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:
" Demonstrate business value of less extractive, participatory research methods to make ethical practices easier to adopt. "
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
" Advanced quantitative methods can amplify our work in ways we didn’t expect, and also show us how to get started. "
Theme 2 Intro
March 12, 2025
" Combining numbers with rich participant videos and quotes really brings the user to life for stakeholders. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" If you don’t have researchers to shadow, lean on communities, data scientists, or industry organizations. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" Put the most important message right up front no matter what the format. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" The greatest impact is when people call me directly or give a brief to me directly; it's about relationships. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" We seldom question whose table we want a seat at or why we don’t rebuild the entire table altogether. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" Offers of championship from leaders, like 'What do you need from me?' are strong signs of buy-in. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018
