Design Book Club #7: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
AuthorPaula Grubiša
DateJul 1, 2025
For our seventh edition, we read Just Enough Research by Erika Hall — a compact, witty, and highly practical book that cuts through the myths and fears around user research. If you’ve ever felt that research is intimidating, expensive, or “not your job” — this is the book that changes that perspective.
As summer approaches, our Design Book Club turned its focus from creative mindset to strategic thinking — exploring how research helps designers make smarter, more human-centered decisions.
For our seventh edition, we read Just Enough Research by Erika Hall — a compact, witty, and highly practical book that cuts through the myths and fears around user research. If you’ve ever felt that research is intimidating, expensive, or “not your job” — this is the book that changes that perspective.
📘 Book #7: Just Enough Research
Hall writes with clarity, humor, and just the right amount of sass. She demystifies research by showing that anyone on a design team can (and should!) do it — and that even a little bit of research is always better than none. In an industry where speed is often prioritized over understanding, Just Enough Research reminds us that rushing into solutions without talking to users is just guessing with a nicer interface.
This book is ideal for product designers, UX writers, PMs, developers — really anyone involved in shaping digital experiences. Whether you work in a tiny startup or a large organization, Hall’s advice applies across the board: ask better questions, stay curious, and don’t forget that your users are the experts in their own lives.
💡 Top Lessons Learned
🔍 You don’t need to be a researcher to do research.
Hall empowers designers to stop gatekeeping research and start doing it. Research isn’t a sacred ritual — it’s a tool anyone can use to gain clarity, quickly and affordably.
🎯 Focus on the problem, not the persona.
Instead of obsessing over fictional archetypes, Hall encourages teams to investigate real behaviors, real contexts, and real motivations. Skip the fluff — go for depth.
🧪 Good research is about patterns, not perfection.
You don’t need hundreds of interviews or a giant sample size. You just need to start, observe, and look for recurring themes that guide better design choices.
🤝 Stakeholder interviews matter.
Before jumping into user testing, talk to your internal team. Understanding internal assumptions, constraints, and goals is essential to framing research that’s actually useful.
🚫 Beware of research theater.
Hall warns against doing research just to “tick the box.” Research is only as good as the actions it inspires — so keep it honest, actionable, and lean.
🧠 Top Quotes
- “You can’t design without understanding. Otherwise, you’re just decorating.”
- “The better you understand the problem, the better the solution you can deliver.”
- “Research is how you separate the things you assume from the things you know.”
- “People are experts in their own experience — you’re there to listen, not lecture.”
- “The only thing worse than no research is fake research.”
📸 Our Meetup Recap
At our June Design Book Club meetup, the discussion was interesting, honest, and refreshingly down-to-earth — just like Erika’s writing. We shared our own research experiences (the good, the bad, and the awkward), reflected on what stops teams from doing even basic user interviews, and discussed how small shifts in process can make a big difference.
The group dove into real talk about stakeholder alignment, budget constraints, and how to ask better questions — all while laughing at Erika's dry one-liners and blunt truths.
A huge thank you to everyone who came — we love how much insight and connections this community brings to the table at every meetup.
📚 The next book on our list is…
We're wrapping up the season with a bang before our summer break! The next book we’re reading is Sprint by Jake Knapp — a hands-on guide developed at Google Ventures that teaches teams how to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days.
It’s a practical, step-by-step playbook for anyone working in digital product design, and especially relevant for teams trying to make faster decisions with less risk. If you've ever wondered how to prototype quickly, align stakeholders, or validate ideas without months of work — this is the toolkit you need.
Whether you're a startup founder, designer, PM, or researcher, Sprint will show you how to get clarity and momentum without spinning in circles. It’s the perfect summer sendoff read.
📆 The next Design Book Club meetup will happen in September, after the summer break — hope to see you all then refreshed and ready for more inspiring discussions!
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