I have really learned so much from Indi’s courses. While I knew I would gain knowledge that would help me understand my clients and their true needs, I had no idea how much her process has helped me in life (especially the listening course).

— Cindy Lowrey, 1-Feb-2020

I absolutely loved the course and especially live sessions. It is a life changing experience. I’m going to recommend people who work for me take your class and working sessions. I believe this would contribute to their professional development and shape their view of the world in profound ways.

— Alla Seleznova, 9-May-2024

What started for me as a way to extend my research tools turned out to be a total life-turning experience that helped me both be a better researcher and a better person who understands humans around me more profoundly.

— Maria Mishchenko, 1-Jul-2020

Inclusive and accessible: The courses are designed so that a huge variety of profiles and situations can have access, trying to avoid bias. It is designed for different types of learning, poor vision or ear impairment, non-native English speakers, variable economic contexts and different time zones.
How?
• Generous with price scaling according to country context.
• Indi speaks super correctly, and her pronunciation, rhythm, cadence, and diction are easy to follow for those of us who are not English speakers.
• Perfect audio speed; if you want to speed up you can still understand it perfectly.
• Video platform allows subtitles and human-created transcripts are available.
• Downloadable slides & quizzes in color or grayscale.
• Indi describes diagrams and images on the screen, so audio-only access works.
• Video accompanied by a clean, clear presentation with a unified corporate image.
• Beautiful and careful illustrations.

— AnaMaría PardoPachón, 15-Jan-2025

I’ve taken short online courses from renowned brands or international universities, but Indi’s course series has been the single most useful series I’ve ever taken, never mind if it didn’t have some sort of global accreditation. She takes a lot of time, energy and effort to make it useful, practical and also brings her practitioner experience to the lessons.

More than just the learning I have received, I have been able to use the skills acquired through Indi’s training to take up paid projects that have paid enough for me to sustain my personal expenses for more than six months – no kidding :) I think this is the single most valuable impact I have seen deriving from taking Indi’s training. My clients have commented that the research approach is valuable and they have changed the way they do their business because of the research insights shared.

Then there’s the Slack community that you’ll have access to, forever. I often learn a lot from the community even after completing the course, and they always have my back whenever I have questions in my work. Some have even accompanied me through online dry runs of my talk! I really appreciate this community and I have Indi to thank for her amazing work and heart :)

— PL, 5-Apr-2021

It is coherent between what it says it offers and how it is delivered. You will finally understand how to collect good raw material, how to analyze it in a rigorous and systemic way, and understand why there are no shortcuts to get down to business.
Hands-on and (real) knowledge transfer:
• Both oral explanations and presentations are detailed to ensure we understand the nuances.
• Carefully designed exercises for learning purposes and knowledge transfer.
• There is no redesign of the canvas. It is simple and deep: you are going to use Excel.
• Indi is careful to offer trigger warnings on some example topics.
• Indi is generous with her knowledge and time.
• Quizzes are very useful.
• Demanding in dedication and practice, detailed exercises that lead to real and deep practice both in the self-paced course (with answers included), as well as in the Practice Group sessions.
• I love it when there is a broader explanation, context, theory and then the step-by-step details of the process.
If you want to have a (complete) vision and at the same time go down into the mud, dedicating time to it, this is for you. If what you are looking for is a mainstream course on research and quickly, this is not for you.

— AnaMaría PardoPachón, 20-Jan-2025

I’ve just bought the Kindle version of “Time to Listen” and can’t believe how much value I can get from it. It’s like a treasure I found. It is changing me.

— David Szabo, 24-Apr-2024

These techniques feel like a ‘best kept secret’ — all product managers should read this to ensure they’re solving the right problem.

— Eliana Ghantous, 29-Apr-2024

Customer Experience is now a key competitive differentiator; however, to truly stand out, organizations need to have and apply empathy for their customers.

This wonderfully insightful book teaches us why empathy is important, how to gain it, and how to apply it within our businesses.

— Richard Dalton,

Understanding the ‘story of why’ is exactly the strategy we use to align our product roadmaps. Indi’s guide is clear and helpful, and shows how to develop empathy for users.

— Eric Fain,

Practical Empathy will convince designers and product managers how and why empathy is a key ingredient to both product innovation and organizational success.

— Sam Ladner,

As a designer, manager, husband, and parent, a lot of people will tell you that you should listen more, but few are able to show you how it’s done. Practical Empathy analyzes in great detail what kind of mindset leads to serious listening. If you do a lot of interviews, you will already follow many of the mentioned principles unconsciously. To see the principles of listening and understanding uncovered and made clear is a powerful help to the daily activity of anyone working in the design business.

— Oliver Reichenstein,

Practical Empathy is a straightforward guide to extracting greater ROI from the squishiness of empathy.

— Harry Max,

Your product design should be informed by a deep understanding of user goals. In Practical Empathy, Indi outlines a way of working that goes beyond data-driven research methods to deliver genuine empathy for the people who use the things we make.

— Karen McGrane,

Indi Young’s new book is a welcome addition, covering an aspect of the design process that is extremely important but often neglected. The book is chock-full of practical advice derived from real-world development projects, but doesn’t lose sight of the broad conceptual underpinnings.

— Ray Valdes,

Mental models reveal all those things that should be obvious during the design process, but so often come back to haunt you later. Indi’s book provides a systematic and invaluable means for applying mental models; having used her method on many large projects, I’m a true believer.

