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:
" Position research as strategic partners early in the process, not as work to be done at the end of the production line. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" Duplicative research will become less acceptable; researchers must act as natural connectors to reduce it and enhance organizational knowledge sharing. "
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
" Focus groups have been called a curse, but I'm giving them a second chance to see if there’s something positive there. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" The purpose of research is paramount; it guides the choice of methods and how rigorously to apply them. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" Without adoption, value is zero. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" Building those relationships, building trust, it will always pay off. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" Maturity is not just knowing what to do, but also knowing what not to do and being smart and grown up about saying no. "
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
