Tomer Sharon is a User Experience researcher at Google Search. Previously, he led the user experience research effort for Google's online advertising management platform - DFP (Doubleclick for Publishers). Prior to Google, he worked at Check Point Software Technologies in Israel as User Experience Researcher Lead.

As founder and first president of UPA Israel, he led the chapter to many achievements such as raising awareness of the need for easy-to-use, efficient, and fun technology products, and growing and nurturing a professional community of 1,000 practitioners.

Tomer is an experienced speaker at local and international conferences, a published author of articles and papers, and a past editorial board member for UPA's UX Magazine. Tomer holds a BA in Social Sciences from The Open University and a master's degree in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University in Waltham, MA.

Prologue: The Usable Planet, by Gary Bunker

Introduction

Chapter 1: If life gives you limes, make mojitos! Identifying stakeholders, selling user experience research, and dealing with difficult people and situations

Chapter 2: Mmm... Interesting, so what exactly is it that you want to learn? Implementing your great participant interviewing skills on stakeholders; asking good questions, listening, saying the right things, and identifying research opportunities

Chapter 3: If you pick a methodology first, something must be wrong: Strategies for planning studies with stakeholders and techniques for developing the right research questions

Chapter 4: What's Gonna Work? Teamwork! Hands-on techniques for collaborating and involving stakeholders in research planning, execution, analysis, and reporting

Chapter 5: The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place

Chapter 6: You can't manage what you don't measure: Signs that indicate research is being used well and how you can systematically track success (or failure)

Epilogue

It's Our Research: Getting Stakeholder Buy-in for User Experience Research Projects discusses frameworks, strategies, and techniques for working with stakeholders of user experience (UX) research in a way that ensures their buy-in. This book consists of six chapters arranged according to the different stages of research projects. Topics discussed include the different roles of business, engineering, and user-experience stakeholders; identification of research opportunities by developing empathy with stakeholders; and planning UX research with stakeholders. The book also offers ways of teaming up with stakeholders; strategies to improve the communication of research results to stakeholders; and the nine signs that indicate that research is making an impact on stakeholders, teams, and organizations. This book is meant for UX people engaged in usability and UX research. Written from the perspective of an in-house UX researcher, it is also relevant for self-employed practitioners and consultants who work in agencies. It is especially directed at UX teams that face no-time-no-money-for-research situations.