— Camille Sobalvarro,

Mental Models offers a practical set of techniques for task analysis in the early stage of design thinking and strategic design planning. Developed over the course of more than ten years, Indi Young’s common sense approach focuses on user behavior, diagrammatic representations, and the participation of all stakeholders in collaborative discovery. It is a book that designers and students, alike, will find useful.

— Richard Buchanan,

At Dow Corning, Mental Models offer understanding at many levels—from a high level overview of customers’ generic unmet needs, to providing a detailed examination of the atomic tasks that they carry out as part of their jobs. So too for this indispensable book—it offers both a high level overview of the value of Mental Models for executives and leaders, as well as a detailed step-by-step guide to the technique for practitioners. Indi has eloquently captured the essence of Mental Models and offers her unrivaled experience to everyone.

— Simon Parker,

Having everyone receive consistent training and expert coaching has been immensely helpful. It motivated folks because it was special to get some individualized coaching–job perk.

— Becky Reed, Aug-2012

I went to Indi for coaching on how to explain to my boss how problem space research can help in a large enterprise organization. We’re constantly in sprints and can’t do deep problem space research.

Indi helped me adapt our sprints and show my internal clients that underlying thinking, emotions, and guiding principles are what matter most in enduring research. These internal clients are surprised and happy with the results.

— Steve Grieshaber, 1-Dec-2019

One of the hardest parts of research is selling how important it is. Indi’s emphasis on collaboration rather than persuasion helped us convey how the research would help them achieve their goals.

Indi takes the time to hear everyone out on my qualitative research team, clears up confusion, and makes a clear explanation of next steps.

— Steve Grieshaber, 30-Apr-2019

I engaged Indi to review the scoping of my first problem space research project. She quickly understood the nuances and provided targeted recommendations to focus the study. Indi’s approach was thorough, supportive and personable.

Indi’s expert advice helped me feel confident. Tapping into Indi’s depth of experience on all things research and design strategy is always so insightful. It continues to shape my research practices today.

Thank you for guiding my team and I to deliver a great outcome for our client!

— Tafida Negm, 1-Feb-2020

What I loved about coaching with Indi was that she had the uncanny ability to pack insights into every minute of our coaching. Each session gave me an endless supply of things to work towards.

— Taylor Garland, 1-Jun-2019

Indi is great at reminding me what’s important and how to work from the bottom up to synthesize problem space patterns instead of using my biases to fit things into categories from the top down.

— Steve Grieshaber, 1-Aug-2020

I already had read the books and some articles, so watching these sessions motivated me to practice and see what I can get done with the listening sessions.

— Renato Caliari, 21-Jun-2018

After your deep listening training you’ll be equipped with a set of techniques that you can practice while talking to people. It takes time for them to internalize, as indi herself mentions. She still practices.

You’ll learn really deep foundational kind of research techniques and even get to practice them via the exercises Indi gives. But don’t expect that you’ll magically be able to apply them at your fast-paced workplace. It will take time.

— Raghav Agrawal, 2-Nov-2018

Great course for learning how to connect at a deeper level with a person before conducting a formal user interview.

— Susan B, 26-Aug-2019

The courses have a lot of information and provide good value for the time commitment.

— David Bixby, 5-Sep-2019

Just do it! It is awesome! The content is academic and practical at the same time, and it pushed me out from my comfort zone.

— Amyris Fernandez, 20-Nov-2020

Indi’s listening session approach is a great learning opportunity if you are already practicing user research and want to refine your skills and expand your perspective on research.

— Raffaella Roviglioni, 27-May-2021

Listening deeply allows you the time to dive deep into another’s inner thinking with them — to understand their reactions and reasoning. Here is where you find the ‘why’ of decision-making.

Listening deeply feels like dancing or snow skiing with someone who’s leading the way. It’s so fun to follow and a privilege to reach this level of thinking.

— Gerry Wunsch, 21-Apr-2022

This course was truly impactful for me. It completely transformed my approach to user research and product development. If you’re looking to deepen your skills in this area, I highly recommend checking it out.

— Eliana Ghantous, 29-May-2024

At the end of each listening session, participants tell me how comfortable they felt while chatting with me and how smooth and unscripted it was. One even told me that he loved how I kept referring to what he said earlier (the pull tabs!).

As Indi predicted some participants were willing to stay longer than an hour. The one that touched me the most was the participant who told me that the session helped her gain more clarity.

— Funmilayo Obasa, 22-Feb-2024

Its so informative and helpful to work confidently as a UX designer

— Sonali, May-2024

I recommend. At the begining of 1st course I had some douts as it seeemed too sophisticated and philisofical but to the end of the course I feel this is what I always lacked during my researches – assurance I’m not bringing my perspective and biases while analysing.

— Halyna Kovalisko. P. S. Many-many thanks for prices for Ukraininans. I appreciate a lot! I would not be able to affort it otherwise esp as I’m in the maternity leave now., 23-Jun-24

Go for it!

— Daiana, 26-Aug-24

I’ll be honest, this approach is both liberating and terrifying at first – as someone who’s been doing some version of in-depth interviewing for a long time, diving in without research questions and an interview guide feels like cliff diving!

But the results are better. The conversations focus on topics that are most important to people, rather than what the researcher thinks might be important. The techniques taught in the course ensure we’re accessing people’s specific memories and experiences, which provides more dependable, valid data. I’d encourage any product designer or delivery team to take a look at Indi’s course and make time to practice better listening and sensemaking when doing research with people.

