Captain Taggart: But you know Billy, he wouldn't let it go, ended up pissing of a lot of people off

Axel Foley: Well that comes with the job if you're doing it right

Source: Beverley Hills Cop 4: Axel F @ 100 minute mark

Seeing the world as it is means that UXers, specifically researchers, have a relatively unique perspective on the world. This means saying and presenting things that the team may not want to hear. This does not make us popular.

When you learn things that are unexpected or new, we explicitly don't cherrypick the convenient bits. The difference between a good PM and a bad PM from a researcher's perspective is how they consume the insight provided. When they cherrypick, it's amateur hour. When they consider all insight, they're competent professionals. Straightforward stuff.

Too many UXers are the messengers being shot. We're the ones on the battle front, we're the ones interacting with users, we're the ones raising the good, valid, reliable insight. If we bring something to your attention that is not palatable or wanted, there's little point getting frustrated with the user researcher - they're merely presenting the insight.

Research is a skill. You can't just learn it overnight and not just anyone can do it. The people telling you this have limited or no practitioner experience. They're telling you what you want to hear, not what will deliver the outcomes you need.

Your researcher is not there to do your bidding - we are not your minion. We are insight generators and user champions. When we challenge the orders that you've given us because it won't deliver the outcomes, listen. We know more about raising insight than you do. A decent PM listens to their specialists. A dangerous PM thinks they know everything.

We aren't being difficult, we just want to achieve the desired outcomes, without having to negotiate or debate the way forward with non-researchers. Of course there is planning and teamwork, but strategically, it makes more sense to listen to the researcher than make it up as you go....because....

....outcomes not optics or output.... 💥