Robert Lischke joins UX&I as a senior UX consultant

Robert, you have a background in psychology. How does this background help you in your work as a UX consultant?

What has always fascinated me is observing people who observe other people. During my studies, I focused on perceptual and engineering psychology. For example, I wanted to find out why certain things aren’t possible for certain people and what the consequences are (e.g., the duration of the yellow phase at traffic lights). After working on usability testing and analyzing large amounts of data in my first jobs, I learned in the Design Thinking course at HPI to examine the problem space, not just to evaluate it, but to understand the problem. That’s how you arrive at completely different, better solutions. Even now, as a UX consultant, my focus remains on the discovery phase.

Product development is marked by time and performance pressures. Why is it so important to give the problem space?

It’s not always possible to delve deeply into the problem space, but it’s always important to ask critical questions, and to do so as methodically as possible. This can also happen very quickly.

As an external consultant, I have to quickly acquire subject matter expertise and truly understand what users are actually doing. Sure, a technical onboarding process with lots of documents works too, but ultimately I need to know what the people who use the product every day are actually doing. All it takes is five contacts. These people briefly show me the product, and then I let them talk: How is the product integrated into their broader workflow, and where are the pain points? 

It’s often the case that problems lie at the beginning and end of the user journey, not with the product itself. For example, stumbling blocks can also arise from poor preparation of the data that feeds into the product. The product isn’t to blame, but it has to deal with it. Things like this are easily overlooked. That’s where taking a broader view and talking to people helps. Pure usability errors can be quickly identified and resolved, but larger underlying problems can make the real difference.

And: The added value of good UI design is harder to demonstrate than that of a feature that truly solves a pain point. The impact is greater, and success comes faster and is more significant. Thinking outside the box and driving innovation, that’s what discovery is all about.

Do you have any specific tips and methods for the discovery phase?

First off: Don’t be afraid of research. Approach it carefully and in small steps. People often think everything has to be methodologically flawless, but especially in the beginning, it’s enough to stay as close to home as possible: Talk to customer support, for example. Or simply ask, “Hey, if you have people on the line who have an interesting problem and are willing to talk, why not send them our way?” That way, you’ll gain valuable insights without any recruitment costs. You can also get creative. Go to a bike shop and talk to people who interact with your users.

Here’s a second tip: Bring your team closer to the users, too, especially in situations where team members are working on something completely new or are far removed from the customers. Let them conduct interviews themselves, often just one is enough. Keep it very low-key, with a simple guide consisting of five questions and without much effort. Whether they conduct the interview themselves or just sit in and listen, very often something clicks. The impressions foster empathy; they stick with you in a completely different way. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you can’t truly understand it. 

This is also confirmed by my colleague Christian, who wrote an article about how important it is to experience research firsthand. He explains how, by gathering user feedback themselves, teams not only make better decisions but also develop a deeper understanding of the needs of the people who actually use the product.

What was the most exciting puzzle you’ve had the chance to solve so far?

It’s always exciting because I’m almost never an expert in the field. One project that sticks in my mind, partly because it failed, was for a bank: it involved AI-supported investment advice. That was 7–8 years ago, a long way from ChatGPT. It was a project that garnered a lot of internal attention. Our briefing: Create a great design as part of the proof of concept. But as good UX professionals, we also delved into the problem space, simply because taking a holistic view of the topic is our job. We conducted five interviews and stumbled upon a fundamental problem. Users were unsettled and asked themselves, “Can a computer really give me trustworthy advice about my money?” But that wasn’t important at all to the stakeholders. Direct quote: “It has to look awesome, preferably with animations.” But it was clear: No one would use it in this form, given the lack of trust. The proof of concept was then scrapped internally. Yet with a product like that, we could have been way ahead of everyone else.

Where is the field of UX consulting headed?

I think stakeholder management continues to be underestimated as part of UX work. We can accomplish a great deal because we approach things from a human perspective. We understand stakeholders, end users, and the business. We can also be very helpful here with the right methods. Something as simple as a stakeholder map can be very eye-opening and free up a lot of time. It takes just an hour to complete, and afterward, it’s clear who you should coordinate with and who you shouldn’t. It’s so easy to set priorities for everyone and free up resources for other things. We can quickly assess different types of people, best of all when we’re brought along and can speak directly with them.

Why are people looking forward to working with you?

I’m very organized and like to start by getting up to speed on my own first. Then I like to pick up the phone and enjoy face-to-face conversations. I think agendas and thorough preparation are important; I always take a moment to reflect on whether my presence is necessary for the meeting and what I hope to achieve. 

How do you unwind, and what gives you energy?

We love nothing more than taking the camper out, the three of us, as a small family, in a tight space. It’s cozy, sometimes exhausting, and when it gets to be too much, we can still quickly give each other some space. I love the freedom, we decide on the spot whether to move on or stay put. And spending so much time outdoors: building a little fire, feeling the wind, especially in places like the rugged Baltic Sea coast in the fall or in Brittany. There are no distractions there; I can really step back and clear my head.

Read more about Robert here.