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:
" Video newsletters sharing real user stories create empathy and engagement far beyond numbers and reports. "
Positioning insight: Structuring teams, roles and careers for a changing research landscape
March 13, 2025
" We add value not by providing more data but by introducing critical thought, friction, and reflection into organizational insight-making. "
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
" We say yes when teammates are curious to try new methods and run pilots to see what works and what could improve. "
Day 2 Theme Panel
March 12, 2025
" People generally want to help and tell what they genuinely believe; they’re just terrible at accurate recall. "
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 4, 2024
" But what’s the so what? Get to the point and don’t make me wait. "
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
March 26, 2024
" Sometimes it's just not even related to the research skills, sometimes relationships really matter. "
Panel: Excellence in Impact
March 25, 2024
" We have to step outside research and understand AI, technology, and product processes to put ourselves in the right space. "
What UX research maturity looks like and how we get there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
November 9, 2023
" Research skill and talent can be present in many different kinds of people, you don’t have to have research in your title. "
A Selectively Scrappy Approach to ResearchOps
November 8, 2018
