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Design Research Strategy & Strategic Design Research (Videoconference)
Thursday, February 3, 2022 • Advancing Research Community
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Design Research Strategy & Strategic Design Research (Videoconference)
Speakers: Mike Oren and Janice Wiitala
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Summary

When scaling and democratizing research practices, how can you help ensure higher levels of value are delivered? In this interactive session, we discuss different items we can leverage to ensure design research is providing value to an organization by driving strategic decisions. Areas we cover include: Utilizing research repositories as strategic assets; Leveraging quant + quo data to track success; and Ensuring research can focus on the highest value work.

Key Insights

  • Strategic research involves deciding what not to do, focusing teams on high-value work rather than spreading resources thin.

  • Research repositories should evolve from dumping grounds to living systems akin to design systems, organized into atomic insights or nuggets.

  • Atomic insights link direct user quotes to design outcomes and business metrics, creating a through-line from feedback to solution success.

  • Effective repositories reduce time wasted on finding information, potentially saving 20% or more of researcher time.

  • Democratizing research requires balancing accessibility with preventing duplication and conflicting results across teams.

  • Combining deep usability studies with broader listening posts enriches understanding of user pain points and emotional context.

  • Building trust and relationships with other organizational units like strategy and marketing enhances cross-functional research use.

  • Organizations often struggle to internalize customer voices despite available talent and methods, leading to high churn among researchers.

  • Videos and personalized story formats help bring user insights to life and foster empathy among stakeholders.

  • Transitioning to new research repository tools can create learning curves and require cultural shifts in research practice.

Notable Quotes

"Strategy is really about helping organizations decide what not to do."

"Too many research repositories become dumping grounds rather than useful, connected story systems."

"The atomic insight is not just what we learned but what the customer actually said, capturing emotion and context."

"On average, people spend 20% of their time just looking for things they need."

"Democratizing research risks duplication and conflicting results if not done carefully."

"Organizations still struggle to put the voice of the customer at the center, despite talented people and methods."

"Seeing videos of users reacting to insights really helps personalize the data for teams."

"You either need to relearn your research process or invest in resources to package insights effectively."

"Having a community helps researchers realize they’re not alone facing similar challenges."

"Linking research to metrics and decisions is the holy grail of insight repositories."

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