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The Problem Space

by Janelle Ward

The Problem Space is where we go to learn about our users’ problems so we can design and develop meaningful and profitable solutions to solve these problems. It’s also where we go to learn about our companies, our employees/coworkers, and ourselves, so we can create the best organizational conditions for success.

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Featured Post

Last newsletter of the year

What's on my mind In this final newsletter of the year, I want to reflect a bit on my writing journey and talk about what's to come in 2024. When I announced the weekly newsletter writing challenge in January, I mentioned that someone had told me: Just write! Write weekly, for an entire year, and you’ll find your way. Some newsletters might bomb. Others might resonate. And in the process, you’ll figure out your winning format. How did it turn out? Let's start with the numbers. From late...

5 months ago • 1 min read
An image of a box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

What's on my mind I remember my first UX research interview. I was coming straight from academia and had no on-the-job experience in applied research. The hiring manager told me I needed to show the artifacts that resulted from my research. As a pivoting academic at the time, this sounded very mysterious. What did I create with my research? What was the product that resulted from my insights? I’d never thought about it like that. I had to show the artifacts because the perception, according...

5 months ago • 2 min read
White and black one-way printed road signages

What's on my mind There's a crisis in tech roles - from product to research to design. All of these skills are essential, but how these skills are deployed in an organization - as roles, as parts of roles, and as complimentary with other skills and roles - are all part of a growing conversation. photo by Brendan Church I jumped in with a recent post, written in a moment of reflection on what I've been hearing from coaching clients, people in my network, and seen passing by on LinkedIn: The...

5 months ago • 1 min read
71 Cents in free fall with a black background

What's on my mind It was a cold winter day in early 1999. I stood in an elevator with three undergraduate classmates from my Psych 225 course in Experimental Psychology. We’d already ridden up and down several times, from the Memorial Library entrance to the top floor. We had an odd (and perhaps a bit creepy?) mission: We were waiting for a person to get on the elevator alone. What does the bystander effect, multiple elevator rides and a love of validating theory have in common? Head on over...

6 months ago • 1 min read
People waiting in front of the Carnegie Delicatessen Restaurant.

What's on my mind Oh, those pesky stakeholders that just don't understand what it takes for us to do our work! How can we to make them understand our perspective? Last week on LinkedIn, Rich Mironov posted some of his writing called The Hungry Man Parable. As background, Rich wrote, "I talk with lots of executives from the go-to-market side of the house who think that building serious software is as easy – and easily estimatable – as building a fence." To help them to better understand the...

6 months ago • 2 min read
Two circles, one red and one blue, side by side on a black background

What's on my mind Are research projects an outdated model? Collaboration between product and research is an ongoing discussion, which often centers on the distinction (and the debate) between research as a tool and research as a role. The good news: research as a tool is valued in organizations. The not-so-good news: research as a role is still struggling to find its best manifestation. What can researchers—professionals who have made research their occupation and built their careers around...

6 months ago • 1 min read
A stack of blue blocks ready to topple onto a green grass field

What's on my mind How do you communicate uncertainty? Communicating that you're not sure about something - whether it's an answer to someone's question or the rationale behind making a decision - can be terrifying. We feel compelled to present ourselves as authoritative and highly knowledgeable, because we feel that’s what people expect from us. But isn’t it more harmful to convey total confidence when you don’t actually have it? image by Mihály Köles Or, to look at this from a different...

6 months ago • 2 min read
Black and white robot toy on red wooden bench

What's on my mind Juan Manuel Parrilla, a robotics researcher, recently used ChatGPT to write parts of a grant proposal. His use of ChatGPT cut the workload from three days to three hours. Is this cheating? Or does it highlight what Parrilla sees as a much bigger issue - “What is the point of asking scientists to write documents that can be easily created with AI?” In context: This year, Nature surveyed 1,600 researchers and found that more than 25% use AI to help them write manuscripts and...

7 months ago • 1 min read
The word "intuition" spelled out in Scrabble letters

What's on my mind How do you use your intuition to make decisions? I’m diving into the role intuition plays in decision-making. Coming from a research background, intuition often gets a bad rap. We should be “insights-driven,” or “insights-informed” - trusting one’s gut isn’t evidence-based. photo by Edz Norton on Unsplash We assume using intuition means that: We’re lacking evidence We’re not addressing our biases We’re overconfident in our own abilities We don’t value transparency in...

7 months ago • 2 min read
Firefighters fighting a blaze in the dark

What's on my mind Do you ever feel like your job consists of fighting fires? "Fires" being internally generated crisis orchestrated by leadership, who opt to change direction? Three years ago, I wrote an article called Applying a firefighter model to the UX Research practice. We have our plans meticulously laid out.... Then, Important Stakeholder(s) rush into our (virtual) office...“Drop everything! We need to completely change focus!” In other words, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” Instead of seeing...

7 months ago • 2 min read
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