— Melissa Tullio, Feb-2025

The course Listening Deeply a great way to learn how listening skills are strong techniques for developing empathy. Indi has written a book about listening sessions, which is great too! I highly recommend both!

I took the Listening Deeply course in hope of improving how things are done at work, and I’m thoroughly surprised how these skills apply to every aspect of my life.

Practicing the lessons taught in the course is hard, but important. It has been valuable, considering how well I’m able to connect with people now.

— anonymous, 2-Nov-2018

Listening sessions are unlike any other design research that we’re used to. They have more in common with formal ethnography or therapy rather than with user interviews. But that shouldn’t scare you away. This makes them truly worthwhile.

Listening sessions are a very challenging and rewarding approach, whether your purpose is to work through a challenge with a colleague or to deepen your understanding of people your company serves.

There is no better person than Indi to teach you how to go beyond generalities with people and really understand their perspectives.

— Sonja, 14-Nov-2018

Definitely do it. It’s excellent to improve your skillset in design and in life.

— Bibiana Nunes, 27-Aug-2019

Prepare to reevaluate how you have been listening to people you want to learn from as you are preparing for – and executing on – creating experiences.

The conventional way of understanding people is good, up to a certain point. But greatness really comes from focusing on purpose and letting the conversation meander, with light guidance, to meaning.

Helping people articulate their values, steering them in a thoughtful and empathic way, is a skill and art that will take practice, which starts in the course and that you will be driven to apply afterwards.

— Lija Hogan, 16-Nov-2020

1. You don’t need to take the classes in order, but I recommend starting with Listening Deeply. It will help you understand and appreciate everything that comes later.

2. Be prepared to have your preconceptions challenged and your definition of research modified and expanded. But you’ll emerge wanting to do problem space research and deep listening all the time.

— Amy Silvers, 23-Nov-2020

Listening deeply expands innovation pipelines with knowledge of how people think beyond your offering. A greenfield for sustainability & inclusion.

Listening deeply enables creating value propositions for a wider range of perspectives and bringing teams together in understanding others.

— Augusto Bianchi, 21-Apr-2022

Deep listening flips the traditional interview structure by allowing the participant to lead the conversation. No longer are we placing them on the spot to answer our questions, but allowing them to speak on experiences pertinent to them.

— Hanan Abdisubhan, 21-Apr-2022

Take it!!! It’s super valuable, and this is clearly the future of problem space research.

— Savina Hawkins, 5-Dec-2023

If you have to choose one course as a UX Researcher, then this is it. This is the only course that truly puts people at the centre of UX Research and teaches you how to analyse people’s inner experience, in relation to your product, and provide long term data for your product strategy.

— Bertus Kock, 6-Mar-2024

This is next level UX Research. As a user researcher you should take this course not only to reflect on your own techniques and to train yourself in really listening. Above that it will help you to see the potential for yourself to support a systemic change in the way products & services are developed.

— Salome Keller, 1-Jun-24

This is a foundational course that will teach you how to attune and listen to others in ways that are meaningful and productive. It will make you a better researcher, colleague, and even friend.

— Andrew Majek, 15-Aug-24

Go for it if you need to learn how to talk to people!

— Bolívar Escobar, 25-Sep-24

There is no other training like this for user researchers that want to learn how to listen, understand, and empathize with people.

Be sure to make enough time to see the recordings. Plan to watch them twice to make sure everything is well understood.

Consider a group discount to get training with other people in the company so you can discuss the sessions and practice listening homework together.

— Maria P. Arrilucea, 2-Nov-2018

Everyone in Design should sign up – writers, editors, researchers, designers, design leads – because we can all learn from listening deeper! So often we’re loaded with our own assumptions in all the conversations we come to.

This course has helped me to be more aware of my own judgements, assumptions, and helped allow me to filter in my mind, what I should say (or not say) before speaking so that I can be a better, deeper listener.

— Pei Ling Chin, 26-Aug-2019

A Listening session is more than a research method, it is a practice that make you notice how people speak and how you listen them, which helps you connect better with other humans in every scenario.

— Raul, 28-Aug-2019

Listening to another person, really just listening, hearing how they think, deeper than the usual opinions, where significance and stories show up (origins of ideas and paths, turningpoints…) is something you have to experience.

No one taught us how to do this. If you’re doing research, you have to take this class, and from Indi.

— Alex, 19-Nov-2020

It’s important and beyond what most people in this industry do when they do research. It’s an actual methodology to practice and improve upon. It’s not just stenography.

— Steve Grieshaber, 23-Nov-2020

A listening session is an open conversation that explores the inner thinking of a persons lived experience to reveal their inner cognition and purpose, offering the ability to fully explore and understand a problem space.

— Domoni Mainstone, 21-Apr-2022

Through this course I learned to listen and distinguish peoples opinions from what they really think and feel. Got plenty of opportunities to practice building questions and safe space that helps to explore core of what person thinks and feels.

— Alicja Marcinek, 13-May-2024

TAKE IT. Take it now. Because you’re probably doing this wrong, and you’ll be thankful to know how to do it better.

— Joan Vermette, 14-Dec-2023

Thank you for the incredibly thoughtful and intentional energy and expertise you put into this course.

