ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH: Accelerating User Research: How We Structure Insights for Speed At Spotify 作者：SARA BELT, Spotify 不同于以往考虑我们如何能加快用户研究的速度，现在的问题变成我们该如何更好地将用户研究整合到产品开发流程中，以及加快组织学习和迭代的速度。 一直以来，由于人们认为用户研究的有效性较低，用户研究所得的洞察都在产品开发中被边缘化。我在职业生涯的第一阶段致力于提倡组织为什么该积极地听取用户的意见和想法，为什么每一个人应该相信定性见解可用于指导他们的决策，以及为什么用户研究是需要专业技能的实践领域。 随着用户研究逐渐证明贡献价值的能力，对于其效度的质疑和争论也在日趋减少。从数据、证据和同理心的角度来考虑产品的设计已经成为一种既定的方式。 在像在Spotify这样的公司中，用户研究的需求在快速增长，我们不得不开始考虑如何将用户研究的实践规模化。新的、更实质性的问题开始出现，要求我们以更快速度来创造价值的能力能够与快速将产品推向市场的财务和竞争优势相匹配。用户研究，或者是更广义上的洞察，一直因为产出速度慢而备受诟病...

An EPIC Talk with SARA BELT, Spotify Overview Systematic study of people as users of services and products has a long history, but the practice in the industry, commonly known as user research, is as vague as it is ubiquitous. User research draws from many fields—social sciences, behavioral sciences, computer science, design, business, media studies, and others—with diverse epistemological beliefs and methodological palettes. Yet, we rarely discuss what is meant by user research and what specific skills are required from a researcher. This makes it hard to align on what good user research looks like, for companies to set precise expectations for the user research team, for leaders to hire the right composition of talent for their research teams, and for researchers to be deliberate about their career paths. In this talk, Sara discusses different researcher archetypes and the dilemma of investing in breadth vs. depth of research skills. She talks through how she thinks about matching the right skills to a problem,...

by SARA BELT, Spotify (This article is also available in Chinese) Instead of asking how we can further speed up research itself, the question becomes how we can better integrate research into the product development practice and speed up organizations’ ability to learn and iterate overall. For many years, insights was seen as peripheral to product development because of the perception that user research had low validity. I spent the first part of my career advocating for why teams should systematically listen to the people using their products, why anyone should trust qualitative insight to guide their decisions, and why research is a field of practice that requires specialized skills. Debates about validity have diminished as the research practice has gradually proven its ability to contribute value. Approaching product making from the perspective of data, evidence, and empathy is pretty much a given these days. In companies such as Spotify, the pendulum has swung the other way, where growth in demand for research has pushed...

by SARA BELT and PETER GILKS, Spotify Sara Belt and Peter Gilks respectively lead the Creator and Free Revenue Product Insights teams at Spotify. In this article, Sara will explore the practice of User Research at Spotify, and Peter will lay out how Data Science and User Research work together to drive product decisions. Part 1. User research at Spotify Sara Belt, Head of Creator Product Insights When I say I work in user research at Spotify, folks' minds tend to travel in two directions: they figure I research either the kinds of music people listen to or the music itself: melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and how they impact people. Because, you know, what else is there to research with the world’s biggest music player? Over the past few years, Spotify has grown to be much more than that, and the research scope has grown with it. My team, for example, is focused on artists and the music industry ecosystem—how Spotify can help artists grow an audience, express their creativity, and thrive. We research fandom and how it...