UX Research in the Trenches

Why Most Guides Don’t Prepare You for Low-Maturity Organizations

If you had the luxury of beginning your career as a UXR in a high-maturity organisation, you can close this tab. 
For everyone else, welcome in, take a seat. 
‍
My anxiety skyrocketed as I absorbed tons of UXR guides as a junior. And it turns out I wasn’t alone — Nielsen Norman Group reports that only 5% of organizations reach the highest UX maturity levels, while the majority remain stuck in the lowest tiers.

I found plenty of processes, and research methods. I had a pristine view of how research should look, but in my “welcome to the jungle” workplace there was no way I could realistically apply their perfect step-by-step. ‍

But after finally landing on UX-Maturity articles I felt empowered to apply their suggested steps to improve the situation.

Virgen santa, let me tell you: I was in for a ride. Today, I wonder if the authors in those articles really dirtied their hands as we did, because their proposals felt like squeezing toothpaste back into the tube, and a finishing touch of “book a consultation”.

So here it is: My war diaries on the clash between idealistic articles and the reality of doing UXR in the trenches. 

Myth #1: Pitching ROI is the Key to Maturity

First idealistic step to improve UX maturity: Pitch the value of research. 
This one is everywhere, and at the same time, it is the one I found the weakest. 

The premise is that they don’t know what they are missing (that’s true) and that you need to highlight the sickening amount of money they could save by doing UXR. So I took all the proven reasons to do research under my arm and did a presentation on the savings we were losing. Money gets them, right? 

“It didn’t land the way I hoped. They smiled, thanked me, and went back to their tabs. What I learned is that in low-maturity orgs, the barrier isn’t awareness of ROI, it’s willingness to act on it.”
‍
‍Which is ironic, considering Forrester found that every $1 invested in UX can return anything from $2 to $100 — but in low low-maturity UXR orgs, even those numbers couldn’t compete with the next shiny feature. 

Lack of knowledge is not the primary reason for low ux maturity in organisations. The bigger issue is the lack of willingness to listen. No matter how many ROI reports you show them. 

In four years of working in low ux maturity orgs, doing a presentation only worked once:
There was a severe problem looming over the organisation, but we were constantly dismissed when we tried to tell them about it. 
It took us one year to sneakily collect all the pieces to catch their attention. One year!!

And when it was time to share it, I was not even allowed to present it; my word as a UXR wouldn’t be taken seriously. But the data was undeniable and we manage to convince them: Priorities shifted overnight. 

I'm sharing this with you not to prove it’s doable, but instead so you can reflect on the amount of effort it took: 
Is this really the first thing to do to demonstrate the value of research? Not in my war diaries. 

Myth #2: Data Will Prove Your Case

The next tip shared around there is to focus on data to demonstrate your points. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t look at data, that’s crazy. My criticism would be more like…”Data? What data?” 

In feature factories, it’s always too late — too late to soft launch, too late to reflect, too late to learn. And yet, all of this happens under the strong belief that every release will be an astonishing success. 

Meanwhile, Pendo estimates that around 80% of product features are rarely or never used — a stat that perfectly captures how much energy is wasted when no one stops to reflect.

So this tip feels like Marie Antoinette's famous quote, “Let them eat cake metrics.” 

There was never enough time to add events or analyze results. That doesn’t mean you give up on data, it means you learn to work with scraps and use them to spark small conversations rather than chase perfect dashboards.

Myth #3: Internal Testing is incredibly valuable

Yes, this one is true. Oh, you wanted beef? There is none, sorry! But this is the one tool that kept me sane during all those years. Here is why: 

I didn’t have any budget, how could I, so I went to the nearest supermarket, bought some cookies, and invited people to test. Easy as that, it worked (maybe Maria Antoinette was right all along). 

This benefited me in more ways than expected, the most obvious one, the designs, of course. But then, people that I’d never met started to recognise me: First as the lady with the cookies, then as the lady with the cookies that did UXR. 

It was something more or less recurrent, and gave ideas to other teams to also test their designs. I was also able to get to know people that would later help me find other people more suitable for other research campaigns. 

So, in retrospection, this was clearly one of those things that started to slowly change the tides: 

User research was not something unknown, but something that happened from time to time without the world burning. And with this, I was finally able to put my foot in the door and keep improving the ux maturity. 

Reality Check: Survival strategies to keep your sanity in the Trenches

At the time, AI tools were not mainstream at all, but if I had them, they would have been a way to free up time and give value faster. Still, most of the AI tools that are useful are paid, and like I mentioned, you probably won’t have the privilege of a budget, so here are the strategies that helped me survive.

• Bring cookies (sounds silly, I know): It makes testing fun and lowers barriers. 
• Find allies quietly. One or two supportive colleagues can open doors you didn’t know existed. 
• Work with scraps of data. Don’t wait for perfect analytics, start with what you have.
• Pick your battles. Not every hill is worth dying on in a feature factory. 

I could share more tips, but I didn't write this article so I could look all cool and professional. I wrote this article for my younger self, the one who almost 10 years ago, thought that there was something wrong with her for not being able to follow all those guides that made improving UXR in organisations as easy as 1,2,3. 

It’s not easy, it’s hard, and sometimes, impossible. 

Articles that ignore this deny the reality that organisations may not be open to change, and then, quietly, place the burden of failure on the UXR alone. That’s a quick recipe for burnout. 

So if you are an UXR junior in the trenches of a low ux maturity organisation, I hope this text makes you feel less alone, and gives you strength to keep buying cookies from time to time. 

Sources: 

Forrester. (2025). The total economic impact of Pendo (composite organization case). https://tei.forrester.com/go/pendo/pendoforemployees/docs/TheTEIOfPendo.pdf 

Pendo. (2019). 2019 Feature Adoption Report (p. …). https://go.pendo.io/rs/185-LQW-370/images/2019%20Feature%20Adoption%20Report%20Digital.pdf 

Pernice, K., Gibbons, S., Moran, K., & Whitenton, K. (2021, June 13). The 6 levels of UX maturity. Nielsen Norman Group. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-maturity-model/