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:
" Ethics isn’t just about empathy during research, it’s every step where humans are involved. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" We can no longer rely on interviews, surveys, and usability tests to answer the strategic, complex questions organizations face today. "
Redefining the research toolkit: Expanding methodologies for a changing world
March 12, 2025
" Participants are not passive anymore. People don’t just want to be studied. They want to be active contributors to the knowledge we create. "
Theme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
" You have to pick your battles with stakeholders—fight the ones that really matter and let smaller issues slide. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" Creativity is needed right from the research stage, not just in solution design. "
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
" It's not a match-winning pass if no one catches it. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" Creating personas as a team is more valuable than the persona itself because it creates ownership and empathy. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" Stakeholder analysis and managing stakeholders is critical in hierarchical cultures to maintain trust. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018
