Conducting UX research in an agile environment can be challenging. You’re trying to break work down into specific chunks of time, when the nature of research itself can require multiple iterations. U.S. Bank is trying something different. We have removed our researchers from the sprint process for specific products and are now experimenting with a shared backlog of work among related products. The goal is to work on the highest priority work within a product portfolio while still maintaining expertise in the overall topic. Want to see if it’s working? Come and hear from Liz Martin, the manager who is trying to implement this approach and Rocio Werner who’s living it on a day-to-day basis!

1. U.S. Bank | Confidential 1
U.S. Bank | Confidential
Tales from the Squad
Challenging Concepts of How UX Research Works in an Agile
Environment
Liz Martin, VP Rocio Werner, AVP
UX Research Director Sr. UX Design Researcher
June 2022

2. U.S. Bank | Confidential 2
Hi, it’s nice to meet you
Liz Martin, VP
UX Design Research Director
www.linkedin.com/in/lizreganmartin
Rocio Werner, AVP
Sr. UX Design Researcher
www.linkedin.com/in/rociowernerux
Twitter: @rocio_ameshimi

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Agenda
1. Previous Situation & Challenges
2. What We Changed
3. How It’s Going
4. Recommendations

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Situation & Challenges

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Three known team structures exist to organize UX researchers in
an organization
• Embedded (Decentralized)
─ UXR works within a product team and reports to that team
• Horizontal (Centralized)
─ UXR works across multiple products and reports to a UXR manager
• Hybrid (Matrix)
─ UXR works with the lead of a product area and reports to a UXR manager
Let’s take a look at how our research team evolved from being
embedded into agile product teams to a horizontal, hybrid structure, or
what we refer to as the squad model at U.S. Bank…
Kramarova, Olga; Scribner, Ryle; Tefera, Yodit; Huber, Bridget; Tseng, Tina; Edwards, Rochelle
(2021). Embedded Versus Horizontal UX Research Teams: Which May Best Suit You?

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Embedded model in theory
Product Team
1
Studies
A B C D E
UX
R
VID XA CS
Product Team
2
Studies
A B C D E
UX
R
VID XA CS
Product Team
3
Studies
A B C D E
UX
R
VID XA CS

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Embedded model: the messy reality
Product Team
1
Studies
A
B
C
D
E
UX
R
VID XA CS
Studies
A
B
C
D
E
Product Team
2
UX
R
VID XA CS
Product Team
3
UX
R
VID XA CS
Studies
A
B
C
D
E
Have we
ever looked
at…
Hey, do you
know if…
Can we do a
quick study
on…
Real quick,
can you…
Do we know
if users
even want
this?
Maybe
there’s a
better way.
Did we
show this to
users yet?

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Add agile into the mix, and we have an interesting set of
challenges
Hiring
1 new product team = 1 new
researcher who attended all
ceremonies and meetings and was
100% dedicated to that team
Couldn't hire fast enough
Lack of communication
within product sets
Each UX team worked from the
product backlog and cross-team
connections were the responsibility
of the product owners (but that
wasn't happening!)
Duplicate efforts
Uninformed efforts
Wasting time and resources
on unimpactful research
Testing small content changes (1-2
words) that did not have significant
impact on the user experience

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We were growing incredibly fast
• Managers were averaging 3 – 5 open roles at any given time.
─ We often didn't know about these open roles until development was already
under way
─ Spent hours interviewing to find the right candidates with the right experiences
• We invested resources in individual researchers, which meant large
teams for each manager and too little individual attention
• Getting individual researchers up to speed on a product, culture, and
team takes time away from research
─ Managers spent time onboarding and ramping up the team on institutional
knowledge

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While we tried to remain connected with the work of other
researchers, it took a lot of effort to avoid silos
• Everyone worked out of their own product backlog
• Product owners weren't necessarily aligned on priorities and overall
strategy
─ Risk of redundant research
• Product teams risked misapplying research insights
• Researchers did not feel empowered to ask tough questions
• Teams lacked a forum to discuss work

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Sometimes we had to do research for the sake of research
• If you had capacity, it was hard to say no to testing things like button
colors or slight changes in wording – because what else were you
going to do?
• At times, we were assigned to more than 1 agile team, which meant
compromising between immediate iterative research and impactful
─ Felt like a production shop
─ Often heard "we don't have time" when it came to generative research
• Example: testing the position of the log out button