— Sydney C., 29-Mar-2024

If you have a sound understanding about how to conduct one-on-one interviews, this will take your skills to the next level: it’s the next step in your journey.

(Yes, I know this course isn’t about “interviewing” but I think this is how many recognize this research method.)

— Chris McGee, 19-Jun-24

Go for it, this is a very empowering course I feel like every human-centered practitioner should definitely do

— Gao, 24-Aug-24

It’s very interesting and challange! Makes you think every time you are talking to someone…but it’s not an easy methods and requires practice

— Joana Baptista, 19-Dec-24

You will learn how to get a deep understanding of people. This is something that probably nobody else has ever taught you. If you’re truly interested in getting the most out of your research interviews, then this course is a must! What you’ll learn is not only a valuable professional skill but also a life skill.

— Sonja, 14-May-2018

Indi’s training has transformed the way I think about patients and products I design for them. Thank you for sharing this wisdom, knowledge and experience!

— Gosia, 2-Jan-2019

If you read Indi’s books and want more, take this class.

— Francesca Barrientos, 10-Feb-2019

This data synthesis process seems richer compared to others that I have used. It is a method where it feels like you are really applying empathy.

— Zulaikha Rahman, 1-Mar-2021

Do it now, but spare some time for homework!

— anonymous, 5-Mar-2021

It’s a great way to learn a systematic way to summarize the deep concepts in transcripts, and get practice doing so

— Cindy Merrill, 9-Mar-2021

Definitely take this course to learn how to analyze qualitative data. A lot of times, stakeholders think that we have to do site visits to understand our customers. Instead, Indi’s method is about understanding people’s intentions through deep listening and site visits are not necessary.

— Julia Cowing, 20-Mar-2021

This is a rigorous, structured approach to get more value from qualitative research (listening sessions, interviews etc.). The course guides you step-by-step with ample opportunities to put your learning into practice and useful resources to refer back to.

— Phil Bickerdike, 22-Aug-2024

This analysis method is very comprehensive and quite rigorous. It’s a great foundation for research practice.

— Dana Lynn, 6-Feb-2020

The framework you will learn here is invaluable whether or not your end-goal is mental-models. It helps you divide the shapeless mass of an interview into purposefully formatted chunks. These will then enable you to have meaningful discussions about qualitative data. Not only that, you will also learn what makes for a rich and useful listening session.

— Yousef Kazerooni, 14-May-2018

This is a great way to further your skills, whether you are two years into your career or longer. I’m excited to use these new skills in my next applicable project. It was so refreshing to learn something actually useful and new instead of going to a conference where you might find one thing you could maybe use.

Tip: make sure you set about 3 hours aside each week for this (recordings + exercise).

— Jordan Smith, 31-Jan-2019

Not only did Indi’s course teach me a new method for coding transcripts, but also showed me how to be an overall better interviewer. I found myself asking better questions, probing deeper, and listening more intently. I left the class a markedly better researcher than when I started.

— Josh Rosenberg, 1-Nov-2019

A structured way of analysing interviews, quite helpful for researchers who have been in the field for some time.

— Sridhar, 3-Mar-2021

Nuanced and refined tools in order to sense the deeper meaning and purpose in research data … inspiring, refreshing and energizing!

— Manuel Dahm, 5-Mar-2021

This particular course is about finding the gems into ore. It’s about keen attention to the words, intonations, emotions, meanings and principles whether obvious or hidden. I look forward to learn how that findings will sum up into patterns and models.

Course series in general is changing personal lens. So you think, see, plan, communicate with your users and stakeholders differently.

— Natalia Harzu, 9-Mar-2021

If affinity mapping is primarily how you or your team synthesize data, stop and immediately take this course. Indi breaks down how to mine more evergreen, strategic data from listening sessions with incredibly helpful tips that can only come from decades of practical experience. It’s immediately actionable. As an accounting undergrad with a sociology minor years ago and newer UX professional, this class has helped to backfill gaps in my data synthesis skills. My confidence that my org’s qualitative data can be used more strategically over the coming years – not just 1 or 2 sprints – is radically higher. My head is wonderfully exploding with all the ways that I can implement what I’ve learned into an immature UX environment.

Also, the learning is broken into chunks that can be digested before work or at lunch.

— Kara Snyder, 8-Jan-2023

Part 1: Qualitative Data Synthesis gave me capabilities I had been craving as a self-taught UX Researcher. It showed me how to draw data from a transcript in a reproducible way and how to represent another human’s inner world with care and nuance. The course is one-of-a-kind in its equal focus on rigor and empathy, and I recommend it highly!

— Sarah Caplan, 23-Aug-2024

Part 1: Concepts & Summaries helps you break down people’s thinking into it’s core elements, allowing you to capture the full-depth of what people say. Without a doubt, the skills from this training series improved my ability to turn my research into impactful insights that help organizations step into their audiences’ shoes.

— Eddie Fernandez, 15-May-2018

Very hands-on. You’ll need mental stamina to get the most out of coursework but it’s a valuable learning experience! Don’t expect to sit back and absorb information.

— Hannah, 5-Feb-2019

I’ve taken short online courses from renowned brands and international universities, but Indi’s course has been the single most useful course I’ve ever taken. The most valuable impact: my clients have commented that the research approach is valuable and they have changed the way they do their business because of the research insights shared.

I often learn a lot from the Slack community even after completing the course, and they always have my back whenever I have questions in my work. Some have even accompanied me through online dry runs of my talk!

