About the Speaker
Indi is a solution strategist who uses purpose-focused qualitative data science. She created her method over a 30-year span, and teaches that method in courses, coaching, workshops, books, talks, and through working with teams on research studies.
She spends the majority of her time helping spread techniques, confidence and humanity among UX and Product practitioners. Indi also runs research project for clients, and coaches teams through their research studies. Indi teaches applied research skills such as listening and qualitative data synthesis through courses and Live Practice hosted on her website.
Indi’s method is focused on people, not users.
She pioneered opportunity maps, which are mental model diagrams of people’s approach to a purpose aligned with the support a solution provides–or doesn’t. She helps teams map thinking styles with careful attention to resisting assumptions and representing the interior cognition of people in their own context. Teams can then measure the level of harm they cause to approaches that are outside the org’s assumptions.
Indi intends to help the field move toward creating a variety of solutions to the same purpose, in support of the variety of thinking styles people have.
Indi has written three books, Time to Listen, Practical Empathy and Mental Models. She is at work on another book in the series, Assumptions Aside, that will cover thinking styles.
She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering UX agency.
Speakers '24
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Emma
Boulton
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65d76aa29868895aada50b3c/663f10f7039466c4fd406848_Indi%20Young%20(2).webp)
Indi
Young
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65d76aa29868895aada50b3c/663dddeb064b55cf47d2a141_Molly%20Stevens%20(1).webp)
Molly
Stevens
![](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65d76aa29868895aada50b3c/65fc323f465b80d1e994a444_Steve_Portigal_Headshot.webp)
Steve
Portigal