UX Research is one of several parts that involve the well-known UX – User Experience. This area deals with the various research activities with the aim of discovering what is not known about the business, people and even the market.

We must not forget that we are not our users. Because of this, the best way we have to understand the real pains and needs is by asking our users what they think, feel, need and dream.

UX Research is a set of techniques that seeks to investigate in depth a subject, problem, situation and answer not yet known. These are research related to discoveries, understanding of problems and needs, validations and feedback received and deep exploration, among others.

We are not our users! Because of this, we should not limit the scope and functionality of our product to the internal ideas of our organization, development team, stakeholders or even the Product Owner.

One of the most important features of this subject, in addition to the various researches in different phases of the project, is that UX Research (see here) focuses on the conversation – and that makes all the difference! It is the team's main point of contact with those who will actually use the Product.

User Experience is what a person (user) feels when interacting with an offered product or service. This knowledge describes what these users experience (good or bad) when they interact with the offered solution. UX encompasses both the user's touchpoints with the product and the user's journey through which he will navigate to the final goal.

User experience is made up of a few pillars and one of them is user research. Because of this, a user experience is only complete if people are the center of product development.
User research is required at every stage of a project. The objective is to guarantee the quality and validation of the product in the different phases.

There are several tools and stages in UX Research. For example, the discovery stage implies a set of activities and techniques performed in the initial phase of agile projects. It aims to find out more about users, products, pains and real needs. Based on the premise of total ignorance of the problem, the types of research for this stage are User interviews, usage diaries, interview with stakeholders, interviews with sales and support team and support call monitoring.

Then, the exploration phase aims to deepen the context of the product, seeking to refine the pains raised in the discovery phase, understanding the market, business, user journey and processes.

Serving as the basis for the first steps towards the solution, the exploration phase is composed of the following types of UX Research: Competitive analysis, design review, building personas, task analysis, journey mapping, feedback and paper prototype testing, previous writings of user stories, and card draw.

Once the exploration phase has been validated, it is time to validate what was done directly with the users. This validation will involve user actions using a prototype of the first version of the product.

The methods included in this phase are navigable prototype validation, qualitative usability testing (face-to-face or remote), benchmark test, accessibility assessment.

Then, once the usability testing phase has been validated and the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has been implemented, it's time to collect the first feedback from real users.

The idea here is to make mistakes as quickly as possible, understand which points need improvement in the product and act instantly. The types of UX Research methods for the feedback phase include behavioral analysis, analytical review and monitoring of metrics, search log analysis, usability bug review and FAQ review.

It is worth remembering that there is not an unquestionable best method in each phase. The idea is to choose the one that makes the most sense for the type of product, context, situation and user involved.

In my experience as a PO, I was able to prove that UX really is not just for Designers, but also for everyone involved in building a product where the final focus is to deliver value to the product or service delivered to the user. And that the Product Owner needs to be aware of.
In the model in which the Product Owner works with a UX professional, where all roles and responsibilities are well defined, the PO and UX relationship is very for the final result. In this model, the interaction between these two professionals is very close and success will depend on the final result of working together.