This has been an exciting time for me professionally. I launched a usability lab and began testing our digital work prior to going into design. I also brought an official ethnography practice to my agency (I call it ethnography, technically, we did not go into user’s places of business, but talked to them over the phone). Both of these capabilities brought a high caliber of actionable insights to our clients.

But it was not without challenges, and these were challenges that I was very prepared to handle. Market research was something that everyone around me was familiar with, but ethnography and usability testing was not. I was constantly in a position of selling and re-selling the value of these practices to those around me. For me this meant multiple decks and samples of the type of work we could deliver. I’ve got so many decks on UX at this point. Creating decks is wonderful, and presenting to your colleagues is great as well. But the proof is in the pudding, and you actually need to show results to make a change at an organization.

Finally, the tide turned when we delivered our final research findings and usability testing reports to our clients. The unique insights we garnered would never have been uncovered had we not actually talked to our users, or put working prototypes in front of them. It was clear to everyone around me that this was a competitive advantage for our clients. The work that went into these reports was demanding, the dive that we took deep and extensive. It was the most exciting time for me as a UX practitioner. So if you’re looking to bring these capabilities to your organization, I encourage you to just go out and start doing it. Push things forward, don’t wait for the right momentum, because it starts with you.