The UX research reckoning is here | Judd Antin (Airbnb, Meta)

Judd Antin has spent 15 years leading research and design teams at companies like Yahoo, Meta, and Airbnb. His direct reports have gone on to lead user research at Figma, Notion, Slack, Robinhood, Duolingo, AllTrails, and more. In our conversation, we unpack the transformation that the user-research field is experiencing. Specifically:• Where user research went wrong over the past decade• The three types of research—macro, middle-range, and micro—and the purpose of each• How to effectively integrate researchers into the product development process• The “user-centered performance” phenomenon and why it’s a waste of time• Common tropes about PMs, from researchers• The ideal ratio of researchers in a company• Why Judd says NPS is useless, and what to use instead—Brought to you by Teal—Your personal career growth platform | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Ahrefs—Improve your website’s SEO for free—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ux-research-reckoning-is-here—Where to find Judd Antin:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juddantin/• Website: https://juddantin.com/• Blog: https://medium.com/onebigthought—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Judd’s background(04:16) Critiques and responses to Judd’s post “The UX Research Reckoning Is Here”(07:33) The state of user research(08:53) Macro, middle-range, and micro research(14:05) What teams get wrong when it comes to research(15:46) The importance of integrating research from the beginning(17:30) Traits of great researchers(19:53) Advice for evaluating user researchers(21:10) Balancing business and product focus(23:55) User-centered performance(26:42) The role of intuition in product development(30:15) Checking your gut instincts(32:54) Common tropes about PMs, from researchers(41:02) A/B testing vs. user research(43:15) Hind