How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers

4.8 (13)

2 Weeks

Cohort-based Course

Advance your career and drive strategic impact by tapping into the participants no one talks about, your cross-functional partners.

How to Uplevel Stakeholder Management for User Researchers

4.8 (13)

2 Weeks

Cohort-based Course

Advance your career and drive strategic impact by tapping into the participants no one talks about, your cross-functional partners.

Hosted by

Amanda Gelb and Anna Avrekh

UXR leaders with 35 years of combined experience at Google, Meta, & Lyft.

Amanda Gelb and Anna Avrekh

UXR leaders with 35 years of combined experience at Google, Meta, & Lyft.

Course overview

Research Smarter, Not Harder: Become a real partner and get your research heard

Here's the thing, your research doesn’t matter if your stakeholders are skeptical.

Sure they hired you to conduct research, but that doesn't mean they're bought in.

Do you find yourself stuck in a loop of canceled stakeholder meetings and disregarded research? Are you constantly running from one stakeholder request to "run a survey” to another?

We've heard it all. So many people come to us frustrated, asking for help because yet again they...

... did user research that went nowhere

... fulfilled stakeholder’s asks only to be told “that’s not helpful”

... lack a seat at the decision-making table

And that's where we come in!

We believe that choosing the right method to answer stakeholder questions is what makes for impact and success, but it’s really about learning your stakeholders and their concerns that gets you there.

This is not something that gets taught in boot camps or most UXR master programs.

This course aims to empower you with the tools you need to lead your stakeholders along the journey of discovery and obtain buy-in, position yourself like an expert, push back with confidence, and “sell” a new approach.

We'll help you:

* treat your stakeholders like research participants

* cut through the research request noise

* obtain buy-in from the start

* use your precious time well

* make sure your stakeholders take your fabulous research and actually use it

* position yourself as a trusted partner and expert with key decision makers

We'll do this with:

* an immediately actionable and applicable template for success

* stories of our own experiences and learnings

* a toolbox of our favorite tricks and tips

* engaging roleplaying and put-it-into-practice activities

Who is this course for

Junior and mid-career user researchers who want to accelerate their career with stellar stakeholder management skills

Researchers looking to move from being a ticket-taker to becoming a trusted partner for your design, PM, and Eng stakeholders

Researchers who struggle with being stuck in an endless loop of low-impact prototype evaluation research

Junior and mid-career user researchers who want to accelerate their career with stellar stakeholder management skills

Researchers looking to move from being a ticket-taker to becoming a trusted partner for your design, PM, and Eng stakeholders

Researchers who struggle with being stuck in an endless loop of low-impact prototype evaluation research

Current or past academic researchers who want to succeed in the industry

What you’ll get out of this course

Framework for zeroing in on the most impactful research you can do now

How to distinguish which research requests truly have the time commitment and support behind them, so you can do your best work and not run after stakeholders.

Push back on unreasonable requests with confidence

How to say a nuanced yes to incoming research requests so you can focus on the research that matters. You’ll leave with a script and actionable set of questions to speak up and the confidence to do so respectfully.

Get to the bottom of each stakeholder request

Never execute irrelevant research again. You will learn to treat your stakeholders like research participants with a set of actionable questions you can use anytime.

Become a true partner to your stakeholders

Learn how to move from a ticket-taker to a true collaborator

This course includes

8 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

18 in-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

3 projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

Sep 17—Sep 22

Sep

Session 1: Laying the groundwork for success

Tue 9/174:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Sep

(Optional) Office Hours #1

Wed 9/184:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Sep

Session 2: Your stakeholders, unpacked

Thu 9/194:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Sep

(Optional) Office Hours #2

Fri 9/204:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Fantastic questions and where to find them

6 items

The journey of a successful research project & critical failure points

1 item

Research Intake Process

3 items

Stakeholders' deep dive: motivations, behaviors, and how-tos for researchers

1 item

Moderation principes for stakeholder interviews

1 item

Influence without Authority

2 items

Week 2

Sep 23—Sep 27

Sep

Session 3: Mindsets and methods to win

Tue 9/244:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Sep

(Optional) Office Hours #3

Wed 9/254:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Sep

Session 4: Putting it all together

Thu 9/264:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Sep

(Optional) Office Hours #4

Fri 9/274:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)

Optional

Combating UXR negative image

0 items

Common mistakes with pushback and how to avoid them

4 items

AGR framework: acknowledge, get curios, reassure

2 items

Bonus

A "cheat sheet" with our favorite questions for common scenarios.

1 item

4.8 (13 ratings)

What students are saying

Meet your instructor

Amanda Gelb

Principal Researcher

Amanda is a seasoned UX researcher and manager with a robust background at leading tech companies including Asana, Lyft, HUGE, and Google.

She's most passionate about empowering clients through artful research and strategic inquiry, while using data as a north star for decision-making, and often speaks internationally about her process and the products she’s helped bring into the world.

Perhaps the best part of her job is creating bespoke trainings and workshops for teams of all levels and adjuncting at NYU. Above all else, Amanda sees herself as an experiential educator who makes learning engaging, practical, and memorable.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Amanda is a devoted experimenter and maker- prototyping designs from the laser cutter in her NYC bedroom, testing and tasting new cookie recipes, and running after her greatest creations, 3 little kids.

Anna Avrekh

Senior UX Research Manager

Anna is a UX Research leader with 20 years of experience in the field, currently a Senior User Research Manager at Zillow. In addition to working as a hands-on researcher at Google for over 10 years, Anna has build, grew and led diverse UXR teams at Betterment, Compass, and Meta.

Anna has a deep passion for mentoring and coaching and has been teaching a User Research class as an adjunct professor for the Cornell Tech Studio master program for the last three years. Anna is also an active mentor with Tech Stars accelerator, advising start-up founders on user needs discovery.

Anna's goal is to help researchers at any level realize their full potential, especially when it comes to skills rarely taught in HCI programs: stakeholder management, storytelling, and growing and developing their influence within the organization. Anna believes that above and beyond methods and interview facilitation, knowing how to ask the right questions, especially at the beginning of a research project is the key to unlocking full potential of user research.

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