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Summary
Rather than spend all our time validating product decisions late in the development lifecycle, researchers can (and should!) drive innovation. This interactive discussion will set researchers up with tools and product knowledge to impact change in roadmaps. Participants will hear real-world examples and learn how to drive a research roadmap against business strategy goals and KPIs and create stronger partnerships with Product.
Key Insights
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Research impact is increasingly critical due to tech layoffs and AI uncertainties.
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Lack of visibility and executive buy-in significantly hampers research influence.
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Agile practices are often poorly implemented, leading to 'agile fall' where research happens too late.
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Product managers and requirements engineers sometimes conduct research without formal training, introducing bias.
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Embedded research teams build strong triads with product and design but face challenges from shifting priorities.
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Research teams can also function as standalone service organizations, gaining strategic focus but losing roadmap impact.
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Building relationships beyond design—especially with product owners, analytics, and engineering—is key to driving impact.
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Tying every research effort explicitly to business KPIs and customer outcomes improves prioritization.
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Diverse research methods must be used strategically; usability testing is often misapplied and over-relied upon.
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Researchers must advocate internally by publishing insights clearly, maintaining research repositories, and influencing prioritization.
Notable Quotes
"Impact now and actually showing the value of research is more critical than ever."
"Product moves weird. They are delivery focused, not data or excellence focused."
"Quality doesn’t matter. We’re bringing in $90 billion a year, so we don’t need to focus on user experience."
"We’re stuck in a reactive state, and that’s chipping away at our ability to have impact."
"Requirements engineers doing research without training creates an incredible amount of bias."
"Research often fits in after design is 100% baked, leading to unusable late-stage usability testing."
"If your research can’t tie a line to top-level KPIs, it’s just validation, not impact."
"Analytics and research should be partners—analytics finds issues, research explains why."
"Researchers need to understand product managers as the cruise directors who prioritize delivery."
"Being nimble and scrappy is essential to survive and have impact in product research roles."
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