Industry Experience

My first industry experience was my role as the first Quantitative UX Researcher for Verizon Connect based in Atlanta, GA. I was hired to establish research best practices, and to examine how we could implement psychometrics and inferential statistics to help create UX and Product surveying functions.

I’ve come a long way since! Over the past 7 years, I took on more projects and roles, and I further widened my scope by expanding into a B2B portfolio.

My work has included SaaS and hardware UX research that generally supports 2 major product lines: Hum and Reveal.

Read on to learn more about the key projects that I have worked on during my time at Verizon Connect!

Key Strategic Research

Choose a project below to learn more about the key strategic research that I have led, and the powerful impacts that they have had on how I approach work today!

Team Management

Curious about what our Verizon Connect UX Research team actually looks like? Well, we’re part of the broader Experience Team, which consists of UX designers, service designers, industrial designers, UX content writers, and, of course, UX Researchers.

Our UX Research Team is now 17 people strong! We come from all sorts of different educational and professional spheres; we’re made up of psychologists, human-computer interaction designers, philosophy and literature scholars, retail specialists, and more! We work closely with our Product-Engineering-User Experience cross-functional teams (CFTs).

Our structure has evolved over the years, but we currently operate in 3 branches!

Rapid Research

Our Rapid Research team was designed to take on projects that are smaller in scope but still important to our Product roadmaps. Projects that fall under this category can include design validation, quick feedback on iterations, or follow-ups from past studies. Rapid Researchers work with anyone throughout the business; they often need to be versatile and flexible in order to quickly get context on a project, and to execute and deliver on research within 2 weeks. Projects come into the team through a ticketing system. Anyone in the company can request Rapid Research, and we’ve collaborated with teams all across Verizon Connect! (Check out Rapid Research manager Alexa Carleo’s page on the process for more details!)

Embedded Research

Our Embedded Researchers are assigned to specific CFTs in our Product R&D group. Embedded UX Research managers strategize with UX design leads, Product leads, and Engineering leads to create and manage research roadmaps. UX Research individual contributors then take on projects on those roadmaps. Projects can include product-market fit research, prototype and concept testing, and high-level survey work. These researchers may be embedded in their respective teams, but our centrality as a UX Research team helps us share insights across lines of work, thus helping us develop more holistic viewpoints towards our insights. Special thanks to Colin Gallagher, Colin Smith, Stephen Doerfler, and Alexa Carleo for their hard work as UX Research managers of this team!

ReseachOps

Our Research Operations team, or ResearchOps, focuses on establishing, streamlining, and optimizing our UX Research processes. These certainly include things like recruitment, incentives for participation, budget for research tools, and management of our research hub. But they also include ways to manage and track team templates, workshops, goals, and impact. We’re also evolving new areas for our ReseachOps team to grow, like our UX Research Communications! Read more about the team on Alexa Carleo’s page, and learn more about our fantastic teammates by checking out these links: Alexa Carleo, Iris Barrera, Kelcey Little, and Ariel Cole!

#TeamTuesdays:
Helping UX Research Shine

I’ve described my general managerial style on my Intro page, but I’ve also wanted to share a bit more about the lessons that I’m learning in my current role of Associate Director of UX Research.

Enter: #TeamTuesdays!

#TeamTuesdays is a collection of posts that I’ve been writing on LinkedIn. I’m processing a lot of information in my role (e.g., the challenges I’ve experienced, the wins I’ve gotten to share with my team, and the questions that we have as we look forward). One way that I process information is through writing. Not only has this helped me share my team’s stories and experiences — it has also helped me reflect on how I am guiding our UX Research function as a whole.

Here are some key articles to start!

📝 How Past Professional Experiences Led Us to UX

In this article, I share how members of our team found their way to UX. Getting to learn more about our team’s personal stories always gives me an appreciation for how we all found this incredible field of work!

📚 Managing an Evolving UX Research Team

In this multi-article series, I share some thoughts on our team’s growth over the past few years. We discuss things like models of UX Research Maturity, the factors that help us increase our impact, and how to hold space for teammates as they process their own journey. The series is divided into 5 parts, which are themes in my observations of what has been successful in promoting and leading a UX Research team. Start with Part 1: Establishing a Presence!

📚 Attracting and Managing Top Talent

This is a really fun series that I’ve gotten to share! This one was prompted by a Verizon-wide strategy to discuss creative projects related to talent acquisition. In this series, I share the stories of 3 of our teammates. We talk about their backgrounds, what drew them to Verizon, and what keeps them at Verizon. It has helped me think a lot about how to build truly diverse teams based on gaps, skill, good fit, positivity, and inspiration. Start with Part 1: Attracting Top Talent!

My goal for 2024 is to post regularly, to share my thoughts and observations more often, and to try to join and inspire conversation about UX Research and leadership. Please join me!! Subscribe to the hashtag on LinkedIn to check us out every Tuesday!

Career Development

Throughout my career, I have had wonderful opportunities to learn from incredible leaders. Here are some examples of initiatives that I have been lucky to be a part of!

Women of the World:
Inclusivity and Representation

I was so honored to be selected to participate in the Verizon Women of the World (WOW) program for the 2019-2020 cycle. This initiative gave us the opportunity to come together and focus on our development as employees, our career goals as leaders, and most importantly, our paths forward in life. I was truly moved by the speaker series, workshops, and activities that we participated in. I have taken so many of my learnings from the WOW experience and implemented them in my own leadership style, from how I shape my 1:1s with teams, to how I tackle challenges that come up in our UX Research planning and execution. I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to connect with fellow V Teamers!

TalentWorks - Updating in 2024!

I’m always looking for ways to improve and grow.

My Dream Project

In one of my first meetings at the Hum offices, my manager at the time, Mayank Sharma, asked me what my dream project would be.

I told him that my ultimate dream is to establish and run a Strategic Research Lab.

My lab would sit outside of the traditional organizations that have owned UX Research functions (e.g., Product, R&D, Marketing, CX, etc.) and instead be comprised of all research teams, including Marketing, CX, and business analytics.

Researchers would still inform R&D teams, partnering closely and maybe even dotted-lining into those cross-functional teams, thus enabling work with UX designers, Product managers, and Engineering experts daily. But ultimately, having a centralized Strategic Research Lab would be uniquely poised to ensure that we optimize our operations and provide holistic research reports that triangulate data across functions.

There are lots of interesting cases for fully embedded research and de-centralized UX Research resources. But I think there is a strong case for this Strategic Research Lab idea from an innovation perspective; having researchers focused on exploring those future areas of growth can help keep a business stay forward-thinking. For this reason, countless UX Research maturity models showcase that strategically mature teams that have a centralized, well-identified and resourced UX Research team.

I’m still a long way away from this dream, but I’ve seen glimmers of how this can work extremely well, particularly during my time at Verizon Connect! I’m excited to see what new challenges and chapters await me, and I’ll keep documenting my thoughts and experiences as I forge ahead!

Summary

These tidbits are just a little taste of the work I aspire to continue throughout my UX Research career. Read more about my thoughts on UX Research, team management, and career development on my LinkedIn, on our collaborative UX Researchers Medium page, and on my UX blog! Reach out if you’re like-minded and would love to chat about all things UX Research!