Awkward Silences

Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and Carol Guest, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews. Take this survey and let us know what topics you want to hear next! userinterviews.com/awkwardsurvey

#164 - UX Lessons from a Decade Researching AI with Jess Holbrook of Microsoft
Apr 9, 2025 – 49:29
#163 - Creating Mindful Product Experiences with Jay Vidyarthi of Still Ape
Mar 26, 2025 – 48:46
#162 - Empowering PwDR Using Research Education with Daniel Gottlieb of Microsoft
Mar 12, 2025 – 48:37
#161 - Learn More Faster About Customers with Michael Margolis of GV
Feb 26, 2025 – 51:09
#160 - Where Design Thinking Went Wrong with Brett Krajewski of Accelerant Research
Feb 12, 2025 – 44:12
#159 - Building Cross-Functional Research Impact with Judy Xu of Salesforce
Jan 29, 2025 – 33:31
#158 - Leading Design as a Researcher with Emily Wurgler of McDonald's
Jan 15, 2025 – 44:17
#157 - The Future of Design Collaboration with Andrew Hogan of Figma
Jan 2, 2025 – 41:09
#156 - Change Management with Graham Gardner of U.S. Bank
Dec 18, 2024 – 35:44
#155 - Exploratory Design Research with Will Notini of IDEO
Dec 11, 2024 – 40:17
#154 - Building the UX Team of Tomorrow with Brad Orego of Webflow
Dec 4, 2024 – 45:05
#153 - Security-Minded UX with Caroline Morchio of Dashlane
Jul 23, 2024 – 33:55
#152 - The Future of Research in Three Trends with Jo Widawski of Maze
Jul 9, 2024 – 43:05
#151 - Improving Your UX Research Efficiency with Auzita Irani of AirBnB
Jun 25, 2024 – 54:47
#150 - The Future of UX Research with Judd Antin, Dave Hora, and Christiana Lackner
Jun 11, 2024 – 50:38
#149 - Research Tactics for Designers & PMs with Tyler Wanlass of CommandBar
Jun 4, 2024 – 51:26
#148 - Connecting Research to Revenue with Claudia Natasia of Riley AI
May 14, 2024 – 51:25
#147 - UX Research in Healthcare with Nadyne Richmond
Apr 30, 2024 – 47:19
#146 - Building a UX Research Team From Scratch with Julian Della Mattia of the180
Apr 16, 2024 – 49:10
#145 - Kick-Start Creativity Using Desk Research with Victoria Sakal of Wonder
Apr 1, 2024 – 39:42
#144 - The Craft of Sample Sizes with Lauren Stern of WHOOP
Mar 25, 2024 – 46:46
#143 - Harnessing AI For Better Insights with George Whitfield of MIT and FindOurView
Mar 18, 2024 – 40:40
#142 - Quantifying Research Impact with Ruby Pryor of Rex
Mar 4, 2024 – 47:44
#141 - The Chaos Theory of Event Networking with Bryan Dosono of eBay
Feb 21, 2024 – 41:10
#140 - Should You Leave Academia? Advice for Researchers with Joe Stubenrauch
Nov 30, 2023 – 47:00
#139 - Content Design and the Power of Simple Language with Erica Jorgensen
Nov 8, 2023 – 43:56
#138 - Designers as Change Agents with Maria Giudice
Oct 18, 2023 – 43:26
#137 - Practical Strategies to Foster Customer Obsession with Prayag Narula, CEO and Co-Founder of Marvin
Sep 27, 2023 – 41:23
#136 - Designing Generative AI at Notion with Linus Lee
Sep 19, 2023 – 45:29
#135 - How to Influence Stakeholders with Strategic Research with Andrea Amorós, Associate Principal Researcher at ADP
Aug 30, 2023 – 45:26
#134 - The End of an Era: A Fond Farewell to JH
Aug 23, 2023 – 22:53
#133 - Driving Actionable Decisions from Insights with Pejman Mirza-Babaei, UX Research Consultant
Aug 16, 2023 – 47:35
#132 - Unveiling UX Insights with Competitive Research with Rachel Miles, Research Lead at IBM
Aug 2, 2023 – 41:55
#131 - Designing Beyond the Product: Systems Thinking with Sheryl Cababa, Chief Strategy Officer at Substantial
Jul 19, 2023 – 48:24
#130 - The Art of Great Facilitation for Better Collaboration with Marsha Acker, Founder and CEO of TeamCatapult
Jul 5, 2023 – 51:55
#129 - How to Upskill Product Teams in UX Research with Helen Devine, UX Research Manager at The Economist
Jun 21, 2023 – 43:46
#128 - The Value of “Scrappy” Research with Varun Murugesan, Co-Founder of Apple and Banana
Jun 7, 2023 – 40:28
#127 - The Power of Failure with Kevin Kelly, Publisher and Founding Editor of Wired
May 24, 2023 – 45:22
#126 - AI Anxiety: The Dangers (and Opportunities) of AI in Research with Mike Adams of Grain
May 10, 2023 – 39:49
#125 - What is UX Business Coaching? with Sylvana Rochet of Elan Vital Coaching
Apr 26, 2023 – 42:40
#124 - Defining a Research Strategy with Devin Harold of Capital One
Apr 19, 2023 – 55:58
#123 - The Power of Atomic Research with Daniel Pidcock of Glean.ly
Apr 12, 2023 – 43:36
#122- Exploring UX Research Career Options with Marieke McCloskey of LinkedIn
Mar 29, 2023 – 42:51
#121 - The UX files: Top Moments from YouX 2023
Mar 22, 2023 – 35:06
#120- Building a Healthy Research Culture with Mike Oren of Klaviyo
Mar 15, 2023 – 41:20
#119 - It’s Not Research, It’s You! with Holly Hester-Reilly of H2R Product Science
Mar 8, 2023 – 53:34
#118- The Product Launch Playbook with Derek Osgood
Mar 1, 2023 – 46:47
#117 - Understanding Growth Research with Carlos Tellez of Nubank
Feb 15, 2023 – 41:24
#116 - Emerging Trends in UX and CX with Alfonso de la Nuez and Dana Bishop of UserZoom
Feb 1, 2023 – 40:47
#115 - Optimizing In-Product Research with Ryan Glasgow of Sprig
Jan 18, 2023 – 32:47

