Research The Researcher S01C06 feat Jyotsna Krishnan
Name and a brief intro about yourself…
My name is Jyotsna, but my whole life I’ve gone by Jo. I’m a UX Researcher that studies users’ interactions with a product, their mental models around the product, and user behavior, among other things.
When I’m not at work, I’m taking free online courses, exploring the city I’m in, cooking new stuff.
Designation/role/title
As a UX Researcher, I work on a range of different products across the engineering team
What you up to? (any interesting work or project you want to talk about)
Too many to talk about here, happy to talk privately
How and Why did you get into User Research?
It was a happy accident.
I studied Applied Psychology and majored in cognitive science for my undergrad, in Singapore. Soon after, I did my Masters in Clinical Psychology in the US. While I enjoyed it, I also loved research. I wanted my research to have an impact faster than it would’ve in academic research. I stumbled on an article about how psychology overlaps with UX.
That was it for me, I was hooked to reading how UX Research has such a huge impact. I took multiple online courses in user research methods and volunteered to do user studies for small organizations. That’s how!
One book recommendation for those who want to get started in User Research (can also be a book which you often refer to)
The design of everyday things by Don Norman.
What skills do you look for when hiring Researchers? (or what skills you think Researchers should have)
Empathy- be an advocate for users’ voice.
As researchers, you help drive the product in the way that users want.
What value does User Research add to Product Design & Development? (if any examples where User Research created an impact, that would be great)
Researchers have the ability to communicate what the users want, evaluate if the product is solving the users’ problems, is it fulfilling users’ goals, is their mental models similar to what we had imagined, to various teams.
That’s a very powerful position to be in.
How is User Research structured at your place of work? (is it that researchers are embedded into products or called for as and when the demand arises)
User research at my work is super embedded into the products. It’s not something we take lightly at all.
How do you grow as a Researcher? (what should Researchers do to stay valuable)
Experiment- with different teams, different products. Don’t be scared to contribute new ideas.
What are the sources of info which you follow to stay updated in the field of User Research (can be people you follow on Medium/LinkedIn/Twitter, Websites, Publications, etc)
I keep myself updated by reading a bunch of articles on Medium and networking with folks on LinkedIn
Thanks, Jyotsna for sharing your insights! Jyotsna is on LinkedIn.
Past conversations —
