North Star
Originally posted at VZC Research on July 8, 2019.
There is a Filipino saying that has guided me throughout my life. It was one of the first historical quotations I learned to say in Tagalog. It is the first phrase in the Acknowledgements section of my dissertation. It was penned by Jose Rizal, a Filipino national hero, and it goes like this: Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan. In English, it goes: He who does not know how to look back at where he came from will never get to his destination. It serves as a reminder to take stock of where we have been in order to have a sense of direction.
This seems to be a universal truth, as many cultures have similar words of wisdom. This truth is even pertinent to UX research. The way Mayank communicates this to our team is by continually asking us to follow our North Star. If you know Mayank, you know that he is constantly anticipating what will come next. One of the first conversations I ever had with Mayank was about the UX vision that Verizon Connect had, and the possibilities of what a research team could do here. He asked me what fueled me as a researcher and how I thought that could translate into great experiences for our users, and success for the business. He then laid out realistic expectations about getting there, sharing his own experiences to illustrate his points. Watching Mayank talk about his North Star is what ultimately convinced me to join, and eventually help lead, our Atlanta-based research team.
Mayank also takes this future-thinking approach with research, which has influenced and inspired our team. The bulk of our work is to find answers to product-focused, customer-centric, tactical research questions. But, as curious and proactive researchers, we still keep a keen eye on exploratory research that can help us prepare for the future. For example, our cross-functional teams have important questions about what our customers need from location services. As we observe those customers and listen to their needs, our team also wonders about how these needs might change with emerging technologies (like 5G or electric vehicles) and economies (like gig driving). Leveraging research teams that not only seek to solve today’s problems but also anticipate tomorrow’s problems translates into better user experiences for our customers, current and future.
A North Star is like a guiding light. My grandmother’s guiding light was actually Guiding Light.
(Photo credit: PayScale)
North Star plans are so deeply ingrained in our team because it is part of what our Experience Team head, Donal O’Mahony, built into our Verizon Connect UX culture. In episode 2 of the Leadership in Technology podcast, Donal speaks about his professional history in UX, as well as what it takes to advocate for UX as a key voice in product development.
Based on this foresight, Donal has built a team that has proven invaluable to the business. In fact, UX research and design functions are key differentiators that set Verizon Connect apart from our competitors. Donal continues to challenge businesses to promote UX functions, not despite problem space complexity, but because of that complexity. He continues to encourage UX researchers and designers to think about 5-month, 5-year, and even 15-year plans that help us take advantage of opportunities that come our way. Importantly, he inspires us all to “dream where you want to go […] and wait for industry to catch up”.
Jared Spool highlights how important it is for industry to do just that. He recently wrote that we need more UX managers to “identify where design and research can be most valuable, and feed that into how their direct reports position the team’s work”. Sparked by Mayank, Donal, and the great Jared Spool, I looked back in order to plan for what’s ahead, checking in with my own North Star.
Peter Pan doesn’t always have the greatest advice, but this tidbit is pretty good.
Our team’s primary objective always has been and always will be to support our cross-functional teams with focused and in-depth product research. We will also continue to advocate for Verizon Connect’s continued investment in UX, especially in expanding our research teams to include new and innovative minds and methods.
But, as a curious and proactive research manager leading a team of curious and proactive researchers, I also see incredible value in carving out some space for exploratory, top-of-the-funnel research. If North Stars are meant to help us better prepare for tomorrow, we should look at what tomorrow is shaping up to be. At Verizon Connect, this means developing research functions that eventually span the entire research funnel, providing rich user context for our teams as they start to create solutions.
So, what is your North Star? What is guiding your path? If you’re lucky like I am, you’ve got a leadership team that is open to discussion about how to move in that direction, and you’ve got a team behind you that is excited for endless possibilities!