Megan Blocker
Director of User Research, DigitalOcean
Megan founded McKinsey’s design research & insights practice, establishing and growing a team of one to more than 50 researchers, data analysts, and data scientists globally. As part of that transformation, she built the design research talent architecture and established McKinsey’s design research philosophy, operations, and tooling. In addition, Megan is deeply passionate about equity and inclusion. She co-founded McKinsey’s Women in Tech initiative and was a member of the DE&I global leadership team.
In her work as a researcher, Megan combines empathy with data to achieve deep understanding, craft inspirational vision, and deliver actionable insight. As a leader, she makes sense of ambiguity and thrives when building and leading teams where trust, transparency, and clarity of vision encourage risk-taking, innovation, and creativity. Most of all, she loves building something new and scrappy, then strategically operationalizing it for scale. She invests in people, Post-Its, insights, and LEGOs.
Rosenverse talks by Megan:
" Insights are the fire that inspires, challenges, and drives teams and stakeholders into action. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" This transformation is a win-win: we demonstrate solid business value and serve people and stories in more ethical and impactful ways. "
Redefining the research toolkit: Expanding methodologies for a changing world
March 12, 2025
" Relational and integrative approaches offer a powerful way forward. "
Theme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
" Slowing down research creates equitable spaces where minority and marginalized voices can be meaningfully included. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" User interviews are an absolute mainstay of user research practices and likely will always be a core tool. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" Teams are better at solving problems and coming up with innovative ideas than solo practitioners. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" I think you can't be good at research unless you're also good at getting that research across. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" Teams that improve their data fluency and understanding of research get to answers faster and deliver more value. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" I realized that dedicating my time and energy into something that wasn’t going to be used was not a good use of my time. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018
