Shifting to product research and strategic foresight
Chris Nicholson and Heather McGaw share the how and why behind evolving the Shopify UX research practice
The Inside Shopify UX podcast is back for season two… both audibly and now, visually. Listen with your favorite podcast app or watch new episodes on YouTube.
Our host, UX Director Lola Oyelayo-Pearson, will be chatting with leaders and crafters on the Shopify UX team and will be asking questions like ‘has UX killed visual design?’ and ‘Is design an inclusive practice?’.
If you’re low on time or prefer reading, continue for the TL;DL.
In this episode, Lola speaks with Heather McGaw and Chris Nicholson about our research practice at Shopify and how it has evolved in the last year. They discuss how research helps us prioritize product decisions, the power of asking “why?,” and how critical inquiry can be a form of optimism.
Chris joined Shopify over 5 years ago and is a senior staff product researcher on the Insights team. His area of speciality is commerce intelligence — so think data, lots of data. Heather worked at Shopify for 3 years, most recently as a senior staff product researcher on the Growth team. Since the release of this episode, Heather has moved on to her next adventure, but we are thankful to be able to share her insights here.
The commodification of research
We’re starting off with a hot topic in the industry and within Shopify: the commodification of research. Chris believes it’s necessary to some degree as you scale and your organization matures, but he points out that research isn’t just one thing. Using a metaphor, he explains, “It’s a tool bag of different methods and reasons for doing research. Anyone can pick up a hammer and learn how to use it, but you can also pick up a hammer and just start smashing shit.”
He continues, “Not everyone’s going to know how to use a lathe, right? Sometimes you need a lathe.” In other words, it’s helpful to have more people learn about research and flex those skills, but there’s also still a need for highly skilled and experienced craftspeople.
Heather believes it’s reminiscent of what has already happened with UX design. For example, how people now apply design thinking to all types of problems. It’s similar to when we hear people say “everyone’s a designer”, or “everyone should know how to code”. She believes a base level of skills or understanding about other people’s roles helps us all be better collaborators and more effective in our roles.
A base level of skills or understanding about other people’s roles helps us all be better collaborators and more effective in our roles.
For example, if she’s on a project with a designer and she knows some basic ideas around interaction design, she can ultimately ask better questions, leading to better research outcomes.
Heather says that it’s important to develop frameworks to think about what types of research to do and by who. Research is a craft and there’s a risk of doing it poorly. The frameworks we create should make sure research is not only effective, but that the tactics we use aren’t harming participants.
Informing product decisions
Research isn’t asking users what they want and then building it. It’s important to debunk that myth right away. So how does research inform product decisions at Shopify? It looks different for different parts of the business as some areas are more mature than others.
Heather says this has been a big topic on the Growth team. In the past year she’s spent a lot of time empowering members of the team to do their own research. To do this, you have to get really familiar with what your goals are and what questions you want answered by the research.
You have to get really familiar with what your goals are and what questions you want answered by the research.
From there, you’ll have to figure out the best way to answer those questions — it might be a set of questions to ask participants, observing them, or measuring data. Heather also says research can inspire strategy and determine where you put your energy next.
For Chris and the Insights team, the most important thing they can do is de-risk decisions. As a large organization with a mature product, we already have a product strategy and roadmap we’re working towards. Research can help find the areas where there are risks and mitigate them. It can also help determine priorities moving forward.
From UX research to product research
About a year and half ago, our research practice went through an evolution from UX research to product research. So what changed? Chris says, “I think research at Shopify has always aspired to impact strategy and the big meaty, dangerous, directional questions.” And for five and half years it worked to do just that. But in recent years our UX team has grown a lot and researchers found themselves slipping into doing more of the tactical work.
UX designers are excellent at doing evaluative research, testing their own designs, getting feedback, and staying close to the front line, but this growth led them to lean on researchers a bit more than they would normally. With this change from UX research to product research, it allowed researchers on the team to hand back the more evaluative work to UX designers so that they could focus more on informing strategy.
I think research at Shopify has always aspired to impact strategy and the big meaty, dangerous, directional questions.
Heather agrees, “The move from UX research to product research, has been about giving space to do the more strategic research.” She continues, “There’s a much stronger partnership with product, which has been a really nice outcome. And more collaboration with data and market insights. Because we’re answering bigger questions where there’s a lot less clarity. So being able to look from these different lenses has been really, really helpful.”
The craft of research
So what are the research questions Heather and Chris are asking right now? Heather and the Growth team have been asking what audiences could they be working with more closely. Their team is focused on emerging markets and they’re investigating what needs Shopify is not currently meeting. Understanding those needs and the context around those needs is important for us to continue to broaden our reach. Additionally, they’re looking closely at the creator economy. Think your favorite influencers on TikTok and Instagram. Creators aren’t your typical merchants, so how are they thinking about small businesses? What are the best ways to support those individuals who are creating content and trying to monetize it?
For Chris and the Insights team, their goal is to get data into the hands of decision makers. Our app captures a lot of data about the businesses that use Shopify, and we also know that data-informed decisions lead to better outcomes. What’s the best way to get that information to the right group of folks to help them make the best decisions?
Chris says, “With data products, it’s really hard to measure the ultimate impact of that data. So we know that people are consuming the data. We know how they’re analyzing it, potentially, but the decision may be made somewhere else in the product or off the platform entirely.” Their team is asking questions and conducting research to help better connect those dots.
Future thinking and strategic foresight
When we talk about strategic foresight at Shopify, it’s about future proofing our work. Heather says, “It’s not about predicting the future. It’s more thinking about the possible futures.” The goal is to develop strategies that help the business identify opportunities we might otherwise miss if we’re only focused on what’s happening right now. Heather says that it’s important to challenge norms. For us at Shopify, we can’t just be looking at what’s ahead for e-commerce, we should be looking at what’s going on within our culture, science, our government, and various other indicators.
It’s not about predicting the future. It’s more thinking about the possible futures.
As someone who’s been in a specific product domain for five and half years, Chris feels as if he’s always engaging in foresight. He says, “I have to understand the domain and when you understand the domain, you start to get an idea of what the likely futures are.” He shares a technique that helps him approach foresight thinking, “Something that my product director says is ‘What are the one-way or two-way doors? […] Can we come back through this door if X happens in the future?’” An example of this is the recent iOS 14 roll out of restricted marketing attribution data. It was something the team knew was coming, so they knew it was not a one-way door when they were building things. They knew that they’d be able to pivot.
Speculative and foresight techniques can also force expansion. Heather says, “I think tech prides itself on being really positive. Research can be critical. And so sometimes that can feel at odds. That critical inquiry is crucial, but also is a form of optimism because it’s about understanding and moving forward.”
This is a recipe for true innovation. Heather says, “If you’re thinking about it critically and rigorously, you’re going to think about it in ways that other people aren’t thinking about it.”
Extra credit
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