I am trying to explain the things that I knew, but that I didn’t know how to explain.
Leading UX research, I found myself in a position where a lot of people, and specifically, a lot of UX researchers, find themselves. I struggled to make time for the deep thinking work that organizes the everyday work.
Here is that same uncomfortable position as described in a piece by the Research Ops Community:
“As with many aspects of research operations, researchers are trying to implement solutions in their spare time, off the side of their desk in service of operationalizing their research. They tend to do this in a way that does not adequately provide for the time, funding, skills or knowledge that allows them to easily succeed.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if this description resonates with some of my readers, too, whatever work you do.
Regrettably, I think we’re not alone, given the existence of a New York Times guest essay called, “It’s Time to Stop Living the American Scam.” Reading the title alone feels cathartic.
(Which is nice, since I haven’t taken the time to read the piece yet. Ha.)
A couple days ago, I listened to a conversation between adrienne maree brown and Krista Tippett on the podcast On Being. In it, the scholar and the interviewer talk about many things, including brown’s thoughts on how mushrooms inspire her to be intentional in what she chooses to continue and what she chooses to stop, and how one flows into the other.
Mushrooms know “that nothing needs to be wasted… [W]hen something is done, it’s complete,” brown tells Tippett, “and it needs to be processed back into the whole.”
brown and Tippett have a conversation that is not easily captured in a quotation, but that resonated with what I'm trying to do for both for myself and for you, my readers, with the essays I write for this newsletter.
My UX research work is done. I’m not responsible for those teams any more, at least not in a capacity as an employee. But I’m not done processing. There were things I knew but couldn’t explain, and maybe now, if I am patient and I keep going, I can compost them into something that will bring nutrients to someone else.
Mentioned in this issue: “Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work” by Brigette Metzler, Bri Norton, Dana Chrisfield and Mark McElhaw on behalf of the Research Repositories Program Team; It’s Time to Stop Living the American Scam by Tim Kreider for The New York Times; and “adrienne maree brown—‘We are in a time of new suns’” on the On Being podcast with Krista Tippett.