— Pei Ling Chin, 1-Mar-2021

This course will help you understand people’s mindset and decision-making process when they try to accomplish something. You will be able to reduce bias significantly, working towards a much clearer picture from which to make decisions.

— Augusto Bianchi, 4-Mar-2021

Fills in one important missing piece of the puzzle: how to generate reliably valid qual insights from interviews. I have been looking since I started this career.

— Greg Hamilton, 6-Mar-2021

This course provides a structured methodology to guide your research process, focused on capturing the main aspects of what people think and feel in a methodic and efficient way by combing interview transcripts

— Tomás Ottolenghi, 10-Mar-2021

I loved this approach of looking at data. It validated so many parts of how I was approaching it earlier, which was truly great for me.

— Leena Jain, 11-Jul-2024

1) This was very rigorous, more so than Listening Deeply. 2) This provides a sound structure for doing data synthesis if you’re lacking a sophisticated and organized way of doing it, or are just not satisfied with how you are doing it today. 3) Like listening deeply, this course brings your skills to the next level

— Chris McGee, 15-Dec-2024

Go for it!! The material is really rich and you are able to directly use all the things you learned from this course

— anonymous, 29-Mar-2019

Great course, the small group means intimate setting in learning. Indi’s experience in both teaching and practicing just shows. If you think you “know it all” or are already good at qualitative research / problem space research, think again. :) Personally feel I have gained alot of wisdom not just professionally but personally as well. A series of courses that you probably can keep coming back to listen. Our minds are a tricky pesky monster to train. :)

— Yan Huang, 10-Feb-2020

This course has a different approach to qualitative analysis, much more comprehensive of actual human emotions and thinking patterns. Indi’s content is not the same cliche you usually find around the internet when it comes to teaching UX disciplines, instead, it’s new and very specific, as well as very detailed. It completely changes the way we are used to approach qualitative research.

— Marina Leite, 15-Apr-2021

You will come away with a deep understanding and gut feel for how to apply these methods to your own projects. Plus, the way Indi teaches is delightful and full of the nuance that usually gets scrubbed out of such polished presentation.

— Francesca Barrientos, 11-Oct-2023

Instead of hoping that Agile will randomly lead you to your product value, why don’t you let it emerge from your user sessions through proper emergent pattern analysis? Just take the course.

— Bertus Kock, 27-Oct-2023

It’s the only advanced user research course you can find online. The format is very engaging. You have weekly meetings in a small group where Indi teaches new concepts through hands-on activities. The best part is the weekly course exercises, which reinforces learning and gives you a taste of how to put news skills/knowledge to practice.

— Gosia, 5-Apr-2019

I wish I would have discovered these courses earlier in my career. The care put into the content is evident, and the depth and nuance is unparalleled. I would highly recommend Indi Young’s work, and her video training makes concepts she writes about come alive and easier to grasp.

— Mo Goltz, 19-Feb-2020

It helps you add a layer of analysis to the clustering of learnings from interviews or other listening techniques, focused on avoiding biases

— Tomás Ottolenghi, 16-Apr-2021

It’s worth it, but don’t load your schedule up with too much else during the modules because you have a lot of homework to do between the recorded lectures and the exercises.

— Allison Ault, 12-Oct-2023

Just do it.

— Markus Eklund, 14-Nov-2023

Indi’s course had an immediate impact on my skillset. I left the class a noticeably improved researcher!

— Josh Rosenberg, 1-Feb-2020

Even if you’ve been a ux research practitioner for long, this course will show you how to let data speak for itself and how to group findings without bias.

— Augusto Bianchi, 15-Apr-2021

Feel more confident in your qual skills by learning how do to do bottom up analysis. You will learn to conduct inclusive research (minimize biases), and you will see your shorter, one-time research more clearly.

— Julia Cowing, 18-Apr-2021

You will learn not just to find affinities and cultivate patterns, you’ll also learn to capture the focus of the mental attention of the research participants and you’ll avoid to stain the participant’s quotes with words from your own mind.

— Miguel Baeza, 17-Oct-2023

The give-and-take gave me the impression that I was part of something that’s still evolving, which is exciting. Those of us applying problem space research to our work are part of the evolution. Each engaged student becomes part of how this fluid process is taught, and how it may be practiced in the future.

— Cindy Lowrey, 15-May-2019

The training is a great way to expand how you conduct user research. Indi teaches you how to conduct your studies and analyze your data so that you’re getting to the heart of the users’ problems and better understanding their needs. I hadn’t realized how much rich data I’ve been missing about users just by how personas have been created and used.

— anonymous, 28-May-2019

Go for it. It’s all useful and better than the NNG courses I’ve been on.

— Oliver Shreeve, 4-Jun-2021

I would say: be ready to work hard. Practice is 80% what you get (I think I’m repeating, but it’s true). Next, I would say that all courses have a really practical impact and I would recommend taking all courses one by one to get a whole picture. I love our group work, despite it wasn’t easy for me due to my quite poor spoken English. But write it again: no doubt it was a great experience. This course helps me to tackle personas-story, so I can see them in 3D.

— Natalia Harzu, 6-Jun-2021

Do it! You learn so much in just a few weeks. And though it’s online, it’s very interactive and personal, not at all like a webinar. And there’s homework that Indi actually checks!

— Francesca, 15-May-2019

It’s a better way to look at the people you want to design for, based on real and not made up data.

