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MORE THAN A FILING
CABINET: BUILDING A
FLEXIBLE, USEFUL
RESEARCH
REPOSITORY
Naomi Civins
UX Australia, Design Research 2023
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How we built a research
repository at Redbubble
on a shoestring,
and what we learnt along
the way
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Invest time upfront in learning from industry
Understand the role of research in your org
Be realistic about time & effort
When gathering content, start small, set limits
Be proud of your team's work
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ABOUT ME
ex-Redbubble
PhD in virtual ethnography
Love organising and categorising
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Let's talk definitions
1
The Redbubble story
2
The repository
4
Planning & building
3
5 Launch & impact
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LET'S TALK
DEFINITIONS
1
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A place for your
research work
To make it
accessible to
people who need it
And to promote
research as broadly
as possible
IN A NUTSHELL
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Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
DATA
REPOSITORY
TYPES OF REPOSITORIES
(THANKS, RE+OPS)
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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RESEARCH DATA REPOSITORY
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Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
TYPES OF REPOSITORIES
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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INSIGHTS 'HUB'
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Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
TYPES OF REPOSITORIES
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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RESEARCH REGISTER
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RESEARCH
LIBRARY
A public front
door
TYPES OF REPOSITORIES
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
RESEARCH
REGISTER
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
DATA
REPOSITORY
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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RESEARCH LIBRARY
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TYPES OF REPOSITORIES
Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
RESEARCH
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
A public front
door
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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A place for your
research work
To make it
accessible to
people who need it
And to promote
research as broadly
as possible
Which work?
IN A NUTSHELL
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A place for your
research work
To make it
accessible to
people who need it
And to promote
research as broadly
as possible
Who, exactly?
Which work?
IN A NUTSHELL
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A place for your
research work
To make it
accessible to
people who need it
And to promote
research as broadly
as possible
Promote how?
Who, exactly?
Which work?
IN A NUTSHELL
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Not to mention...
On which tool?
Maintaining it?
Who's building?
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On which tool?
Maintaining it?
Who's building?
Promote how?
Who, exactly?
Which work?
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Invest time upfront in
learning from industry
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THE REDBUBBLE
STORY
2
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CPO
RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE
Embedded in Product
Product
Design
Product
Management
Research
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CPO Data
Science
RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE
Embedded in Product
Product
Design
Product
Management
Research
Customer
Success
Strategy
Artist
Success
Marketing
Physical
Product
Partnering across the business
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CPO Data
Science
RESEARCH AT REDBUBBLE
Embedded in Product
Product
Design
Product
Management
Research
Customer
Success
Strategy
Artist
Success
Marketing
Physical
Product
Partnering across the business
And a desire to share even more broadly
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WHY A REPOSITORY?
Lost half our team
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WHY A REPOSITORY?
Lost half our team Major reorganisation
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WHY A REPOSITORY?
Lost half our team Major reorganisation Influx of new people
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WHY A REPOSITORY?
Lost half our team Major reorganisation Influx of new people
WE COULD NO LONGER RELY ON THE STATUS QUO
AND WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE
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OUR GOAL
Make it easy for people (including
new people) to find the right insights
to help them make the best decisions
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CHOOSING THE RIGHT REPO
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250+ over 4 years
70+ reports, in 2020
No dedicated
ResearchOps
SIZE
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RESEARCH
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
SMALL TEAM, MUCH WORK
A public front
door
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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CHANGE
2 researchers left in 2020
New C-suite early 2021
Many new starters in 2021
2 new researchers in 2021
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Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
FOCUS ON STORIES
RESEARCH
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
A public front
door
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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MESS
Confluence & Google
Docs
Lost tools - Notion,
Mural, Dropbox
New tools - Dovetail,
Miro
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Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
TOO MESSY TO NUGGETISE
RESEARCH
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
A public front
door
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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SHARE OUR STORIES, EASILY
Research Repositories: A ResearchOps Community Program of Work
RESEARCH
LIBRARY
RESEARCH
REGISTER
INSIGHTS 'HUB'
DATA
REPOSITORY
A public front
door
Easy for anyone in
the business to
use
The spreadsheet
or list
Good for small
teams, and small
collections
The nuggets
Gets to the
'answer' quickly
The data itself
Helps with
analysis &
synthesis
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On which tool?
Maintaining it?
Who's building?
Promote how?
Who, exactly?
Which work?
