Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization

Key Insights

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  Fidelity had up to 15 designers per user researcher, causing major research capacity challenges.

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  Research delivery time averaged 14 days, prompting teams to sometimes skip research entirely.

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  85% of Fidelity’s research projects were evaluative usability studies, limiting strategic impact.

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  Democratizing research by training designers in a single method—remote, unmoderated usability studies—enabled faster and more distributed research.

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  The democratization program combined education with tool access and ongoing researcher support to maintain quality.

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  Post-democratization, research delivery time dropped from 14 days to 3 days, saving 11 days on average.

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  Empowering designers to conduct research allowed researchers to focus on more strategic projects, increasing strategic research from 15% to 56%.

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  Guardrails like research buddies, presentation feedback, and repository checkpoints ensured research validity despite democratization.

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  Clear communication and a shared vision among researchers, designers, and product managers were critical for buy-in and success.

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  Key pitfalls included running pilots during holidays, overcrowded classes, lack of breaks between cohorts, and underestimating human administrative costs for scaling.

Notable Quotes