— Bibiana, 10-Apr-2020

If you want your product research to add meaningful value to people, this course is a must.

— Bertus Kock, 5-Jun-2021

It would depend on how much experience they had. I think for me, (someone with academic training as well as a decade of experience) it was inspiring yet very challenging. The concepts are complex and the level of psychic energy required (deep empathy practice) is demanding. I wish I had more time to read and absorb and sit with it all. I wish I had been given more instruction on how to prepare (mainly readings). I realised too late how important the suggested readings would have been for me to hit the ground running. I wish I had known that lectures were more likely to be three hours long, rather than than two-hour period I was expecting. So if this was a new field for someone, I would warn them that they might feel overwhelmed and out of their depth. And I would tell them it is closer to 5 hours of work a week and to do all the reading before the course starts.

I just scanned the next question and realised I have focused on the more constructive side of feedbacking :-)

I want to emphasise the inspiration part of the course for me. The way that I felt reminded me of when I was doing social policy evaluation research at university, back in the mid 2000s. I felt hopeful and a connection to a meaningful way of understanding humans and working towards change. Working in various, commercially driven industries over the years can grind this hope out of you. Hollow incentives like KPIs, NPS, “diversity” boards etc can wear you down. And maybe I’m just getting more cynical in my older years. So yeah, hearing, seeing and practicing a way of bringing true empathy to UX research felt exciting and hopeful. I also really love the structure of the method overall. It can feel like such chaos sometimes, drowning in an ocean of transcripts (and I like that you embrace a certain amount of that) so to have a set of tools and practices to help you swim through it all felt like tangible hope.

— Aria, 17-Jun-2021

It was great to work with Indi. She is a pioneer in the field of qualitative studies. She also came from a developer background which is useful when you are involved in software projects.

— Dana Lynn, 16-May-2019

Just do it.

— Yannis Masouras, 2-Jun-2021

You should do the course because it’s a unique way to improve your way to uncover what you’re missing about your users when you’re doing research.

— Miguel Baeza, 5-Jun-2021

You are an awesome educator and thought leader. I really appreciate your positive and supportive approach to everything you do. You never make someone feel inadequate for not knowing something. Which unfortunately isn’t something people of influence always do.

— Rachel, 8-Feb-2024

Framing Your Study is a brilliant course! Are you struggling to define the right scope for your study and how to get the right people? The class is very hands-on—you have the chance to practice on your own project and get Indi’s feedback.

— Sonja, 24-Oct-2019

If you’re struggling in your research scoping and recruitment, this is the course for you. Indi doesn’t make your recruitment magically easier, but she helps you understand what’s important to prioritise to minimise the challenges.

— Pei Ling Chin, 4-Nov-2019

If you are doing research already, sign up to get exposed to perspectives & approaches that can really push your thinking. If you are new, sign up to get step-by-step guidance on the research process and become confident doing it yourself.

— Zulaikha Rahman, 9-Oct-2020

Use your own (or optionally someone else’s) research project in the exercises with real feedback from Indi. It’s like getting a step-by-step framework with Indi as teacher + mentor + coach + consultant. I’m not sure you could do better.

If this type of qualitative research is new to your organization, I hope you’re excited by the prospect of learning a path for stepping out of the status quo research methods by going deeper.

— Jim Thornton, 13-Oct-2020

The greatest qualities we bring to our work are radiantly on display in Indi. It lets others feel safe to exude their own passion. I’ve seen humility & infinite curiosity to understand the people with purpose. There’s hope for the future.

I’ve encouraged many to take these courses.

— Jennifer Strickland, 1-Nov-2019

It covers fundamentally important things: what is solid screening strategy and why this type of research is important! It is full of spot-on tips and advice. I do user research daily and I was able to enrich my practice since class one!

— Olena Bulygina, 6-Nov-2019

– Try to free your mind for pure non-judgmental perception.
– Be ready to be surprised.
– Try to overcome shyness and communicate more with other participants (I didn’t manage it properly) – this is also very valuable.

Set aside time each day (1-2 hours) for reading and preparing for the course. Do not try to do your homework in one sitting.

— Svetlana Ratner, 10-Oct-2020

If people and purpose resonates deeply with the work you do, please sign up for this class.

— Vanitha Shankar, 17-Sep-2021

If you want to learn how to do the user research the right way from an incredible person, who will also have a huge impact on your life in general, then don’t ask “why,” just sign up!

— Gosia, 2-Nov-2019

I tell people about the course when I think what they’re doing would benefit from understanding the problem more.

— Anita Shervington, 8-Oct-2020

This is really worth it, but be ready to work hard. It would be better to be prepared (read medium, books, etc). But this is really worth it! :-) and… you could be flooded and drown :-)

— Natalia Harzu, 11-Oct-2020

Thank you for real examples and exercises which do not include tasks with obvious answers but make people think and discuss.

— Yulia, 1-Aug-2022

I was worried about it being too advanced, but I felt comfortable within the first day. I like that Indi encourages challenging questions. Thank you for making it accessible (and a lot of fun) even for newbies!

— Anna Malysheva, 1-Jul-2020

Your course had a great influence on me personally as an individual who makes daily decisions to build digital products.

I am grateful to Indi for offering her training at a price reachable for people who don’t have US dollar salaries.