Stories & reports Everyone Guide & educate
Research team Research team
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Understand the role of
research in your
organisation
Be realistic about time &
effort - both upfront and
over time
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OUR PROMISE TO
THE REPO USERS
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We want to make it easier for you
to find value in what we create,
and for our work to have impact
We believe our institutional
knowledge should be shared
widely and freely, with no
bottlenecks, siloes or gatekeepers
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PLANNING &
BUILDING
3
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Learn from industry
Learn from users
1 2 3 4
PROJECT PLAN
Learn Audit Build Launch
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Product
Design
19 USER INTERVIEWS
Physical
Product
Supply Chain Engineering
Data Science Marketing
Creative
Design
Customer
Success
Strategy
Product
Management
Artist Success
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Product
Design
19 USER INTERVIEWS
Physical
Product
Supply Chain Engineering
Data Science Marketing
Creative
Design
Customer
Success
Strategy
Product
Management
Artist Success
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"I don't know how to go
beyond searching in
Confluence, other than
asking someone"
Don't know where to go
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"I don't know how to go
beyond searching in
Confluence, other than
asking someone"
"I wouldn't go to Confluence
- I know it's a struggle to find
Engineering material there"
Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up
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"I don't know how to go
beyond searching in
Confluence, other than
asking someone"
"Nobody thought that
maybe the answer
already existed"
"I wouldn't go to Confluence
- I know it's a struggle to find
Engineering material there"
Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up
Little historical knowledge
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"I don't know how to go
beyond searching in
Confluence, other than
asking someone"
"Nobody thought that
maybe the answer
already existed"
"I wouldn't go to Confluence
- I know it's a struggle to find
Engineering material there"
"I'm lazy and it's easier to
message you on Slack"
Don't know where to go Frustrated with current set-up
Little historical knowledge Relying on personal networks
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USER WISHLIST
Subscribe for news Include in onboarding Interpret old content
Link through to data Explain "research" Exec summaries
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FUTURE STATE USER JOURNEY
1. Find the
Repository in
the first place
2. Successfully
search, if you
know what
you’re looking
for
3. Enjoy
browsing, if
you don’t
4. Access
anything that
is provided
(everything is
openly shared)
5. Know who
to contact for
any follow-up
questions
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Interview far & wide -
look for people who will
challenge you
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Learn from industry
Learn from users
Locate all work
Build a spreadsheet
1 2 3 4
PROJECT PLAN
Learn Audit Build Launch
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Finding the content will
build your empathy for
users of your repo
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A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
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Don't exhaust yourself
Find the quiet times, and
give yourself enough time
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There is no silver bullet for
old content - approach
with caution
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Be balanced in risk assessment - risk of misuse, and, risk of losing history
Set yourself some clear guidelines - eg no older than 4 years
Keep the research in context
Show who to ask for more info
Risk comes in many forms
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When choosing which
content to include, start
smaller, and set limits
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Each artefact type (eg reports, templates, briefs) needs its own taxonomy and
has its own audience
Start with the type that will drive best uptake of the repo
One artefact type
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When starting your
taxonomy, set sensible
limits
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Start with more fields
"Research method", "Topic", "Research objective", "Product area", "Project title"
- in 2/3+ of repos
Start with more fields - you can always remove some
"How to build a clean taxonomy for your UX repository" by Marianne Carpentier
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Question Answer
Should we proscribe specific
documentation methods?
Yes - what is included in a piece of work, to provide full context
and enable the reader to explore
Can this become a repository
for data science as well?
In the long run, yes, but no action on this until mid 2023 at
least
What can we do about sharing
survey data?
I think we should have a page which links to all the surveys. No
this is going to be crazy workload. Emphasis is on providing
link to survey dashboard in any report from a survey
ALL THE CONSIDERATIONS
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DESIGN & BUILD
4
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Learn from industry
Learn from users
Choose a tool
Design the solution
Locate all work
Build a spreadsheet
1 2 3 4
PROJECT PLAN
Learn Audit Build Launch
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An existing platform is
easiest for users
(But if you have budget,
have fun!)
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CONFLUENCE OR
GOOGLE DRIVE?
