I already have a UX Designer on the team, isn’t that enough?

A UX designer is a vital and necessary component of an Agile product delivery team. I see job postings for a UX Generalist, Specialist, or Strategist where the job description includes research, design, and coding.

I would rather work on a diverse multidisciplinary team with a rockstar designer, ninja developer, and a badass scrum master than a team of unicorns and purple squirrels. Asking a single person to be all things to a product team creates an environment for burnout.

You’ll be able to attract great talent, but they will leave for greener pastures. There is an ebb and flow to product design work that allows each team member to get some much needed downtime without becoming bored. The skills that each member brings to the team are vital to create a high functioning environment. UX researchers bring a specific skill set that includes:

• Designing, executing, analyzing both qualitative and quantitative research
• Translating the research results into actionable design requirements
• Communicating the results to stakeholders
• Identifying and removing bias when soliciting user feedback
• Picking up on the user’s emotions
• Knowing when to dig in and ask why to discover more context
• Phrasing questions to be open-ended

The results of UX research informs design and explains the impact of the designs on the user. Having a dedicated UX research resource on the team affords the rest of the team the ability to focus on their primary role.