The Work Item - Real Talk on Tech's Toughest Career Choices - #88 - Best-Kept Secrets on Becoming a Great User Researcher - Marisa Morby (Principal Researcher, Observable)

#88 - Best-Kept Secrets on Becoming a Great User Researcher - Marisa Morby (Principal Researcher, Observable)

03/07/25 • 54 min

The Work Item - Real Talk on Tech's Toughest Career Choices

User research is an underappreciated art - we in tech are so used to being immersed in an ocean of quantitative data that we can forget that on the other side of the screen are real humans who want to solve very specific problems. And often times, their problems are extremely hard to put a number on. Why did they abandon their cart right before checkout? What made them start creating a new newsletter but then abandon it but come back a month later? Not everything can be answered with a SQL query against the telemetry database.

Marisa Morby, a Principal Researcher at Observable, sat down with me to help me better understand what it means to be great (not just good) at user research, and how that can help produce a whole new range of unexpected product insights. And Marisa definitely knows what the impact of great user research can be on the product - she previously worked at such notable companies like Netlify, Gatsby, and Accenture Song, where she honed her skills and UX instincts.

You can also find Marisa around the web:

The podcast was produced by Den Delimarsky.

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You can also find Marisa around the web:

The podcast was produced by Den Delimarsky.

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Previous Episode

#87 - A Wrap-Up Of 2024 Unconventional Career Advice

This is the last episode for 2024. To make it special, it's a supercut of all the unconventional advice from every single guest that was on the show this year - Kent C. Dodds, Jerod Santo, Rob Walling, Adrienne Tacke, David Khourshid, Saron Yitbarek, Rachel Andrew, Katie Fujihara, Lena Reinhard, Miriam Suzanne, Kirupa Chinnathambi, Craig Hewitt, Jennifer Wong, Jason Lengstorf, Michael Kennedy, and Asia Orangio.

This turned out so well, that I will be definitely re-visiting the format in the new year. I hope you have a successful and adventure-packed 2025, with plenty of room for career growth. See you next year!

The podcast was produced by Den Delimarsky.

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Next Episode

#89 - So You Want to Be a CTO - Taiwo Oyeniyi (CTO, Distrobird)

Chief Technology Officer - a few people I've talked to in the past year expressed some degree of interest in reaching, what seems like, the pinnacle of an engineering career.

That three-letter title carries weight in boardrooms and across the industry alike. But beyond the fancy business cards and the seat at the executive table, what does it actually mean to hold the technical helm of an organization? Is it the promised land of pure architectural decisions and strategic vision, or something messier, more complex, and perhaps more rewarding in unexpected ways?

Today, we're peeling back the curtain on the CTO role with Taiwo Oyeniyi, who'll share his journey from engineer to executive. Rather than relying on generic career advice or job descriptions, we'll hear firsthand about the transition, the challenges, and the realities of the position. Taiwo will explore the skills that matter most (spoiler alert: they might not be the ones you're cultivating now), the hurdles he faced along the way, and how the role has transformed his relationship with technology.

You can find Taiwo on the following sites:

The podcast was produced by Den Delimarsky.