Insights-Driven Product Strategy: Get your Research to Count
Summary
In this talk, Johanna Kollmann will discuss how true insights can inform product strategy, with direct impact on the roadmap and metrics. Drawing on her experience as a research lead and product manager, Johanna will share case studies and tools that are relevant for researchers, designers, and product leaders. Stick around to join the conversation and ask Johanna your questions during our post-session Q+A, moderated by Christian Crumlish.
Key Insights
-
•
Research that only validates design artifacts risks being undervalued by product leadership focused on broader strategic outcomes.
-
•
Separating research questions from interview questions improves research clarity, collaboration, and outcome relevance.
-
•
Insights must go beyond facts to explain why something happens and its meaning for product or business strategy.
-
•
Confirmation bias from domain experts turned product managers can hinder objective interpretation of research data.
-
•
A simple collaborative analysis tool mapping observations, meanings, and business relevance facilitates insight development and shared understanding.
-
•
Framing insight headlines in terms of strategic goals like adoption garners more leadership attention than tactical usability language.
-
•
Strategic insights can reveal systemic blockers outside the immediate product team’s control but crucial for impact, requiring escalation.
-
•
Visual tools like quadrant diagrams enable non-traditional product managers to communicate research-based priorities effectively with leadership.
-
•
Human-centric metrics such as employee well-being and client relationships complement business metrics and support successful digital transformation adoption.
-
•
Performance forums that integrate research, design, product management, and analytics facilitate alignment on mission-level goals and coordinated action.
Notable Quotes
"The product leadership really doesn’t see the value in research and they’re thinking about shutting the research team down."
"Research was completely evaluative and tactical, positioned as serving design by validating wireframes and high fidelity prototypes."
"Design strategy focuses on providing a framework for developing design solutions that support a given product strategy, whereas product strategy addresses the business model, the roadmap, and prioritizing requirements - Frank Guo."
"The most significant source of confusion is the difference between research questions and interview questions - Erica Hall."
"Insights are unexpected discoveries about how things work and how to make them work better - Gary Klein."
"Confirmation bias is when we ignore or explain away data that doesn’t support what we already believe - Nina Belk."
"If you frame it as poor first experience risks a negative impact on adoption, you get way more eyeballs and attention."
"The service wasn’t achieving the impact it was set out to have because the regulations governing everything else were not fit for purpose."
"A simple quadrant diagram helped our product manager tell the story to leadership and made him look good."
"What we measure is super important because it determines what people pay attention to. Without governance, priorities and ratings become outdated."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Tags are a balance; project tags are wild and flexible, global tags must be controlled to avoid chaos."
Taylor Jennings Joe Nelson Alex KnollRepository Retrospective: Learnings from Introducing a Central Place for UX Research
March 9, 2022
"Hope generates optimistic momentum towards a possibility becoming real."
Nicole AleongFuture Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
March 26, 2024
"Disruptive innovation doesn’t happen overnight; you have to practice, fail, learn, and have patience."
Jeff GothelfInnovation Studios: the Engines of Enterprise Experimentation
May 14, 2015
"Leadership needs to be just as behind accessibility as the designers and professionals doing the work."
Saara Kamppari-MillerDesignOps for Inclusive Design and Accessibility
May 26, 2022
"Having questions about team happiness broken into person, team and product helps clear up confusion in large organizations."
Tess DixonC'mon Get Happy
September 29, 2021
"When your team sees themselves in your North Star and structure, they feel safe, secure, and inspired to stay."
Liam ThurstonWhy Your Design Team Is Quitting, And How To Fix It
June 10, 2022
"A workshop helps people map their skills, identify gaps, and make specific goals for career jumps."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"At DTA, distributed teams and lack of local diversity meant everyone was out in the field a lot to get diverse input."
Leisa ReicheltOpening Keynote: Operating in Context
November 7, 2018
"Doing fewer things well and working at a natural pace improves quality and reduces burnout."
Rachael Greene Alison DavisBuilding a Design Ops Practice that Really Works (Most of the Time)
October 2, 2025
