{"podcast":{"title":"Awkward Silences","slug":"awkward-silences-627406","podcast_index_feed_id":627406,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/awkward-silences","website_url":"https://www.userinterviews.com","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/g7UkhKzzBgZTL69dYK59P3alwCwZpOkrhiUZT1HZITc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzQ3NDE0LzE3MDE3/OTg5NDItYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.jpg","author":"User Interviews","episode_count":195,"summary":"Welcome to Awkward Silences by User Interviews, where we interview the people who interview people. Listen as we geek out on all things UX research, qualitative data, and the craft of understanding people to build better products and businesses. Hosted by Erin May and Carol Guest, VPs of growth/marketing and product at User Interviews. Take this survey and let us know what topics you want to hear next! userinterviews.com/awkwardsurvey","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awkward-silences-627406"},"episode":{"title":"#184 - Use Context For More Influence with Kristen DeLap of Econify","slug":"184-use-context-for-more-influence-with-kristen-delap-of-econify","published_at":"2026-03-03T15:12:52+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awkward-silences-627406/184-use-context-for-more-influence-with-kristen-delap-of-econify","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awkward-silences-627406","url":"https://podcast.userinterviews.com/episodes/184-use-context-for-more-influence-with-kristen-delap-of-econify","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/c49aa7fe/582721f6.mp3","summary":"Ben talks with Kristen DeLap, fractional COO at Econify, to explore how UX'ers can build influence without formal authority. Kristen brings a unique perspective, having evolved from interior design to leading product teams at Herman Miller and now working as an operations executive. She shares practical strategies for understanding decision-making processes, translating design work into business impact, and creating the conditions where teams do their best work. They also cover essential skills for today's design professionals, including decision literacy, stakeholder translation, and the art of challenging assumptions diplomatically. Kristen emphasizes that while AI can generate design artifacts, it cannot create alignment across teams or orchestrate complex organizational dynamics. She offers concrete tactics like using customer stories to explain roadmaps, minimizing big presentation moments in favor of ongoing stakeholder engagement, and treating colleagues like users to better understand their motivations and constraints. Highlights 11:08 Design Skills That Can't Be Replaced by AI 15:56 Decision Literacy in Organizations 21:42 Surprising Realities of Leadership Meetings 24:36 Building Influence Without Organizational Power 29:01 Storytelling via Roadmaps Exercise 35:47 What Trade Off Are You Most Uncomfortable Making Resources A Framework for Decision-Driven Research Using Research Roadshows for Influence The UX Designer's Guide to Research","meta_description":"Ben talks with Kristen DeLap, fractional COO at Econify, to explore how UX'ers can build influence without formal authority. Kristen brings a unique persp…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2374,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/awkward-silences-627406/episodes/184-use-context-for-more-influence-with-kristen-delap-of-econify/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awkward-silences-627406/184-use-context-for-more-influence-with-kristen-delap-of-econify.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}