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CONFLUENCE
Labels for taxonomy
Website - navigation, pages, UX
Product teams work there already
Research work there already
Can't search Google Drive content
Search is unreliable
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Also widely used
Bigger, more strategic researcjh
Can't tag
Can't create the library front door
Can't search Confluence content
Search is unreliable, no browse
DRIVE
Labels for taxonomy
Website - navigation, pages, UX
Product teams work there already
Research work there already
Can't search Google Drive content
Search is unreliable
CONFLUENCE
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DRIVE
CONFLUENCE
Also widely used
Bigger, more strategic researcjh
Can't tag
Can't create the library front door
Can't search Confluence content
Search is unreliable, no browse
Labels for taxonomy
Website - navigation, pages, UX
Product teams work there already
Research work there already
Can't search Google Drive content
Search is unreliable
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PAGES & IA
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We kept it shallow and
visible, so it's fast and
easy to find any topic
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A SIMPLE TAXONOMY
HOMEPAGE
CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC
JOB
JOB
JOB
JOB
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Confluence can show a list of
pages which have a specific label
We used labels to make sure each
page showed the correct content
LABELS
Recent pages labelled "research"
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Nothing had to be moved
into the repo. No teams
were disrupted
We just added a few
labels
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A LABEL
TO...
1. Get content into the repo - make it
findable in the repo search
HOMEPAGE
CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC
JOB
JOB
JOB
JOB
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A LABEL
TO...
1. Get content into the repo - make it
findable in the repo search
2. Show content on landing pages for the
Redbubble user type - customer, artist
HOMEPAGE
CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC
JOB
JOB
JOB
JOB
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A LABEL
TO...
HOMEPAGE
CUSTOMER ARTIST TOPIC
JOB
JOB
JOB
JOB
1. Get content into the repo - make it
findable in the repo search
2. Show content on landing pages for the
Redbubble user type - customer, artist
3. Show content on landing pages for a
theme - topic, and framework jobs
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Think like a human - make
content available
wherever it might be
relevant
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Draft wireframe with a designer
1
Address user needs & our goals
2
Look for plugins & workarounds
4
Learn Confluence, find issues
3
Build it out, and keep learning
5
PAGE
DESIGN
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THE
REPOSITORY
4
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THE HOMEPAGE
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Repository brand
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Access to content
Repository brand
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FAQs (only on Homepage)
Access to content
Repository brand
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FAQs (only on Homepage)
Repository footer
Access to content
Repository brand
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Guided experience
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Search and browse
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Latest changes
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CONTENT PAGE - GOOGLE DRIVE
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Include Google Drive
files in Confluence
search
No duplication of
content across both
Confluence and
Google Drive
Easy for the user to
access everything
from one place
1 2 3
OUR GOALS
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Each Google Doc had a
Confluence page created
Each page included:
Contact details
Exec Summary
Embedded Docs file
Labels to show it in repo
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LAUNCH &
IMPACT
5
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Learn from industry
Learn from users
Choose a tool
Design the solution
Soft & official launch
Empower champions
Locate all work
Build a spreadsheet
1 2 3 4
PROJECT PLAN
Learn Audit Build Launch
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Be proud of your team's
work, be loud about it,
and share far and wide
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Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it
1
LAUNCH
PLAN
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Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it
1
Promote: WIP & launch showcases
2
LAUNCH
PLAN
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WIP SHOWCASE - SEPT
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LAUNCH SHOWCASE - DEC
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Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it
1
Promote: WIP & launch showcases
2
Advocate: Champions across teams
3
LAUNCH
PLAN
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Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it
1
Promote: WIP & launch showcases
2
Amplify: Constant plugs on Slack
4
Advocate: Champions across teams
3
LAUNCH
PLAN
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Soft launch: Ask friendlies to test it
1
Promote: WIP & launch showcases
2
Amplify: Constant plugs on Slack
4
Advocate: Champions across teams
3
Normalise: Include in onboarding
5
LAUNCH
PLAN
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Monitor usage stats on Confluence
1
Check in with teams new to research
2
Measure change in direct requests
4
Review processes with the team
3
MEASURE
SUCCESS
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2023...
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Naomi, I used your research repository! Someone was asking if
there was research on a certain type of user. I went to the
repository and searched, and found a relevant research summary
in the first result. Took only a few minutes and was very easy to
navigate. Thank you for the work you put in making this resource!
It's completely different than when I first joined and couldn't
find anything, always had to Slack a researcher for help.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Invest time upfront in learning from industry
Understand the role of research in your org
Be realistic about time & effort
When gathering content, start small, set limits
Be proud of your team's work
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THANK YOU!