At the heart of good community is research. 20 years into my community career and I feel like I’m starting to get it right.
Every person, place, business or topic requires community. There’s simply no escaping it.
Good community comes as a result of building a foundation, interconnected and living approach to research.
The problem is most research efforts are disconnected:
- UX research is not impactful because it lives in isolation
- Business desires and data misaligns with the world around them
- What people say they want is not what the community system can give them
Community research connects the dots.
It takes the whole system into consideration.
It encourages actionable progress.
It observes reality.
It focuses on what works.
This is community.
