February 18, 2026 @ 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm CST
Unpolished: UX Office Hours is a monthly, in-person gathering for UX designers and researchers of all experience levels. There’s no formal speaker and no slides—just a light theme, optional co-working, and space to talk through real work with other UX folks in Austin.
This month’s theme is Research in the Wild.
What we’ll focus on
Research rarely goes exactly as planned. Interview guides change. Notes get messy. Stakeholders want answers you don’t quite have yet.
Research in the Wild is a space to talk through the in-between moments of UX research, including:
- Interview plans you’re still shaping
- Synthesis that feels fuzzy or incomplete
- Translating qualitative insights into decisions
- Navigating stakeholder expectations and buy-in
What to expect
- Co-working time to settle in and work alongside others
- Office hours–style conversations around research challenges
- Optional show & tell at the end (5 minutes, one artifact, totally voluntary)
Bring a discussion guide, a question, a messy insight—or just come listen.
Who should come
- UX researchers
- Designers who do research
- Product folks involved in discovery
- Students and career-changers learning the ropes
All experience levels are welcome.
Why “Unpolished”?
Because real research is rarely clean or linear. This is a space for honest questions, unfinished thinking, and learning from each other—before the case study exists.
Logistics
- This is an in-person event
- Space is limited; please RSVP