Drill Bit Labs

Drill Bit Labs

Research Services

Centennial, CO 1,676 followers

Your UX Research Partner • Elevating UX & Digital Strategy through UX Research, Consulting, and Training.

About us

Drill Bit Labs is a leading UX research and digital strategy consulting firm. We work side-by-side with UX and product development leaders to elevate their digital strategy, delight their users, and outperform business goals. We specialize in transforming how teams approach UX and digital strategy. With our user research projects, we empower teams to make confident design decisions and optimize their digital experiences. In addition to our research, we offer live training courses that help client teams build deep in-house expertise in user research skills and consulting advisory services to enhance UX strategy and processes—from improving team structures and hiring practices to measuring the business impact of UX efforts. Reach out today to discuss how we can partner with you to achieve success in your ongoing projects and upcoming ventures. Additionally, Drill Bit Labs is dedicated to shaping the future of user research by sharing insights via Depth, a newsletter with insights, tips, and original research about UX research, digital strategy, and user-centered design. Whether you’re an established professional or just starting out, Depth by Drill Bit Labs is designed to equip you with the tools and knowledge to excel in this field.

Industry
Research Services
Company size
2-10 employees
Headquarters
Centennial, CO
Type
Privately Held
Founded
2024
Specialties
UX Research, User Research, Usability Testing, Digital Strategy, UX Consulting, Quantitative UX Research, Qualitative UX Research , Mixed-methods research , A/B Testing, User interviews, UX Best Practices , UX Maturity Assessments, UX Benchmarking, Product roadmapping, Surveys, Feature prioritization , UX Strategy, Usability, and UX

Locations

Employees at Drill Bit Labs

Updates

  • Drill Bit Labs reposted this

    View profile for Thomas Stokes, graphic

    UX Research & Digital Strategy Consulting | Co-Founder of Drill Bit Labs

    Have you ever had a stakeholder request that you conduct "interviews," only to realize what they really want is usability testing? It's a common mix-up -- for many "interview" is a catch-all term for any direct user conversation rather than its more precise definition: " A one-on-one session with a participant, primarily consisting of a structured or semi-structured conversation designed to answer specific research questions." This use of descriptive vs prescriptive language can cause communication mishaps. In this article, Lawton Pybus looks at some of the most commonly confused words and phrases used in UX research, so you can recognize them, clarify them, and avoid misunderstandings. https://lnkd.in/efBmqGC8

    Frequently confused words and phrases in UX research

    Frequently confused words and phrases in UX research

    depth.drillbitlabs.com

  • Ever left a meeting wondering, "What was the point of that?" You're not alone—51% of meetings are rated as poor. But eliminating all meetings isn't the answer. The real issue? We often meet without clear objectives. Meetings should serve a distinct purpose: driving decisions, solving problems, or advancing work that can't be done asynchronously. If a meeting doesn’t move the needle, it’s time to reassess. In this article, we break down a framework we use to evaluate meeting effectiveness and ensure our team’s time is well spent. https://lnkd.in/etvWEgFs

    How to make meetings less awful

    How to make meetings less awful

    depth.drillbitlabs.com

  • Drill Bit Labs reposted this

    View profile for Lawton Pybus, graphic

    UX research consultant, Principal at Drill Bit Labs, human factors PhD. Writing & sharing UXR resources

    Had a great time talking with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦 on the Brave UX podcast about the evolving UX research job market, the challenges of making research more impactful, and why UX is still a critical function (even or especially in turbulent times). We also covered some of the biggest questions facing the field today: - What’s behind recent layoffs in UX research? - How can researchers make their work more durable and widely adopted? - How do we navigate the rise of AI in UX without losing our strategic influence? Give it a listen here or wherever you listen to podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gbVxQTJU

    Lawton Pybus - Understanding the Value of UX in Lean Times

    Lawton Pybus - Understanding the Value of UX in Lean Times

    podbean.com

  • The CUE studies are one of the most comprehensive inspections of usability best practices ever conducted -- all UXRs should consider reading them.

    View profile for Thomas Stokes, graphic

    UX Research & Digital Strategy Consulting | Co-Founder of Drill Bit Labs

    Every UX researcher should be familiar with the Comparative Usability Evaluation (CUE) studies -- a series of 10 studies that asked separate teams to perform the same usability evaluation to examine how consistent usability findings are and learn about common practices. The CUE studies offer one of the most thorough examinations of UX research practices. https://lnkd.in/ehvjXBKj

    CUE-Studies

    CUE-Studies

    https://www.dialogdesign.dk

  • How do you know when to stop collecting data?

    View profile for Thomas Stokes, graphic

    UX Research & Digital Strategy Consulting | Co-Founder of Drill Bit Labs

    A UXR recently asked me: How do I know when to stop collecting data and start making recommendations? This is a sneaky complex question. In short, the “right” stopping point depends on a few factors. Let's look at usability testing for an example. The well-known five-participant rule in usability testing comes from a mathematical model. More important than the model are its assumptions--- the five-participant rule is grounded in a cost-benefit analysis for iterative testing. The idea is to stop when adding more participants yields diminishing returns compared to making design improvements and testing again. Generally, the right stopping point for data collection will depend on a combination of your goals, and how quickly you can effect change.

  • Drill Bit Labs reposted this

    Just about anything can be benchmarked. These are some of the most common interfaces that are evaluated with benchmark studies. We support organizations globally with their benchmarking efforts through our MUiQ platform, professional services, training, and consulting. Reach out if your team could use help with your benchmark studies! #ux #userexperience #uxresearch #usertesting #benchmark #userresearch #benchmarking #uxr

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  • Drill Bit Labs reposted this

    View profile for Lawton Pybus, graphic

    UX research consultant, Principal at Drill Bit Labs, human factors PhD. Writing & sharing UXR resources

    Inconceivable! Even folks on UX and product teams will sometimes use a word that doesn't mean what they think it means. For instance: A/B test. Survey. Quantitative. Insight. Intuitive. Plus a few others. Let's walk through some of these "gotcha" words together and think about how we might communicate better with each other. The latest on Depth: https://lnkd.in/gvSX33Fc

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  • Rating scales, the more points the merrier? Conflicting opinions are circulated in discussions about rating scales in UX research. Particularly, there are spirited takes on how many response options should be used in rating scales. That can lead to confusion and uncertainty for practitioners trying to follow best practices. UX research practitioners should take advantage of the added validity and reliability that 5, 7, and 11-point scales contribute to their data without worrying about any detriment to participant experiences. https://lnkd.in/ekRUFuGV

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  • Drill Bit Labs reposted this

    View profile for Lawton Pybus, graphic

    UX research consultant, Principal at Drill Bit Labs, human factors PhD. Writing & sharing UXR resources

    One legit way to use LLMs in UX research: formula assistant for spreadsheets. I'd consider myself a fairly savvy Google Sheets/Excel user -- nevertheless, there are all kinds of edge cases you run into where you might need a formula (or combination of formulas) you rarely ever use. Before ChatGPT, you'd type a few vague search queries into Google, hoping one matches what you're looking for. You'd inevitably end up on a few spammy SEO pages for generic business spreadsheet users. You'd then have to trial-and-error whatever you find in the spreadsheet itself, reading the help text as you go. These days, it's fairly straightforward to simply describe your spreadsheet to the LLM and explain what kind of output and format you're looking for. In my experience, reasoning models get it on the first shot most of the time. Obviously, you still have to double-check the work and make sure it's giving you the output you intended, but once it's working properly it should be reusable across any number of projects.

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