Summary
Join the moderator, Kayla Farrell (Sr User Researcher), as she runs a Q&A session with Chelsey Glasson (Staff User Researcher), Sean Fitzell (User Research Manager), and Jared LeClerc (Sr User Researcher), as they discuss life as a user researcher at Compass.
Key Insights
-
•
Compass research team grew from 3 to over 15 members in two years, shifting from tactical to foundational research.
-
•
Researchers like Chelsea sought Compass to escape bureaucracy and regain focus on core research work.
-
•
Remote onboarding challenges mainly revolve around learning internal tools and lack of in-person help.
-
•
Real estate agents at Compass act as entrepreneurs running their own businesses, juggling many tools.
-
•
Significant regional differences in real estate metrics like price per square foot complicate system standardization.
-
•
Transitioning from individual contributor to manager requires distinct skills and is often an organic shift.
-
•
Cross-team collaboration among researchers helps broaden perspectives and improve research outcomes.
-
•
Pandemic era work at Compass normalized background appearances of kids and pets, enabling supportive culture.
-
•
There is excitement about developing reusable workflows and research tools to support agents and the company.
-
•
The team anticipates better organizational support, improved sharing infrastructure, and future in-person interactions.
Notable Quotes
"When I started, we were just three people; now we have fifteen or sixteen and growing."
"I wanted to escape the politics and bureaucracy of big tech to focus on the research that sparks me."
"Remote onboarding takes longer because I can’t just call someone over to my desk."
"Agents really are small business owners, spread thin and scrappy in how they get everything done."
"Price per square foot means different things across the country; it’s tricky to standardize."
"Being a manager is a different skill set; just being a star individual contributor doesn’t guarantee success."
"Collaborating with other researchers lets me check myself and learn new approaches."
"It’s comforting to see family and pets on video calls; Compass culture is very supportive of parents."
"Building out workflows into company-wide tools excites me the most about future research work."
"Having an ops manager join the team will help us build better systems and share knowledge more easily."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"You need well-defined frameworks and guardrails for experimentation success to prevent chaos across teams."
Jemma Ahmed Steve Carrod Chris Geison Dr. Shadi Janansefat Christopher NashDemocratization: Working with it, not against it [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
July 24, 2024
"Great design doesn’t happen in isolation; it’s subject to power dynamics within organizations."
Nina JurcicThe Design System Rollercoaster: From Enabler and Bottleneck to Catalyst for Change
October 3, 2023
"If your organization is healthy, the haters pretty quickly get marginalized when everyone else is excited about the design system."
Nathan Curtis Nalini P. Kotamraju Jack Moffett Dawn ResselDiscussion
June 9, 2016
"If you can measure a thing doesn’t mean you should measure it."
Saara Kamppari-Miller Nicole Bergstrom Shashi JainKey Metrics: Comparing Three Letter Acronym Metrics That Include the Word “Key”
November 13, 2024
"Support agents were sometimes telling customers to stick with the old UI, which sent mixed signals and questioned our change."
Malini RaoLessons Learned from a 4-year Product Re-platforming Journey
June 9, 2021
"85% of people were leaving after just looking at one page on the old site—that was a huge problem."
Mackenzie Cockram Sara Branco Cunha Ian FranklinIntegrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
December 16, 2022
"Even virtually, we are a community obligated to treat each other with kindness and respect."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
June 9, 2021
"Growth boards enabled direction change sooner by objectively evaluating team health and strategic alignment."
Jackie HoLead Effectively While Preserving Team Autonomy with Growth Boards
January 8, 2024
"We need to relentlessly ask: technology is the answer, but what is the question?"
Dan HillDesigning for the infrastructures of everyday life
June 4, 2024