What do Product Leaders really think about User Researchers?

Before founding HEARD, I spent years leading Product teams at companies like Spotify and Netflix. And even though I worked with some of the best user research teams in the business, the friction I experienced in getting high-quality user insights is what inspired me to start working on HEARD. I often found myself frustrated because customer feedback timelines felt slow, the insights from research weren't always actionable, and it was difficult to get high-signal data from small sample sizes. We started HEARD to empower every member of a product team to become a customer expert even if they weren't a research expert, and to get insights fast without sacrificing on quality and depth.

Now, I spend my days talking with both Product Leaders and User Researchers because both roles are customers of HEARD. I've gained a new understanding of the challenges that User Researchers face, and the roadblocks that contribute to the breakdown of the relationship with Product. It's difficult to harmonize the thoughtful, methodological work of research with the often chaotic and unpredictable nature of product development. Here's what I know to be true: both sides are trying their best to create amazing products, but they're often working from completely different playbooks.

Our mission at HEARD is to help teams collaborate better through a deep, shared understanding of customer needs. We're passionate about finding ways to improve how user research gets brought into the product development lifecycle. That's why we partnered with User Interviews to interview 150 Product professionals about their experiences working with researchers, using HEARD to run the interviews and collect raw, unfiltered and productive insights about the relationship. The result is the first-ever Product x Research Collaboration Report which offers a fascinating glimpse into the hits, misses, and wishes that Product leaders have when working with User Research — and ideas for how we can help both sides work better together.

The Empathy Gap: What Product and User Research misunderstand about each other

Our research revealed a striking "empathy gap" between Product and Research teams. First, we asked Product Leaders what they feel research misunderstands about the product development process:

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In short, Product folks often feel researchers don't understand the “practical realities” of product development like:

• The need to work within tight budgets and aggressive timelines
• The iterative nature of product development and the value of quick, directional insights
• The complexity of technical dependencies that make late-stage changes costly
• The pressure to show immediate business impact

Often researchers assume we can make modifications at any stage and from time to time do not consider the dependencies required in order to ensure that the project is completed on time. One researcher I partnered with requested a change one week before delivery that postponed the project by nearly two months. — Product Leader

In the spirit of self-reflection, we also asked Product Leaders what they felt Product people misunderstand about research.

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Participants admitted that Product people  don’t appreciate the true nature of research, in particular that:

• Quality research takes time and rushing can lead to misleading results
• User behavior is complex and rarely yields simple, straightforward answers
• Research should be about thorough discovery, not a one-time activity to check a box and validate existing hypotheses
• Qualitative insights can be just as valuable as quantitative metrics

Product teams often misunderstand that research is a time-intensive process focused on exploration and discovery, not immediate results. They may expect quick, concrete answers, overlooking the uncertainty and depth required for thorough investigation. — Director of Product

When Collaboration Works, It Really Works

Despite these challenges, our research found that when Product and Research collaborate effectively, the results can be transformative.

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Product leaders shared stories of:

• Avoiding expensive mistakes by identifying user needs early
• Discovering unexpected opportunities that led to successful new features
• Building stronger user loyalty through deeper understanding of customer needs
• Making more confident decisions backed by solid research

Researchers discovered a process where users manually took data from a document, then placed in another document for analysis. We automated that process for them. It improved it significantly and saved our org 20k annual hours of labor. — Product Manager

Bridging the Gap: Towards a better collaboration model

The Product leaders we spoke to didn’t just highlight problems — they proposed solutions. They want researchers to:

• "Go bigger" by expanding their perspective beyond immediate product experiences to include market trends and business strategy
• Get involved earlier in the product development process to ensure research aligns with development timelines
• Translate insights into clear, actionable recommendations that connect directly to product strategy

If you look at every product ever developed, it required imagination to get there. Many find inspiration in sci-fi books, such as the inventors of artificial limbs, tablets, smartphones, wearable technology, etc. Imagine beyond what you see. — Product Manager

What's Next?

The full report dives deep into specific success stories, and detailed pain points about Product x Research collaboration. Read the full report here on the User Interviews website.

In part two of our analysis coming in early 2025, we’ll provide actionable recommendations for improvement based on our findings.

The Product x Research Collaboration Report is a joint initiative between HEARD and User Interviews, leveraging HEARD's AI-powered interview platform to gather deep, qualitative insights from product professionals.