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If we continued this way, we would
miss out on the flexibility to enable
strategic influence by research

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Squad model in theory
Product Team 1
VID XA CS
Product Portfolio
UX
R
Product Team 2
VID XA CS
Product Team 3
VID XA CS
UX
R
UX
R
Studies A B C D E F G H I J

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What We Changed

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By addressing our pain points under the embedded structure, we
shifted the impact of our work
We can move resources where
they're needed within the
portfolio since everyone has a
baseline knowledge
We practice a more holistic
approach to research to focus
more on our users’ needs rather
than the products and features
We share knowledge across our
product relationships to break
down silos

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We can move resources where they're needed within the portfolio
since everyone has a baseline knowledge
• We are familiar with the personas relevant to our squad segment
• Our repository of studies allows us to determine additional research
needs
• Quarterly synthesis of research insights builds on the baseline
knowledge

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We practice a more holistic approach to research to focus more
on our users’ needs rather than the products and features
• There are more opportunities for generative research to deeply
understand our customers
• Researchers can focus on the bigger questions to recommend impactful
research

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We share knowledge across our researchers to break
down silos
• The research team meets regularly to discuss capacity as well as
current and upcoming work
• We collaborate on a quarterly research synthesis to form strategic
recommendations

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Making these changes resulted in
the UX Research team having
flexibility, enabling them to provide
strategic direction through research
insights

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How It’s Going

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We solicited feedback from our partners in a survey
Distributed to all our
product teams
Received most
responses from
design team
members
Intention is to start
sending out
quarterly
Question themes:
Effectiveness
Ease
Satisfaction
UXR Squad Model Feedback Survey, May 2022 (n=17)

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Product teams have mostly been receptive
Strengths
Collaboration
Timeliness
Impact of research
Proactiveness
Opportunities
Transparency
I know what my UX research team is
working on at any given time (Likert
scale)
Communicating what we know
My UX research team knows the
users of my product well (Likert
scale)
UXR Squad Model Feedback Survey, May 2022

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Sample feedback
"The new squad model totally makes sense from a perspective of being resource
constrained. But I do miss having a dedicated researcher to feel they have ownership of a
product line ... When researchers rotate, the teams feel less certain who to go to with
potential research needs."

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Challenges with the squad model
Pressure from product
teams that are used to
having dedicated
researchers
Knowledge transfer
between researchers when
moving between products
Getting up to speed quickly
Getting clear prioritization
("it's all a priority!")

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Lessons learned (so far)
• It's harder in real life than it is on paper
• The team needs to have high levels of trust – in themselves and each
other
─ Maybe not a fit for a team of junior researchers
• Scoping and getting clarity on priorities is critical
─ If your priorities weren't clear before, don’t expect them to magically become
more so now
• All researchers need to understand the big picture to be effective

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Recommendations

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Try it out – here are some steps to implement your squad
structure
Document
Communication is key
Be flexible, but not too flexible
Create an intake process
Regularly review the research log with partners

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Step 1: Document
Document all your team's current and upcoming work in a
centralized backlog
─ Use tools like Microsoft Planner, or Jira or even a spreadsheet!
─ Determine how to measure team capacity
• Agree on and document capacity measures (points? hours? days?)
• Define max team capacity
─ Document priorities
─ Determine when and how to assign backlog items

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Step 2: Communication is key
• Agree on talking points about why this change is happening
• Work together to create a communication plan for the rollout
• Decide who amongst your stakeholders will be champions and who
will be more resistant
─ Ask for feedback and be open to it
• Define timeline to start new model
• Create an artifact to share about the new model (e.g., PowerPoint)

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Step 3: Be flexible, but not too flexible
• Create a process and talking points for handling ad hoc requests
(‘cause they will happen)
• Document criteria for accepting ad hoc requests

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Step 4: Create a process for intake
• Scope out the research goals, timelines, and impact
• Don’t commit until you know where this request fits in the research
backlog priority
─ Establish who to ask when in doubt
• Respond to the request priority timely and transparently

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Step 5: Regularly review research backlog with partners
• Identify the partners
• Schedule recurring meetings with the partners
• Communicate the research backlog priorities with the researchers

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We gave you a tour of our challenges
as we evolved from an embedded to a
squad model to have more flexibility,
enabling researchers to provide
strategic direction through research
insights.
Let us know how you might implement some of
our squad model recommendations!

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Thank you!
Questions?