Recent Reviews

ganjayogi

Net Promoter Score = 11 out of 10

Really though, I talk to people about things I’ve heard on this podcast. I’m new to podcasts and to UX but I’ve been listening regularly on my daily commute. This podcast is full of relevant, interesting, and useful information about UX research and has helped me feel more confident moving into the UX field. They do their research and keep it fun. Looking forward to more!
Scuba Steve1911

Awesome Podcast

Informative and fun! Cool guests and awesome hosts! Best UX podcast out there
lambcaster

best UX research podcast

The most engaging UX research podcast out there.
Meh10273

Amazing UX research podcast

This is an amazing UX research podcast. Love the hosts and their ability to really engage with some of the best and brightest in the field. Good job y’all. 👍
takeawalk3

Learn from UXR leaders

My favorite thing about Awkward Silences is guests aren’t just user researchers from big name, established tech companies. People also do user research at small companies, brand new companies, in academia, in teams of 1, as part of their role vs. a dedicated UXR role. Most of us probably fall in this realm! It’s refreshing to learn from a diverse set of guests that well represent the user research space. Such a well done podcast—give it a listen!
Awkward PM

Listen and Learn

Love this podcast! The hosts are super relatable and I learn a lot every time I listen without feeling preached to! 🙌🏾
Poacht

Best UXR podcast out there

Awesome guests and thoughtful hosts allow this podcast to be required listening for anyone trying to learn more about user research
Nabs728

Informative content, engaging hosts

Great podcast if you’re interested in UX. Content is relevant and the hosts are delightful.
Lukef21

Great user research podcast!

Very insightful, episode after episode. High quality guests and interviewing are a strong combo!
_maria_88

A joy to listen to

Awkward Silences provides an interesting blend of different topics and has excellent hosts; JH and Erin ask perceptive questions that bring the discussion to a new level.
crow.cakes

Fun, human, educational

Strikes a great balance between big topics, tactical advice, and lively conversation. It’s not too academic, but it’s not fluff either. I’m a beginner to user research, but I think even experienced researchers would enjoy this and take away something new and useful from each episode. Plus, it’s enjoyable. The conversation feels like chatting over coffee with a UX mentors.
goodontheears

Love it!

I haven’t found a better UX Research podcast out there. Great guests and engaging conversation. Highly recommend!
psfky

Awesome intro to user research

Really great mixture of in-depth advice, concrete lessons to apply IRL, and personal touches that make you feel like you're joining a real conversation 🙂. Must-listen for anyone interested in user research and UX.
emhnyc

Best ux research podcast

Great guests, topics, and hosts. A+
smeshram

Best UX research podcast

Absolutely love everything about User Interviews and their podcast. Keep up the good work guys!
jtrem1480

Great user research podcast

Awesome user research interviews from people out on the front lines and researchers. Most content out there on research is either too academic, or tactical. This ties together real stories from real people out there actually doing the work, and the things they have struggled with and learned.
Atgehrhardt

Awesome UXR podcast 👍

I just started listening to this podcast and it’s fantastic! The interviews are lively and interesting, tons of great stuff here for people learning about UX and UXR.