
“Both/And” Leadership: Combining the Bene?ts of I- and T-Shaped Leaders

T-shaped skills can be explained in
many ways.
● Some describe it as a person
having reach across multiple
cross-functional teams but
having a impact in a speci?c
area such as UX Research.
● Others, explain T-shaped skills
as a combination of many
broader skills like
communication, collaboration,
etc. and having depth in one
area such as UX research
technical skills.
● Lastly, some like to reverse the
T and make the dash shaped
skills foundational to the
profession. The I shaped are
just mastery levels.
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BROAD KNOWLEDGE

● One can further upskill
themselves to become a ? -
shaped professional with
two area of specialisation or
an comb shaped
professional with different
levels of specialisation in
different areas.
● For professionals aspiring
to become leaders, an
X-shaped or Y-shaped skill
set comes in handy.
17

18
ASSESS
THE GAP
What skills do you
currently possess?

For eg. the technical skills of a
T-shaped designer might look
something in ?gure on the top.
And the same technical skills for
a ? - shaped designer might look
something in ?gure at the
bottom.
Unfortunately, I cannot ?nd the
same for UX researcher. Join
my workshop to learn what
makes a T-shaped and ? -
shaped UX researcher.
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The different shaped
skills can be a
combination of hard and
soft skills. And, it is often
recommended to have
this combination of
skills for any
professional.
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Internal Soft Skills External soft skills
Self-con?dence Collaborative team-work
Self-awareness Effective communication
Self-compassion Expectation management
Accepting of criticism Self-promotion
Resilience Managing con?ict
Perseverance Adaptability
Emotional intelligence Networking
Perceptiveness In?uence
Growth mindset Persuasion & negotiation

For a UX Researcher, the
list of skills can be
something like here.
These are of course, a
combination of hard and
soft skills such as
business acumen,
collaboration, process
management and many
more.
21
All the research data has been gathered… Now what?

22
DEVELOP
How can you develop
and hone new/existing
skills?

How can you develop and
hone on new/existing skills?
Go outside
your comfort
zone- take up
diverse,
challenging
projects
Find or become a
mentor
Join industry
groups -
engage in
discussions
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Participate in
team-building activities
Take
advantage of
online
educational
resources
Read
across a
variety of
subjects.
Don’t let your
major limit
you.
Focus on what
interests you.
Mix hard and
soft skills.
Strike a
balance of
general/useful

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PRACTICE
Why do you need to
practice newly
learned skills?

How can you practice the
newly learned skills?
25
Make it a habit-
Consistent efforts
Work on projects.
Give your specialty
extra attention.
Deconstruct skills.
Seek out different perspectives

26
REASSESS
Why re-assess your
skills over regular
intervals of time?

How can re-assess and
identify impact of newly
learned skills?
27
Regularly evaluate
your progress.
Recognise the gap
in your skills.
Seek feedback of
others
De?ne and
highlight impact
after changes

IT SHOULD BE A
NEVER-ENDING
CYCLE FORYOU!
If you are someone who believe in
the “Growth Mindset” rather than a
“Fixed” one, the learning never
ceases to exist over a lifetime.
There is always some gap in our
skill that will strive us to become
an even better professional than
the last version of ourselves.
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Identify
Assess
Develop
Practice
Re-
assess

Some resources for you
to get started
NN/g Skill Mapping Template
Join the UX Skill Mapping, Assessment and
Tracking workshop by Shrut Kirti
Learning & education resources
Master In-Demand Professional Soft Skills
Soft Skills Training for Employees

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Identify
Assess
Develop
Practice
Re-
assess

“
“The future of UXR serves two
customers: the customers who use
our products and the product makers
who build them. We must develop our
understanding and empathy for both
communities and seek to develop
experiences that empower both to
achieve more than they ever thought
possible.”
- Monty Hammontree, Partner Director of User
Experience Research at Microsoft in the The Future
of UX Research
31

THANKS!
Any questions?
You can ?nd me at:
@shrutkirti on
shrutkirti92@gmail.com
32

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