Megan Blocker
Director of User Research, DigitalOcean
Megan founded McKinsey’s design research & insights practice, establishing and growing a team of one to more than 50 researchers, data analysts, and data scientists globally. As part of that transformation, she built the design research talent architecture and established McKinsey’s design research philosophy, operations, and tooling. In addition, Megan is deeply passionate about equity and inclusion. She co-founded McKinsey’s Women in Tech initiative and was a member of the DE&I global leadership team.
In her work as a researcher, Megan combines empathy with data to achieve deep understanding, craft inspirational vision, and deliver actionable insight. As a leader, she makes sense of ambiguity and thrives when building and leading teams where trust, transparency, and clarity of vision encourage risk-taking, innovation, and creativity. Most of all, she loves building something new and scrappy, then strategically operationalizing it for scale. She invests in people, Post-Its, insights, and LEGOs.
Rosenverse talks by Megan:
" Insight is that aha moment, a new understanding that helps us make decisions that move us forward. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" The moat that once protected researchers—their exclusive data access—is disappearing; now our value is enabling others to use insight. "
Redefining the research toolkit: Expanding methodologies for a changing world
March 12, 2025
" If we want research to thrive, we need to equip ourselves with more tools, not fewer. "
Theme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
" Slowing down research creates equitable spaces where minority and marginalized voices can be meaningfully included. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" Creativity is needed right from the research stage, not just in solution design. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" Teams are better at solving problems and coming up with innovative ideas than solo practitioners. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" Fall in love with the problem, not the solution. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" The longer I’m in UX, the less I think I know—there’s always more to learn and ways to develop. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" Offers of championship from leaders, like 'What do you need from me?' are strong signs of buy-in. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018
