Creating an appetite for learning: building a culture of research

Struggling to land research findings internally? Facing skepticism about the value of qualitative research? Design researchers inside of companies face common challenges: building the credibility and internal understanding of qualitative research; ensuring it reaches the right people at the right time and in the right form to impact business decisions; and using scarce resources for maximum impact - not to mention continually making ourselves better as researchers. We here at MOO have been striving to build a new culture of research - during this session we’ll share our practical lessons learned, our successes and failures… and hopefully learn from you in an interactive workshop.

Presented by Julia Nelson as Design Research 2018

Transcript

1. Hello Melbourne! @juliakaiulani
2. 2 Great Design for Everyone All companies, big and small, looking their best
3. Cultivating an appetite for learning: Developing a culture of research (and for Research) at MOO
4. 4 • Colleagues don’t know what design research is, or confuse it with market research or data analytics • People question the value of your insights, especially vs. quantitative data • Design research is not seen as a key input to organisational decisions • Research happens, but out of sync with organisational decision-making • Research insights are not actioned Sound familiar? • Serving a large organisation with limited resources (people, time, $) • Ensuring findings are disseminated to the right people, in an easily digestable format • Retrieving past insight and connecting insights across projects • Finding time to improve the efficiency & effectiveness of research operations • Measuring the impact of research on the organisation Internal to Research For Research <-> Organisation
5. 5 • Colleagues don’t know what design research is, or confuse it with market research or data analytics • People question the value of your insights, especially vs. quantitative data • Design research is not seen as a key input to organisational decisions • Research happens, but out of sync with organisational decision-making • Research insights are not actioned Sound familiar? • Serving a large organisation with limited resources (people, time, $) • Ensuring findings are disseminated to the right people, in an easily digestable format • Retrieving past insight and connecting insights across projects • Finding time to improve the efficiency & effectivneess of research operations • Measuring the impact of research on the organisation Internal to Research For Research <-> Organisation
6. Research @ MOO - BEFORE 6 Discover Develop Deliver Define Exploratory research
7. Research @ MOO - NOW 7 Julia Georgia Alex Julia Georgia Alex
8. Challenge #1: Scaling How do you scale your capacity to serve a large organisation when you are a small research team with limited resources?
9. 3 strategies to do this: 1. Making research as lean as possible 2. Building or borrowing capacity from other parts of the company 3. Expanding our own capabilities as researchers 9
10. Strategy #1: Make research as lean as possible 1. Lean scope 2. Lean methods 3. Lean analysis 4. Lean deliverables 10
11. Lean scope 11 Scoping workshops (in person and remote) • Questions • Assumptions • Hypotheses “Every new idea starts with a RAT (riskiest assumption test)”
12. Lean methods 12 Guerilla testing @ photography show Internal ethnography Remote testing
13. Lean analysis
14. Lean deliverables Instead of reports or presentations, consider: • Post it notes! • Posters • Diagrams • Emails • One page summaries 14
15. Strategy #2: Building or borrowing capacity from other parts of the company 15 Building capacity
16. Borrowing capacity 16 Collaborative interview & probe analysis Collective video analysis • Data preparation: transcripts, probe data folders, designer profiles • Product manager, UX designer, head of social media • Guidance and coaching before data review • Review & clarification of observations • Collective discussion of findings
17. 17 Strategy #3: Expanding our capabilities as researchers
18. 18 Toolkit of methodologies Organisational skills Communications skills Interpersonal skills (Interviews, observation, stakeholder management) Design research competencies
19. 1. By consciously leveraging the diverse skill sets that already exist within our team 2. By creating ceremonies and spaces for reflection and learning 3. By cultivating internal and external learning networks 19 So how do we continue to grow our skills?
20. 20 1. Consciously leveraging the diverse skill sets that already exist within our team
21. 21 Executor Advisor Apprentice
22. • Research guild • Project retros 22 2. By creating ceremonies / spaces for reflection and learning
23. 3. By cultivating internal and external learning networks 23
24. Challenge #2: Enhancing Impact How can we maximise the impact of design research on the business?
25. 25 1. Educating the business on how we can help them, and how we fit into their decision-making processes 2. Maximising the value the business gets out of research by ensuring insight is translated into action Enhancing our impact requires 2 things:
26. 26 • Roadshow to reintroduce the function and new team • Quartery meetings with key teams and departments to discuss their objectives and how Research can help • A lightweight “Research 101” training 1. Educating the business
27. Research @ MOO - NOW 27 With thanks to Dan Nessler
28. 2. Maximising the value the business gets out of research by ensuring insight is translated into action - 28 1. Lean, easily digestable deliverables 2. Involve those who will use the research in the process • Scoping workshops • Data collection / observation • Data analysis
29. 2. Maximising the value the business gets out of research by ensuring insight is translated into action - 29 Findings Recommendations Feedback • Getting stakeholders to prioritise findings and propose actions.
30. Looking ahead, how do we... • Archive, organise and manage the pool of research insights we are accumulating and make them more visible and retrievable? • Strike a balance between strategic / exploratory and tactical/ summative research in our portfolio of projects? • Measure the impact of research on business performance? • Further expand the channels through which we engage with the broader company? • Continue to empower others within the organisation to participate in, or even conduct their own design research?
31. Thanks! Julia Ka’iulani Nelson Head of Product Research MOO Print Ltd Julian@moo.com 31 @juliakaiulani
32. Appendices
33. Questions to consider 33 • How might YOU make research more lean - in every way? • How might YOU build or leverage the capacity of others within your organisation to conduct research, with guidance or oversight? • How might YOU create ceremonies to foster learning and reflection? • How might YOU build networks internally and externally to inject new ideas and skills into your practice?