Key Insights

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  One researcher per product team, dedicating at least three days a week, was a key rule at GDS to ensure quality and focus.

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  Setting hard rules with numbers convinced leadership to allocate sufficient research budget and resources.

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  A budget algorithm based on fixed rules (research in every sprint, minimum users including those with access needs) helped forecasting and securing resources.

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  Building observation labs and inviting all team members to witness research creates shared understanding and team alignment.

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  In smaller or distributed government teams like DTA, embedding researchers was impossible; unifying inconsistent agency approaches and focusing on capability building was critical.

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  Empathy walls emerged organically at DTA as a visceral way to share remote field findings and build team empathy.

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  Negotiating boldly for what you truly need works better than self-limiting your ask before negotiation starts.

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  Complex product ecosystems like Atlassian require supporting confident but untrained researchers with craft leadership and pairing to accelerate growth.

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  Shifting focus from feature-specific validation to broader, product-agnostic user goals uncovers deeper insights about users’ needs.

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  No universal ‘silver bullet’ exists for embedding user research; success depends on contextual understanding and adapting practices accordingly.

Notable Quotes