Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization (Marjorie Stainback and Kelsey Kingman at DesignOps Summit 2019)

TransformingStrategic Research
CapacityThrough
Democratization
OCTOBER 2019

Copyright 1998-2019 FMR LLC. All Rights Reserved.2
More designers than
researchers?

Waiting for research?

Marjorie Stainback
Research Operations Manager
@marjoriesample
Kelsey Kingman
Senior User Researcher
@keshiekay

1946
FOUNDED

iterative cross-functional sprints
Agile

4
business units

24
domains

70
initiatives

450
scrum teams

# researchers per designer

14 days
avg. intake to delivery

Rogues
teams going rogue
or skipping research

85%
evaluative
2018

formal : to make (something)
available to all people : to make it
possible for all people to understand
(something)
DEMOCRATIZE (verb)
de·moc·ra·tize | di-ˈmä-krə-ˌtīz

8 hours
2 weeks
6 students/class
EDUCATION ENABLEMENT
Tool and user access
1:1 guidance from a
user researcher
+

In less than a year

125designers trained

215studies launched

15% 85%
2018
EvaluativeStrategic
15% 85%

56% 44%
EvaluativeStrategic
56% 44%
2019 (YTD)

14 days
INTAKE DELIVER
ANALYZERUNITERATEPLANSCHEDULE SCHEDULE

INTAKE DELIVER
ANALYZERUNPLAN
14 3 days

11 days
faster

Leverage and
get the most of your
existing team

Program & Measurement
Key Ingredients
Pitfalls To Avoid

Program

# researchers per designer
14 days
85% evaluative
in 2017 & 2018, researchers
spent most time on low-impact
projects
Rogues
teams going rogue
or skipping research

If we teach product team members how to
conduct research
…then our average intake to delivery time will
decrease
HYPOTHESIS

One method

quick evaluativesupport
geographically
dispersed teams

Product team members
trained to create remote
unmoderated usability
studies
DEMOCRATIZATION OF RESEARCH

remote unmoderated usability studies
responses in < 1
day
QUICK EVALUATIVE
identifies pain
points
SUPPORT
digital tools & user
panels

screen & voice
recording
think-aloud
following test plan
diverse user panel

measure usage

Measurement

Create measurement
tools to establish
magnitude of problem and
track progress over time
STEP 1

Research
Delivery Date
INTAKE FORM
Date Request
Received
REPOSITORY
- = 14 days
avg. intake to
delivery

# candidates &
graduates
# studies
launched
constructive
criticism

Define your desired
outcomes
STEP 2
DIRECTIONAL QUALIFIER
(INCREASE/DECREASE)
MEASURABLE
OBJECT
GOAL

decrease
MEASUREDIRECTION
daysnumber of
GOAL
it takes teams to obtain user feedback

3 Key Ingredients
Shared Vision + Education + Validity

Shared Vision
researchers product managersdesigners
+ +
stakeholders
+

“By training and empowering designers with the tools to
envision and evaluate targeted hypotheses,
Democratization of Research has accelerated the
process to generate the customer feedback that we
need to move forward both quickly and confidently in our
agile environment. Instead of taking our best
guesses, we are making data-driven decisions.”
- Director of UXD HealthCare

“What you go through is traumatic.”
– A designer & graduate of the program

Education
Build Analyze Report
+ ++
Identify

Class1:Identify

Class2&3:
Build&Analyze Unmoderated remote testing tool

Class4:Report

Estimated Time Breakdown
Prototype Identify Build Analyze
16
hours

Validity
Research
buddy
Repository
checkpoint
Presentation
feedback
+ +

Pitfalls

Do test a pilotDo not schedule during
holidays
1

Do not allow unlimited
signups
Do limit the class to 6-7
students
2

Do not forget to schedule
time to implement the
feedback
Do seek out feedback
3

Do not forget to have a
kick off meeting
Do encourage your
designers to take on less
work
4

Other Discoveries
Articulate
purpose
Communicate Plan to scale
+ +
5

1. Create a plan
2. Decide how you want to measure
3. Build buy-in with shared vision
4. Test a pilot
5. Iterate and move forward
Key Takeaways

How can YOU
transform your
research capacity?

When you empower
others, you open up
possibilities.

Thank You
Marjorie Stainback
Marjorie.Sample@fmr.com
@marjoriesample
Kelsey Kingman
Kelsey.Kingman@fmr.com
@keshiekay

Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization (Marjorie Stainback and Kelsey Kingman at DesignOps Summit 2019)

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