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Jess Nichols
Creating impact through the
research journey.
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My big screw-up.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Research is a partnership.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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There should be no
surprises in research.
Photo by Ekaterina Shevchenko on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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How can researchers
define impact?
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Direct impact explicitly connects
to a business outcome.
e.g. quantitative research, evaluative approaches & experimentation.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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e.g. qualitative research, foundational or generative approaches.
Indirect impact influences
decisions for business outcomes.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Define your impact at the start.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Research should align to
business outcomes.
Leverage OKRs, KPIs, company goals, roadmaps or evergreen business outcomes.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Show the impact
of your research
by mitigating
business risk.
Photo by Matthew Waring on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Research maturity
influences the impact.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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None Push Pull Parallel
Research
outcomes aren’t
considered.
Research
outcomes need
to be ‘sold’.
Research
outcomes are
actively sought.
Research
outcomes are a
partnership.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: None
Research outcomes aren’t considered.
What to expect
• Research is part of other roles, not a distinct role.
• If research is being executed, it’s often tactical and poorly run.
• May have ad-hoc hired (internal or external) researchers but will not have
actioned outcomes.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: None
Research outcomes aren’t considered.
Create impact through USEFULNESS
• Find a small quick win with direct impact.
• Provide guidance and tips to others running research already.
• Create partnerships with other ‘information teams’ and surface information.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Push
Research outcomes need to be ‘sold’.
What to expect
• Research questions or projects are often repeated because previous
research is not leveraged.
• Researchers are in the room where it happens.
• Limited understanding or assumptions for research.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Push
Research outcomes need to be ‘sold’.
Create impact through VISIBILITY
• Find and enable research advocates.
• Visualize and promote research outcomes.
• Connect the dots across research and information sources.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Pull
Research outcomes are actively sought.
What to expect
• Tactical or ‘solutionised’ requests for research.
• Research is brought in to decision making, but often too late.
• Non-researchers ad-hoc running their own research.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Pull
Research outcomes are actively sought.
Create impact through CONNECTION
• ‘Shared understanding’ artifacts.
• Centralised research repositories.
• Education and guidance through the research process.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Parallel
Research outcomes are a partnership.
What to expect
• Research is woven into product strategies.
• Proactive identification of research opportunities - both strategic and tactical.
• Research process, resources and tooling clearly defined and leveraged.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Maturity: Parallel
Research outcomes are a partnership.
Create impact through EFFICIENCY
• Empower team members to run their own research projects.
• ‘Step-ahead’ in foundational and strategic opportunities.
• Identify research process and operations improvements.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Knowing the maturity helps you
engage meaningfully on a project.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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None Push Pull Parallel
Visibility & input to
research projects.
Collaborate on
project activities
e.g. questions.
Partner to define projects
& opportunities to close
knowledge gaps.
Partner to identify
research opportunities
during OKRs & product
strategy activities.
Stage: Before Research
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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None Push Pull Parallel
Sharing outcomes
of research
sessions.
Invites to attend
research sessions.
Participation in
research sessions
e.g. note taking.
Collaboration on research
projects & synthesis to
support each other’s
research projects.
Stage: During Research
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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None Push Pull Parallel
Sharing relevant
insights to individual
stakeholders.
Sharing insights and
artifacts to teams.
Sharing and
storing insights for
reusability across
projects & teams.
Traceability from
research outcomes to
product strategy,
roadmaps & OKRS.
Stage: After Research
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Meet your team where
they are on their own
research journey.
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Put yourself in
your team’s shoes.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Take the lid off the research box.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Share early and often.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Make insights digestible.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Create moments that matter.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Make your
stakeholders care
about research.
Photo by Marina Shatskih on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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A researcher should only work on
the most impactful research.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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DO REVIEW
DELEGATE ELIMINATE
High Influence Low Influence
Low Ambiguity High Ambiguity
Determine
research priority by
influence &
ambiguity
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Delegate projects that do not
increase your own impact.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Clear scope with
minimal ambiguity.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Over-feasible timeline.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Builds onto existing knowledge.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Can be set up for success with
limited guidance and guardrails.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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To have successful research
projects, you have to
learn to say no.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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If a project will not
be successful, say no.
(…or what are the tradeoffs)
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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If a project topic already has a lot
of existing research, say no.
(…or go look at the previous research & come back)
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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If there is already high confidence
in an outcome, say no.
(…or trust your gut)
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Everyone who runs research should
be successful & create impact.
Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Creating research impact
is an ongoing process.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Celebrate the impact,
no matter how small.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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You’re going to learn the most
when you screw-up.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Creating
research impact
is a marathon,
not a sprint.
Photo by Isaac Wendland on Unsplash
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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TL;DR
• There should be no surprises in research.
• Show the impact of your research by mitigating business risk.
• Meet your team where they are on their own research journey.
• Make your stakeholders care about research.
• Everyone who runs research should be successful & create impact.
• Creating research impact is a marathon, not a sprint.
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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“Tell me and I forget,
teach me and I may remember,
involve me and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin
Jess Nichols - Creating impact through the research journey.
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Q&A
[email protected]
@jessnichols
(on all major platforms)
jessnichols.com
Creating impact through
the research journey.