Sam Ladner
Sociologist and Researcher
Sam Ladner (she/her) is a sociologist who helps teams innovate, design, and learn. She is the author of Practical Ethnography: A Guide to Doing Ethnography in The Private Sector and Mixed Methods: A Short Guide to Applied Mixed Methods Research. She has worked on dozens of software projects at Microsoft, Amazon, and many other client companies. She recently retired from Workday, an enterprise software company, as a Senior Principal Researcher studying the future of work. She received her PhD in sociology from York University and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rosenverse talks by Sam:
" We are guardians and stewards of that story, giving people the agency to share their experience. "
Methodological toolkit for unique research impact
March 11, 2026
" People generally want to help and tell what they genuinely believe; they’re just terrible at accurate recall. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" You have to have a point of view, and you have to lead in order to get that impact in strategic foresight. "
How Research Can Drive Strategic Foresight
March 9, 2022
" I’ve started giving up on product management and focusing more on product strategy and senior executives. "
The Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps
July 29, 2021
" Users left data trails—data exhaust—that can actually inform and empower them if designed well. "
Data Exhaust and Personal Data: Learning from Consumer Products to Enhance Enterprise UX
June 8, 2016
" Radical innovation isn’t the main form of change; the main form is connections, like open APIs with massive downstream effects. "
Discussion
June 8, 2016
