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:
" Researchers must shift from gatekeepers of knowledge to coaches who help others understand what to trust. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" Duplicative research will become less acceptable; researchers must act as natural connectors to reduce it and enhance organizational knowledge sharing. "
Redefining the research toolkit: Expanding methodologies for a changing world
March 12, 2025
" When the ground shifts beneath us, we get to decide, do we scramble to regain our footing exactly where we stood before? Or do we take a step in a new direction, explore new terrain, and expand the boundaries of what’s possible? "
Theme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
" When surveys measure attitude but not behavior, it's time to try methods like conjoint analysis that reduce bias. "
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
" Bringing in expert interviews and secondary data gives you an outsider’s perspective to challenge the status quo. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" Sometimes it's just not even related to the research skills, sometimes relationships really matter. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" It’s a moral obligation for organizations to engage with research and ethics; being mature is not optional anymore. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" If you want access to those names, you got to come through us and show your research plan, which helped us ensure quality. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018