Lindsey Latiolais

Lindsey will talk to anyone about anything at any time, which served her well in her decade-plus in UX research. She worked as a researcher with 6 different companies, from a giant multinational consultancy with offices worldwide to a tiny real-estate post-startup based out of Chicago. She recently transitioned to a product management role to have an impact on decision-making earlier in the process.

When not hanging out at her home in Bend, OR, Lindsey can be found at the local dog park with her 2 rescue pups, cosplaying at a fan convention, or scuba diving somewhere tropical. Though she doesn’t post much, feel free to reach out to her @coydahlia on Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, or Discord if you want to chat.

Presentations

Tent Talks

Lindsey talks UX Research on November 21, 2022.

UX Camp Fall 2020

Educating User Researchers: Using UX Skills to Design a Research Training Program

Many people hoping to break into the field of user research don’t even know what skills are necessary to do the job and are missing fundamental concepts. They have to invest additional time and sometimes resources into gaining more skills, in addition to what they’ve already put into learning design skills they won’t use, and they have to rely on volunteer-mentors or companies to create apprenticeship training programs that vary wildly.

Some UX training programs for combine user research and UX design capabilities. This contributes to two problems: people aren’t appropriately trained in what they’ll truly need to do the work and to get a job in the field, and UX research isn’t respected as a discipline requiring specialized skills and knowledge. Training programs that focus on user research will give people the confidence to advocate for themselves and their expertise and, hopefully, encourage companies to recognize that not just anyone can whip out a survey or a usability test script and get back accurate, actionable insights that drive a better product.