— Raul Loureiro, 1-Jul-2020

This course brings a enriching perspective to the design principles that we may be using regularly. By putting empathy at the core, it inspires you to understand how to make the existing practices more people-focused. You are able to look at design frameworks and make them more empathetic and meaningful for the people we are designing for. I took all the courses in this series and this course brought it all together for me not only from a research perspective but also how I could merge the new learnings into my regular approach as a designer. Just trust the process & you would step out as a more confident and empathetic practitioner.

— Zulaikha Rahman, 7-Jul-2021

The most attractive thing about this knowledge repository is that it’s not at the solution level. Many teams can use it. Unlike scenarios and research notes, it’s way more organized. It’s a visual way to see the whole picture in the data. We can grow it over time, and keep track of our innovation space.

— Liya Zheng, Jul-2006

While designing software for professional tax preparers I used a number of UX methods, but none helped me more than Mental Modeling. The internal engineering team had lots of ambiguity around how to approach the many problems to solve. Consulting government SMEs clarified how they saw their work and the design process for us.

— Ben Judy, May-2016

Mental model skylines fill a giant gap. It’s easy to jump right to designing a solution when a need is found. Instead, by focusing on interior cognition and purpose the team can design the solution in abstract of its implementation. Beginning with mental models fosters incremental change and establishes a benchmark to measure against.

— Michael Kennedy, May-2016

We used mental models to determine how to categorise the vast amounts of information needed by residents, business owners, and visitors. One of the challenging issues was where to show what to do with a dead animal found on one’s lawn. We followed their mental model. Pets (dogs, cats) were part of Home section, while wild animals (raccoons, squirrels) went in the Parks section.

— Rahel Bailie, May-2016

Huge benefit to learning this method: a consistent approach, from recruiting to coding, to ensure you get empirical qualitative data.

— Kristi Leach, 23-Jan-2025

Mental model diagrams are a quicker path to team building and team alignment.

— Becky Reed, Aug-2012

I joined as an ethnographer to help a Zen buddhist meditation center figure out what it takes for people feel supported. Mental models allowed us to see clear steps along an individual’s relationship with the Center, mindful moments involving pivotal steps – getting calm, ringing a bell, sitting in silence. With these, we constructed a prototype for finding spiritual peer-mentors for meditation practice.

— Danny Spitzberg, May-2016

I have been tasked with several technical projects at Utah State. Mental models have been essential in the planning stage to determine what functionality is the most crucial and what “would be nice.” To come back weekly and look at our initial goal has proved helpful in keeping us working in the proper direction.

— Rachael Knudsen, May-2016

I came back from vacation to discover our team had presented a draft redesign to stakeholders, who were less than pleased. So we used mental models to understand each stakeholder’s concerns, context, and lens. The effect this had was amazing. The resulting presentation was so well-received we were asked to give it to the executive team. My team has used this approach over and over since.

— Tara Schnaible, May-2016

We are often asked to deliver products in a way that fails to identify and test key assumptions we’re making about the people who use our products. This can cause people real-life harm, ranging from mild to more serious impacts. Deep listening is a way to broaden how product designers and researchers think about the people who use their products. By taking time to understand peoples’ contexts, not just how they interact with a product, we’re less likely to design something that could cause harm. By taking this approach, we can ultimately gain a deeper understanding of where the opportunities lie to design better products for people.e less likely to design something that could cause harm.

— Melissa Tullio, 25-Feb-2025

I was designing for dispatchers of windmill mechanics. The existing dispatch system could cover huge geographical areas, but it didn’t take into account the pure stress of 12 hour shifts and working with high voltage high above the ground. The listening sessions helped me understand how the different dispatchers approach their processes and their pain points.

— Asaad, May-2016

We made a process for learning design that incorporates experience design. Most educational organisations are stuck using bureacratic processes meant for compliance. These days, learning crosses face-to-face and digital, centering around mobile phones. To see where we could add most value, we built a mental model, mapping the work of learning designers against supports we could put in place.

— Joyce Seitzinger, May-2016

My boss invited me to join him in Chicago for customer discovery for our data processing product. The discovery, which sometimes can get caught up in surface-level questioning, instead went deep into the cognition of each person using data for their projects. The best way to explain it back to my team was to use a mental model.

— Raheem, May-2016

The frameworks Indi teaches are truly remarkable. While there may be initial resistance from some managers, I believe that over time your methodologies will become standard practice in every product design process.

— Alla Seleznova, 9-May-2024

After reading Indi Young’s book on Mental Models I was excited to meet her and learn more about the process of her interviewing techniques. Her in-depth analysis into empathy and how it relates to making products (websites, applications, etc.) more relevant to their users was fabulous. I’d definitely go see her again.

— Cindy Lowrey, Aug-2013

Near the beginning of the talk, I made this note:
“What she’s saying is like allowing the other person to give an ‘essay’ answer instead of having ‘multiple choice’ answers in your head that they have to choose from.”
But then I realized that I was *analyzing* and not listening! So I stopped right there.

— Kim Lindsey, Aug-2013

Indi Young’s workshop really helped me distinguish the important differences between the more formal interview and a listening session. I now see the usefulness of a more organic style of really listening closely to your subject, letting them talk, and empathizing with all aspects of their experience. This is a much more effective method of gathering information than just guiding them through a series of questions and answers in a classic interview style.

