Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Start Small for Big Impact (Videoconference)
Wednesday, May 15, 2019 • DesignOps Community
Share the love for this talk
Start Small for Big Impact (Videoconference)
Speakers: Saskia Liebenberg
Link:

Summary

Organizations often start thinking about implementing operations support when they get to a certain size - when things start breaking or something goes massively wrong, when it becomes an imperative for existence. But there is massive benefit from building a research ops function much earlier on in your team growth. Saskia Liebenberg will explain how she's implemented research ops at Deliveroo in a team of 10 researchers, and how she's used the ResearchOps framework to build a strategy that supports the team in their specific context.

Key Insights

  • Starting research operations proactively with a small team (5-10 researchers) creates big impact before complexity becomes overwhelming.

  • A project manager background can translate effectively to research operations without deep prior research methodology expertise.

  • Manual, hacky systems like spreadsheets and Trello boards are highly effective initial tools for tracking research projects and resources.

  • Standardizing folder structures and applying project codes greatly improve data organization, retrieval speed, and GDPR compliance.

  • In a small, co-located team, research Ops can be fully integrated, closely collaborating via one-on-one interviews and frequent check-ins.

  • Dedicated recruitment coordinators supporting researchers with participant sourcing and logistics significantly boost research throughput.

  • Research Ops roles are most effective when carefully distributing workload to avoid team burnout and keeping well-being top of mind.

  • Research and design operations teams benefit from early collaboration and shared infrastructure in growing organizations.

  • Scaling research Ops requires hiring specialized roles, e.g., knowledge managers and tools integrators, beyond a single generalist.

  • Implementing governance and reusable processes early increases research capacity, morale, and retention within research teams.

Notable Quotes

"Proactive research Ops means starting before something breaks, not reacting when everything is already overwhelmed."

"It was daunting and controversial to rename project folders, but it helped me learn the work and improve consistency."

"If you solve the problems your users experience, they will trust you and come back to you."

"Our project codes make GDPR compliance easier and help track qualitative data context alongside quantitative data."

"Research Ops is not a one-person job; you will need more headcount sooner than you expect."

"Working embedded in a smaller team made it easier to consult the whole research team and create solutions together."

"The biggest thing I look for when hiring is someone who enjoys helping people with a self-directed and organized mindset."

"Researchers running like mad want to focus on craft, not logistics, so Ops removes that mental load from them."

"Aligning with other departments like legal is slow work, and you won’t always be a priority."

"Starting small and manageable allows rapid impact, enabling teams to move faster and be more efficient from day one."

Ask the Rosenbot
Giff Constable
Financial fluency for product leaders: AMA with Giff Constable (Videoconference)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Victor Udoewa
Radical Participatory Design: Decolonizing Participatory Design Processes
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Gregg Bernstein
Opportunistic Research with Gregg Bernstein (Videoconference)
2019 • Advancing Research Community
Audrey Crane
Shadow Design–Where Else is Design Happening in Your Organization? (Videoconference)
2023 • Enterprise Community
Dorelle Rabinowitz
The Magic Word is Trust
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
George Abraham
Design Systems To-Go: Introducing a Starter Design System, and Indigo.Design Overview (Part 1)
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Kristen Honey
"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design (Videoconference)
2021 • Civic Design Community
Ron Bronson
Design, Consequences & Everyday Life
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks Day 2
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Rebecca Buck
Mission: Keep Talent in Research Roles!
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Matt Duignan
Atomizing Research: Trend or Trap
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Husani Oakley
Bias Towards Action: Building Teams that Build Work
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Randolph Duke II
War Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Catt Small
What's Next for ICs: Exploring Staff and Principal Designer Roles (Videoconference)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 3: Introduction
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Alberto Ferreira
Making it Count: Developing a custom digital metric framework that works
2021 • QuantQual Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)

More Videos

Alex Hurworth

"Restoration is not just about replanting trees; it’s about rebuilding entire ecosystems."

Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine Marin

Designing a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access

October 23, 2020

Laine Riley Prokay

"We started to ask ourselves, does every new Design Ops practitioner need 10 years of experience like Lisa and I? What opportunities are we missing by not having more junior roles?"

Laine Riley Prokay Lisa Gordon

Carving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners

September 9, 2022

Eniola Oluwole

"Once cash prizes were gone, people stopped feeling ownership of the design system."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Nathan Shedroff

"Most strategy is done pretty poorly; it's misleading, sloppy, and often ignored after it's produced."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020

Sam Proulx

"If you focus on desktop accessibility, you’re leaving out some of your most important users who may have mobile-only access."

Sam Proulx

Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World

November 17, 2022

Feleesha Sterling

"If your design team cannot act quickly on findings, rapid research is not the method for you."

Feleesha Sterling

Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)

May 18, 2023

Neil Barrie

"Culture is the most influential factor impacting people's perceptions and values today."

Neil Barrie

Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture

March 25, 2024

John Devanney

"We move here. We never actually become New Yorkers."

John Devanney

The Design Management Office

November 6, 2017

Katy Mogal

"We decided to jump off the wall — it was scary but the opportunity was too big to pass up."

Katy Mogal

But Do Your Insights Scale?

March 12, 2021