About the Speaker
James is a researcher by background, but wears several hats: strategist, product manager, community designer & coach. He was UX Research Director at YouTube/Google, Product Manager at eBay, and Head of Research at cxpartners.
James is founder of Together By Design, a volunteer action research collective with a mission: help people around the world to create & nurture healthy communities, using the tools of experience design. He’s also working on a project to crowdsource future directions for UX research, and consults as Fractional UX Director.
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Freeze-dried backpacking food, a finance app, a wobbly photo booth, the perfect coffee mug – all made by people who were "just" researchers. In his new article, James talks to 21 of them about the quiet shift from understanding problems to building the solutions themselves. The surprising part: the real barrier isn't tools or skills, it's identity – and the path is often harder on the other side, not easier.
