Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Learning Velocity—The Insights Speedometer
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Fidelity's UX research team faced huge scale challenges with 600+ product teams and only 35 researchers, making ubiquity impossible.
-
•
Focusing on research quantity, such as more studies faster, is counterproductive and considered poison; instead, learning velocity is the priority.
-
•
The democratization program trained over 200 designers and product partners to independently run unmoderated usability tests, cutting insight turnaround from 14 days to 3 days.
-
•
Quality control in democratization was ensured via a buddy system and approval gating in the testing platform to maintain high research standards.
-
•
Lighthouse centralized all UX research insights with strict standards on metadata and titling to reduce redundancy and make insights easily discoverable.
-
•
Lighthouse integration with collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams encouraged organic sharing and started building insight virality and empathy culture.
-
•
Continuous Discovery and Feedback (CDF) introduced a steady sprint cadence with dedicated researchers per initiative, aligned to living learning agendas prioritizing research questions.
-
•
CDF enabled transparency and cross-team collaboration, letting teams track when questions were posed and answered, speeding prioritization and strategic alignment.
-
•
Rapid recruiting innovations, including app push notifications and online scheduling, transformed a 4-6 week participant recruitment process down to hours or days.
-
•
Cultural acceptance was crucial; designers embraced democratization for autonomy and faster validation, while researchers accepted a shift from execution to facilitation roles.
Notable Quotes
"We cannot be everywhere. So is the goal to conduct more studies faster? And we said no, it’s not. That’s poison."
"The focus is on helping the organization learn faster to make smart, human-centered decisions."
"We had a backlog that made turnaround times at least 14 days; now teams can get answers within three days through democratization."
"Lighthouse reduces time spent searching for insights by having everything in one place."
"Democratization is about letting go of some research and enabling teams to learn from customers directly."
"The buddy system ensures quality by requiring study review and approval before launching."
"Continuous Discovery runs every two to three weeks with dedicated researchers tied to specific product journeys."
"Recruiting used to take 4 to 6 weeks; now, with app push notifications, we can fill interviews within an hour and a half."
"Designers want to learn how to do research because they get autonomy and faster feedback, not just waiting weeks."
"We shifted from an output mindset of how much work we do to an outcome mindset of the impact our work delivers."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Ownership of VOC is a hot potato, so we built a coalition with a facilitator to keep it collaborative and effective."
Shipra KayanHow we Built a VoC (Voice of the Customer) Practice at Upwork from the Ground Up
September 30, 2021
"The system always kicks back—the consequences of our actions unfold over time."
Peter MorvilleThe Architecture of Understanding
May 13, 2015
"You’re not one of them. And that is your strength, Renee. That is your power."
Renee ReidBecoming a ResearchH.E.R (Highly Enterprise Ready)
June 3, 2019
"Gestures serve as a window into the embodied mind by replaying prior embodied experiences when we communicate."
Dane DeSutterKeeping the Body in Mind: What Gestures and Embodied Actions Tell You That Users May Not
March 26, 2024
"Involving people with disabilities from the start reveals impact and usability issues that automated testing simply cannot catch."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
October 3, 2023
"A poor experience on a web visit isn’t out of sight, out of mind; it impacts their entire history with the brand."
Andrew Custage Michael MallettThe Digital Journey: Research on Consumer Frustration and Loyalty
March 29, 2023
"Be present, put devices down, turn off Slack notifications, and really engage."
Shelby SwitzerMaking Space for Community Knowledge-sharing in a Distributed World
December 10, 2021
"We should think of AI as something that amplifies what we already are: if we think research is about impact, AI will help us understand and track it."
Llewyn PaineCoexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
March 11, 2025
"The machine lens gave us hierarchy, bureaucracy, and a focus on efficiency and control, but it sidelines holistic thinking."
Robin BeersNavigating organizational systems: Rethinking researcher’s role in driving change
March 13, 2025
