In this Insights Unlocked episode, Teresa Torres — author of Continuous Discovery Habits, which has now sold more than 100,000 copies — talks about the importance of customer input earlier in the product development lifecycle to better dial in product market fit and reduce wasted costs.

Teresa has coached hundreds of teams at companies of all sizes, from early-stage startups to global enterprises, in a variety of industries. She has taught more than 11,000 product people discovery skills through the Product Talk Academy and her coaching practice.

In this episode of UserTesting’s Insights Unlocked podcast, Andy MacMillan talks with Pablo Stanley about AI’s impact on design.

Pablo is the founder or co-founder of several design brands, most recently Bueno and the Musho AI plugin for Figma. Previously he was a lead designer at InVision, as well as a staff designer at Lyft and Udemy. He teaches art and design on his YouTube channel Sketch Together, as well as supports the Latinx community through his projects Latinx Who Design and Dreamer Stories.

“I am a techno-optimist,” Pablo said. “I believe in the potential of these tools to enhance our lives in general and, specifically, that of creative individuals, assisting them in taking their creations to a different level.”

The pace of the change is happening quickly, he said, and some people may get caught in that disruption, including on the creative side, and get left behind.

“It would be naive not to see the challenges this brings,” Pablo said. “The pace of the AI evolution is making traditional systems and industries slow to adapt, sometimes causing an existential crisis. So, there's going to be a transition period where a lot of people will be affected by this shift.

In this bonus episode, we look back to our conversation from Season 6, Episode 53 with Monal Chokshi, Head of Research & Insights at Dropbox. 

In this clip, Monal shares tips for anyone looking to build a research team from the ground up at a company, as well as tips for next leveling a research team that already exists. She also explains how she created an internal Insights Council to help inform and influence business decisions.

Enjoy the episode.

In this bonus episode, we look back to our conversation in Episode 87 with Ari Zelmanow and UserTesting’s Michelle Huff. Ari is a former police detective turned UX researcher and now leads User Experience Research at Twilio. 

In this clip, Ari explains why he thinks we need to reinvent UX researchers role within organizations to be less of a service provider and more of a consultant providing strategic advice.  

Enjoy the episode.

Welcome back to Insights Unlocked. Our next season kicks off in a few weeks with some incredible guests such as Judd Antin, Jennifer Romano, Teresa Torres, and Pablo Stanley among others. 

In this episode, we look back to our conversation in Episode 17 with Christian Idiodi, Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group. We ask him about how teams and individuals should think about innovation within their organizations. 

Enjoy the episode.

Welcome back to Insights Unlocked and a very happy holidays to everyone.

For many people, the holiday season is a time for taking a break from work as we visit friends and loved ones and otherwise recharge our batteries. 

In this short encore episode, we listen to the conversation UserTesting's CEO Andy MacMillan had with Sarah Doody from Career Strategy Lab about making ourselves recession proof. One recommendation they had was investing time at least once a year in updating your LinkedIn profile, resume or CV. 

Seems like these slow days between the holidays are a perfect opportunity to track your accomplishments over the past year, update your LinkedIn profile, and make a plan for the new year. 

Enjoy the show. 

In this episode, UserTesting’s Lija Hogan talks with Leeyat Tessler, Senior User Experience Researcher at Capital One's Innovation Lab. Leeyat provides an inside look into the Lab's purpose-built space, where groundbreaking digital products are born. From initial research to the Wizard of Oz testing, they explore the intricacies of UX research and digital product design.

In this Insights Unlocked episode, we talked with Siena Hickey from Sanzo Strategy Group about why startup founders should lean into talking with their customers more, and what the risks are if they don’t. Siena has consulted brands across America, Europe, Asia, and Africa on the nuances of product market fit.

Customer feedback allows you to identify and remedy small problems before they have the chance to become critical issues down the line.

“People hear that word feedback and they often assume that it’s inherently negative,” Siena said. “Customer feedback is the way to decide how your business moves forward, and it does take a different type of vulnerability to open up your hard work to the people that you want to like it the most.”

In this week’s Insights Unlocked, Alex Mullans, product lead at Figma, provides insightful perspectives and strategies for maintaining human connections in remote design teams during his conversation with Liz Miller, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research.