— David L. Reynolds, MLIS , Aug-2013

Indi led a workshop for 30 NYC UXPA members in October 2016. Indi’s charisma and energy transcend the digital divide and she took extra care to connect with the audience one-on-one. Indi established clear learning objectives at the beginning and carefully guided the group through applied exercises. At the conclusion of the event, Indi even stuck around for the networking hour and chatted with attendees. We were so pleased to have Indi share her knowledge and appreciated the opportunity to bring her expertise to the New York community.

— Elaine Matthias, 1-Oct-2016

Indi Young is a talented and engaging speaker who brings new ideas to the UX community. She encourages others to think deeply about innovative UX concepts that are put to the test in real time during her presentations. Her mini-workshop on empathy in UX gave me a new perspective on user research. I was able to take what I learned from Indi’s workshop and apply it to my daily UX work. She is truly inspiring, and I would encourage other UX professionals to attend one of her speaking engagements.

— Dawn Burngasser, Aug-2013

I REALLY enjoyed the workshop and was so happy to have the opportunity to spend a day with you. Wonderful to have some of my approach to research and listening validated but even better to hear how you go deeper to pull comprehensive insights out of research. I now have more tools and techniques to make my practice better. Thank you so much!

— Ben Bailes, 1-Mar-2017

Thank you for sharing your sparkling and kind energy with us. I learned a lot just observing your communication style in the practice sessions. I cannot wait to attend next practice group with you.

— Alla Seleznova, 9-May-2024

I started off as a way to do something refreshing, just have conversations with people and to practice what I’m learning in real life. But I got so much more out of it. Just by trying these practices I learned so much about how to do the deep listening. I don’t think doing just seeing the course alone would have given me this level of enrichment that I got from the live practice on top of it. Together they make a great combination.

— Mennatallah Saleh, Dec-2023

Learning how to listen alongside others to talk it over with — what you find, how amazing it is, and what you find out about yourself (and how hard it is – whoa). This practice series experience was all of it.

— Alex, 28-Nov-2020

Really great course with good interaction. Make sure you dont have anything booked during the 4 live classes. I missed a class and watched the backup recording once, which wasn’t quite the same.

— anonymous, 26-Aug-2019

The Listening Session practice group was a joy to be part of. Indi was so accommodating and accessible. It was an absolute treat to have such an intimate and informative learning space, even via zoom, across the globe.

— Sasha Abram, 10-Dec-2018

The Practice Group is a great way to practice the skills you learn from the book and the course. And you get real time feedback from Indi and everyone attending the course!

— anonymous, 4-Nov-2018

Enroll as soon as a new live practice is open. It is so rich, with so much knowledge to improve not just our work as UX Researchers, but also to use in our own lives as well.

— Benício Pereira, 8-May-2024

I think the associated Practice Group should be mandatory for anyone looking to achieve the certification or even just learn. Practice makes the master, but I would like to say that this kind of practice makes you a great listener.

— Miguel Baeza, 17-Oct-2023

I really enjoyed the dynamics of the practice group meetings and the way Indi brings together people from some many countries who learn together as a knowledge-hungry team. The exercises were extremely helpful, and honestly I did not expect an online experience to be this productive and skill-boosting.

— Maria Mishchenko, 1-Jul-2020

If you really want to understand what listening deeply is and a safe place to practice, take this course and practice group.

— Francesca Barrientos, 21-Aug-2019

Good use of time – active sessions and very worthwhile. The sessions are delivered well. Indi is an expert and its a great opportunity to learn.

— Jane Cockburn, 11-Nov-2018

You’re gonna love it. The group format really helps a lot as people bring in lots of interesting questions that you could never think of and indi answers each of them patiently. That and the discussions that follow them are really invaluable and rare online. You’ll not feel rushed and left out. Indi makes sure every participant feels heard.

— Raghav Agrawal, 2-Nov-2018

Go for it! Definitely bundle it with the self-paced course (or book) for maximum learning.

— Katherine, May-2024

Thank you for the supportive atmosphere at live practice meetings and all your energy.

— Yulia, Ukraine, 1-Aug-2022

Indi’s class allows you to practice research rigor and apply what you learn in a real-world setting. A class like this is hard to come by, where you learn tactical tips to do strategic research right. You walk away learning that questions are a powerful tool of clarity and that the skills you’ve just practiced with Indi will guide you to a deeper understanding of people as people, not users.

If you don’t know which of these classes to start with, try signing up for the Live Practice that’s coming up next, which is what I did. I took “Thinking Style Segments”, and the Practice + Course was by far the most engaging course I’ve ever taken remotely. Indi brings so much energy, sheer curiosity, and her own war stories (which, by the way, are gold!) to each class that you forget it’s entirely taught online.

You’re probably here because you’re a curious person wanting to learn about doing better research. So just give any of her classes a chance and see how much you grow with it! :)

— DJ Heo, 15-May-2020

Just like the Listening Sessions themselves, Indi created a safe space for learning about each other and ourselves.

— Sasha Abram, 11-Dec-2018

Do it. It’s incredibly useful regardless of your experience. Practice meetings feel personal because the groups are small and there is plenty of opportunity for practical work to help you understand it better.

— Debbie Sit, 7-Nov-2018

I highly recommend Indi Young’s Course Certification path for current or future UX researchers. Unlike most workshops and seminars that give only an introduction to a topic or theoretical examples, Indi’s series makes you feel confident you are getting a deep level of training applicable in a professional setting.

— Steve, 2-May-2018