F'innews: Coast to Coast
October 24th: NYC Meetup Recap, Upcoming SF Researcher Happy Hour, and being the 'clean-up' crew (~3 minute read)
NYC Meetup Highlights
In September, we gathered in Brooklyn for the first UX research meetup in collaboration with F’inn. The rooftop was buzzing with energy as researchers came together to connect, share perspectives, and think differently about the work we do. The conversations pushed us to consider new ways of approaching research and to ask deeper, more open-ended questions about people and their lives.
We’re so grateful to everyone who joined us in NYC & with more to come!
SF Meetup November 5th!
We’re keeping the energy going on the west coast! On November 5th, we’ll be in San Francisco to host a casual evening for researchers to connect, share perspectives, and swap stories about the work we do. There’s no agenda, just good conversation, a mix of people from UX, market research, product, and strategy, and a space to meet others who ask “why?” for a living.
If you’re in the Bay Area, we’d love for you to join us. Come as you are and stay as long as you like!
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Clean-Up Crew
A project that’s over budget and past due, a dataset that doesn’t make sense, insights disconnected from actionable recommendations…Does any of this sound familiar?
Quite often we’ve been called in to clean up the mess left behind by another agency.
This has been true since F’inn’s beginnings, with clients saying things like…
Can you take a look at this and help me understand what is happening here?
The research isn’t landing; my stakeholders are ignoring the results
I know we didn’t go with you for this project, but now we wish we had
In these situations, by the time you realize things are going awry, a great deal of time and money has already been wasted. We understand how frustrating it is to get to this point and we’re here to help you recover and deliver what you need.
That said, these projects often become the foundation for stronger relationships. It’s a privilege that clients trust us when they need to boost the impact of a project or fix mistakes that others have made.
Our goal in these moments is simple: to do right by our clients, help them look good in front of their stakeholders, and make sure the research drives smarter business decisions.
Over the years, we’ve noticed some consistencies in service calls for the ‘clean-up crew’:
Poor data quality. The old mantra of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ is true, and if the data is full of bots, AI generated responses, or unqualified respondents, it’s worthless.
Contradictory insights. The underlying cause seems to be a narrow view of the findings, i.e. analyzing one bit of the research in isolation vs. looking at the comprehensive story.
Working in a vacuum vs. the real world. The outcomes are often interpreted as if there’s no competition, no consideration for mindshare / wallet share realities, or the presumption that humans always act / respond rationally without biases, etc.
Lack of concrete recommendations. Insights are great, however often are ‘nice to know’ if not paired with clear, actionable guidance on what to do next.
These are avoidable issues, but they have a big impact when overlooked.
Ideally, we’re brought in at the start of a project… but even when that’s not the case, we’re here to help you recover and turn things around.
