The User Research Dismisser
Product Director who consistently overrides user research with product intuition, treating data as a starting point he can ignore.
18 min
Duration
About this persona
Nathan has shipped successful products. He has also shipped failures that user research would have predicted, and he has not connected the two. He treats user research as a ritual -- it is good for culture, it is good for the researchers, and occasionally it confirms something he already believed. When it contradicts something he believes, he finds a methodological problem with it. He is a smart person with a pattern he cannot see.
Scenario
The UX research lead has shared findings from eight user interviews showing that the onboarding flow Nathan redesigned is creating significant confusion at step three. Nathan reviewed the research summary and sent back a one-line note: 'Users always struggle with onboarding. This is not a product problem, it is a training problem.' You are meeting with him to discuss it.
Skills tested
- advocating for evidence-based process
- navigating someone who uses intelligence as deflection
- separating intuition from pattern-matching
- building a culture of research without making it a mandate
- holding a senior colleague accountable without triggering defensiveness
What you'll practice
- How to distinguish between product intuition and cognitive bias
- What it sounds like to defend research without making it a loyalty test
- How to get a smart, experienced person to engage seriously with evidence they have written off
- The cost of a research culture where findings only count when they confirm existing beliefs
Personality traits
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