Deep Thoughts With Michelle Handy
Deep Thoughts With Michelle Handy
Podcast Description
Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy is where behavioral science, tech, and design converge to inspire personal growth and drive innovation. Join Michelle and her expert guests as they unpack candid stories, share practical insights, and explore cutting-edge strategies to help you thrive personally and professionally. Perfect for mid-to-senior professionals navigating leadership, creativity, and career transitions.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on themes such as personal growth, design thinking, and ethical tech practices, with episodes exploring diverse topics like visual storytelling in research, the importance of discomfort in career transitions, and the ethics surrounding wellness apps. Specific episodes like those featuring Maureen Welton and Dr. Eliane Boucher highlight practical insights around effective communication and accountability in tech products, broadening the understanding of how behavioral science can inform innovative practices.
Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy is where behavioral science, tech, and design converge to inspire personal growth and drive innovation. Join Michelle Handy, Ph.D. and her expert guests as they unpack candid stories, share practical insights, and explore cutting-edge strategies to help you thrive personally and professionally. Perfect for mid-to-senior professionals navigating leadership, creativity, and career transitions.
In this episode, I’m joined by Thomas Stokes, UX research thought leader and co-founder of Drillbit Labs consultancy.
Together, we explore the state of AI adoption in UX research today—from the hype in job postings to the real, uneven use on teams—and how practitioners and leaders can take a more principled, intentional approach.
We also dig into quantifying UX impact (even when metrics are elusive), evolving career paths in a changing market, and practical, mindset-shifting ways researchers can prepare for an uncertain but opportunity-rich future.
Episode Highlights
- Meta-Research on UX Trends: How Thomas and Drillbit Labs analyze job postings and industry signals to uncover emerging practices and gaps in AI adoption.
- The Paired Framework: Drillbit Labs' principles for AI integration (Principled, Accountable, Initiated, Reviewed, Enabled, Documented) designed to help teams use AI intentionally, ethically, and securely.
- Best Practices for Researchers: Concrete tips like using “articulate antagonist” prompts to avoid sycophantic AI outputs and foster critical thinking.
- Measuring Impact and ROI: How researchers can think about quantifying their influence, even without direct business metrics, and Thomas’s approach to making ROI calculations accessible.
- Future of UX Research Careers: Navigating uncertainty in a changing job market, the possible shift in researcher-to-designer ratios, and the enduring need to understand human interaction with technology.
- Career Development Advice: Thomas’s three-pronged approach to skill-building: Know what interests you, observe what’s in demand, and learn through informal mentorship.
About Thomas Stokes
Thomas is the co-founder of Drillbit Labs, where he and Lawton Pybus help clients make research-led decisions about digital strategy and share their investigations into the UX research field itself, from AI integration trends to advanced methods for demonstrating research impact.
Connect with Thomas Stokes
- LinkedIn: Thomas Stokes
- Newsletter: Depth by Drillbit Labs
- Website: Drillbit Labs
Resources
- How AI is Changing User Research Jobs
- Use of AI in UX
- Bad Research Doesn't Stink
- Research Impact Framework
- Calculate ROI for UX Research
Get in Touch
Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.
Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.
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