Doing more with more: Lessons from the Front Lines of Democratization

Key Insights

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  Organizational readiness is critical for successful democratization of research; it requires a cultural groundswell that values user feedback.

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  Separating research into roles: researchers focus on strategic complex studies, while non-researchers handle ad hoc insights and evaluative tests.

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  Research operations managers play a key role in governing democratization efforts, managing processes, training, vendor relationships, and repositories.

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  Empathic data collection is often the best entry point for non-researchers to contribute meaningfully to user insights.

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  Democratization is not about lowering research quality but expanding contribution while researchers maintain best practices and quality assurance.

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  Clear process alignment is essential to prevent research being done aimlessly; testing should be purposeful and timed for maximal impact.

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  Training and coaching are ongoing necessities; democratization is a gradual process requiring sustained effort and realistic expectations.

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  Repurposing insights into design documentation and product experiences can serve as informal but effective reporting for democratized research.

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  Combination of push (e.g., Slack updates) and pull (e.g., searchable repositories) strategies best facilitates insight sharing throughout an organization.

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  Creating non-researcher coaches within the organization can enhance support and scale of democratization initiatives beyond researchers alone.

Notable Quotes