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🗞 Futures for UX Research

Positioning User Research in ChatGPT | Make Meaning out of Data | Reporting Without Control | 48-Hour UX Research | Should You Stay IC or Go Lead?

Jan Ahrend
Jan Ahrend
2 min read
UX research is shifting fast. AI changes where to focus your effort, nudging you from gathering data to driving real impact. That means sharpening strategic skills and working smarter with tools like ChatGPT to keep insights clear and useful. Whether you’re thinking about stepping into leadership or staying hands-on, you need to know what questions to ask yourself and how to move quickly without losing quality. This week, I’m sharing concrete steps to stay relevant and make your work matter amid these changes.

Happy Researching, Jan 🙌

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📚 Articles of the Week

Futures for UX Research
UX research roles are evolving with AI and democratization, shifting focus from primary research to impact-driven, strategic activities. Adapt skills, embrace adjacent expertise, and explore new industries to stay relevant and create value. James Lang

Should You Stay IC or Go Lead?
Explore the key differences between senior individual contributor and managerial roles in UX, focusing on values, daily work, and identity shifts. Evaluate readiness by assessing enthusiasm for coaching, decision-making comfort, conflict management, and coordination energy. Yao Adantor

Positioning User Research in ChatGPT for Business
Centralize research outputs with clear metadata and insight documents to improve discoverability in ChatGPT. Implement governance, synthesis, and standardized headers to make insights more accessible and impactful across teams. Jake Burghardt

Make Meaning out of Data: Why Human Insight Remains Critical in an AI-Driven World
Explores the irreplaceable value of live user research alongside AI’s pattern-finding capabilities. Prioritize inclusive recruiting, empathetic moderation, and human interpretation of AI data to capture true user insight and trust. AnswerLab Research

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🎥 Video of the Week

48-Hour UX Research: How to move fast without breaking research
Katherine Gardner shares how her team delivers rigorous, high-quality research in just 48 hours using practical methods like the “One-Way Door” approach. Katherine Gardner

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🔉 Audio of the Week

Reporting Without Control
Explores challenges in UX reporting and how lack of control impacts clarity. Implement these steps: prioritize key insights, standardize reporting processes, and ensure stakeholder engagement. Steve Jenks (MeasuringU) & Spotify

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🗓 UserCalendar.com: Upcoming Events.

Data Analysis: SQL for UXRs
June 25 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Carl Pearson will clarify how SQL enables UX researchers to harness valuable data insights and enhance their quantitative analysis skills. Learn more