Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Distributed, Democratized, Decentralized: Finding a Research Model to Support Your Org

Gold
Thursday, March 10, 2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Share the love for this talk
Distributed, Democratized, Decentralized: Finding a Research Model to Support Your Org
Speakers: Erin May , Roberta Dombrowski , Laura Oxenfeld and Brooke Hinton
Link:

Summary

Everyone is talking about democratization of research–distribution of research across teams. That's not new. The conversation has shifted from whether to democratize, to how, and how much. In this panel we'll talk about different approaches to holding on, and letting go, to UXR in an org. We'll cover: Pros and cons of different approaches Lessons learned the hard way How to think about a model that works for your org And more!

Key Insights

  • Distributed research empowers non-researchers like product designers and marketers to conduct user research to scale beyond small centralized teams.

  • Recruitment is the biggest pain point for democratized research, especially in B2B contexts with specialized user profiles.

  • Hybrid models—combining centralized strategic research and decentralized tactical research—help balance quality and scalability.

  • Training materials need to include detailed, step-by-step tool guides and process documentation to support new researchers effectively.

  • Onboarding stakeholders at different maturity levels on the research journey requires tailored enablement and guardrails to reduce cognitive load.

  • Integration of research planning with product planning cycles increases proactive collaboration and better resource allocation.

  • Centralized teams often act as research coaches, supporting facilitation and especially helping mitigate bias during insight analysis.

  • Affinity mapping and structured note-taking grids with taxonomy help reduce bias and improve rigor in qualitative analysis.

  • Quality assurance in democratized research depends heavily on trust, ongoing coaching, and repeated collaborative synthesis sessions.

  • Embedding research skills into career ladders and hiring criteria encourages a culture where more team members take ownership of research.

Notable Quotes

"Two researchers can’t come close to digging into the customer problems for 17 product teams."

"If we can’t provide research as a service at scale, we need to make sure the teams are equipped to do it on their own."

"Stakeholders aren’t ready to write their own briefs or manage recruitment, so it ended up being a hybrid model initially."

"Recruitment is so difficult, especially in B2B where you need to speak to customers using similar products."

"People will talk to customers whether you want them to or not. The question is how to make it a better experience."

"Being involved early in product planning lets us bring the art and science of research to where it can be most helpful."

"We’re starting to see the role of the central researcher shift more towards coaching than just doing research themselves."

"Without releasing control, democratizing research won’t scale. We have to empower people even if some things won’t be perfect."

"It’s not a theme unless you can put your hand over every sticky note and the label explains the story."

"75% of democratized studies don’t see full reporting mostly because stakeholders don’t have time for the analysis."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jessamyn Edwards
Surviving Your UX Career in Enterprise Design
2021 • Enterprise Community
Johnny Michaelsen
Measure Behaviors, Not Results
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Jon Fukuda
The Big Question about Innovation: A Panel Discussion
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
David Cronin
The GE Design System and Thoughts about Craft at Scale
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Heidi Trost
When AI Becomes the User’s Point Person—and Point of Failure
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Francesca Barrientos, PhD
You Need Your Own Definition of Design Maturity
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Stephen Anderson
Puzzled? How to Coordinate Humans for Complex Challenges
2021 • Enterprise Community
Ryan Matthew
Bridging Design and Code: AI-Powered Design System Integration
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Gina Mendolia
Therapists, Coaches, and Grandmas: Techniques for Service Design in Complex Systems
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Kristen Honey
"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design
2021 • Civic Design Community
Emily Danielson
“I mean, I can lift a shovel”: Design Skills in Disaster Response
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Sam Proulx
Designing For Screen Readers: Understanding the Mental Models and Techniques of Real Users
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Libby Maurer
Treating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
2019 • Enterprise Community
Mike Brzozowski
UX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
Harry Max
Priority Zero: Some Things are More Equal than Others
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Max Gadney
Assessing UX jobs for impact in climate
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group

More Videos

John Cutler

"Everyone is circling around similar topics but in very different ways—there’s a battle of models but more similarities than differences."

John Cutler

Oxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)

December 3, 2024

Darian Davis

"We’re all capable of creating and perpetuating toxic work relationships."

Darian Davis

Lessons from a Toxic Work Relationship

January 8, 2024

Dave Gray

"Our communications is all over the map — email, Slack, Hangouts, face-to-face, GitHub — it surfaced some gaps we didn’t fully appreciate before."

Dave Gray

Group Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps

November 7, 2017

John Cutler

"I never thought I'd say this, but can someone please for love of God, just make a RACI so we can align on who's responsible for things."

John Cutler

The Alignment Trap

November 29, 2023

Abby Covert

"Simplicity is not always the answer to complexity, but understanding often is."

Abby Covert

Stuck? Diagrams Help

October 27, 2022

Mark Interrante

"Making issues visible, sharing models, and iterating versions of workflows helps uncover blockages and solutions."

Mark Interrante

Collaboration Flows in Product Development

June 9, 2017

Devon Powers

"The future is not a toy. Accountability matters deeply in how we construct futures."

Devon Powers

Imagining Better Futures

March 9, 2022

Prayag Narula

"Share your learning quickly and often—don’t wait for big reports. Your deliverable as a designer doing research is the design itself."

Prayag Narula

How to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To

June 10, 2022

Peter Van Dijck

"Trust the user and trust the model are the two lessons I’m getting over time."

Peter Van Dijck

Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people

October 22, 2025