Why Pharmaceutical's Research Model Should Replace Design Thinking
Summary
In many organizations, design thinking dominates the research process with expansive research processes upfront during discovery. Pharmaceutical research gives us an alternative model that we can adapt based on a fail early and fail often (tech mantra) that should make discovery research an easier sell in any organization. Takeaways: An alternative model to discovery research with reduced upfront costs Starting discovery research when buy-in is difficult Maintaining discovery research when funds tighten up An alternative model to measuring the value of research that takes into account savings
Key Insights
-
•
Business leaders value design more for elimination of redundant processes and features than for creating new innovations.
-
•
Integrated discovery research is a faster, smaller-scale approach that de-risks innovation by saving money and guiding investment decisions early.
-
•
Large discovery efforts should be reserved for genuinely new markets or disruptive initiatives and need strong executive champions.
-
•
Pharmaceutical research principles emphasize failing poor ideas quickly and cheaply to save time and money, a model applicable to UX and product development.
-
•
Most teams do not practice true dual-track agile, and adopting integrated discovery can support more agile, iterative innovation.
-
•
Positioning research as de-risking financial investments, rather than solely as customer empathy or idea generation, increases its strategic business value.
-
•
To innovate successfully amid expensive capital and economic uncertainty, UX must closely collaborate with finance teams to project ROI and viability.
-
•
Testing concept stability and market fit early helps avoid costly investments in ideas unlikely to meet customer demand or price acceptance.
-
•
Inclusive innovation benefits by expanding ideation across diverse team members rather than only from traditional leaders or designers.
-
•
Researchers must be willing to fail ideas quickly, even those championed by colleagues, to protect organizational resources and improve decision-making.
Notable Quotes
"Without drugs people would be sick and without UX it wouldn’t be able to use the drugs."
"The essence of strategy isn’t painting a grand vision of the future, it's deciding what not to do."
"Bringing something to market quickly at scale is time-consuming and expensive—failing early is key to saving resources."
"New ideas and changes to business trajectories rank pretty far down at only 18% of business leaders seeing it as a value of design."
"Position your discovery work as de-risking investments rather than just fuel for innovation or empathy building."
"Safe money has solid returns, so fiscally responsible companies demand higher returns from new investments especially with inflation."
"We’re not in the business to make friends, we’re in this business to help companies make better decisions—even if that means killing ideas."
"I helped a company save 12 million dollars by not investing in an iris scanner in a one-week project."
"To innovate smarter, you need to get access to the roadmap as early as possible and start research even when not asked for it."
"Large discovery should focus on tier-3 unexplored markets, ones that require multiple years and large capital but may disrupt long-term."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Some of the most important decisions for service design happen on whiteboards among engineers, often without service design representation."
John CutlerOxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
December 3, 2024
"We’re all capable of creating and perpetuating toxic work relationships."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"Our communications is all over the map — email, Slack, Hangouts, face-to-face, GitHub — it surfaced some gaps we didn’t fully appreciate before."
Dave GrayGroup Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps
November 7, 2017
"You wanna capture all the mess, but you cannot operate in the mess. Leave a path back to the mess so details and signals remain available."
John CutlerThe Alignment Trap
November 29, 2023
"Providing alternative content is often a kinder gesture than any lengthy alternative text could be."
Abby CovertStuck? Diagrams Help
October 27, 2022
"Use four simple questions to find out what people really want and why — it avoids misaligned efforts."
Mark InterranteCollaboration Flows in Product Development
June 9, 2017
"Trend forecasting is a culture industry—it produces culture as much as it predicts it."
Devon PowersImagining Better Futures
March 9, 2022
"Unbiased qualitative research does not exist. The best we can do is acknowledge and minimize biases."
Prayag NarulaHow to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To
June 10, 2022
"We need to dramatically change the hats, the walls, and the workflow of how we work together in design and development."
Peter Van DijckHands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people
October 22, 2025
