Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Democratizing Research at HoneyBook
Gold
Wednesday, March 9, 2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Share the love for this talk
Democratizing Research at HoneyBook
Speakers: Nicole Wright and Ned Dwyer
Link:

Summary

During this interview, we'll hear how Senior UX Researcher, Nicole Wright has helped HoneyBook–a client management software company–democratize research, build a better product that led to a recent $1B valuation. Nicole will share her best practices, lessons learned and her vision for the future.

Key Insights

  • Democratizing research improves not just product quality but also internal collaboration and company culture.

  • Building a centralized research repository accessible across teams drives greater research adoption and shared insights.

  • Standardized taxonomies across teams are critical to efficiently organize and retrieve research insights.

  • Involving new hires company-wide in user calls accelerates empathy and user understanding from day one.

  • Adoption of research tools and processes takes time and requires incremental wins and ongoing training.

  • Research insights shared in daily briefings and Slack channels keep user needs visible across the organization.

  • Cross-functional partnership, including support, CS, marketing, and education, amplifies the impact of research.

  • Balancing research execution and process building is essential, especially for solo researchers growing to teams.

  • Having different access levels to the repository manages data quality, relevance, and ethical concerns.

  • Embedding research findings into education and support content helps solve user problems more holistically.

Notable Quotes

"Research isn’t just about building a great product; it’s about having a great company and stronger internal bonds."

"When new hires talk directly with users, they connect with the product in a way that makes the research insights stick."

"We had 1600 tags in our system at one point, which was overwhelming, so getting taxonomies aligned was a game changer."

"Adoption doesn’t happen overnight; it’s all about patience and incremental wins."

"It’s funny to talk about being a research team of one, managing five product teams, and how the repository helped focus research."

"We have a daily seven-by-seven meeting where research shares insights monthly, and sometimes more often depending on projects."

"By understanding other teams’ pain points, you can show them how democratized research can help solve their challenges."

"Most people have read-only access to summaries, while power users have broader access to dive deeper into research data."

"Having engineers watch research clips often leads to faster fixes because they feel the pain firsthand."

"We’re focusing in the next 6 to 12 months on connecting research with education to improve product learning and support."

Ask the Rosenbot
Gillian Salerno-Rebic
From Insight to Impact: How JourneySpark Used WEVO Pulse + Pro to Drive a 50% Lift in Ad Engagement
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Megan Blocker
Theme 2 Intro
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Steve Chaparro
Bringing Into Alignment Brand, Culture and Space
2020 • DesignOps Community
Erin Hauber
Design is Not the Frosting on the Scaled Agile Layer Cake
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Ellie Krysl
Planned Right. Managed Right. Designed Right.
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Tiffany Cheng
Designing in a Pandemic: Integrating Speed and Rigor
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Mackenzie Cockram
Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
2022 • QuantQual Interest Group
Jenny Price
From Tradition to Transformation: Unlocking Startup Agility in a Legacy Enterprise
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Peter Boersma
How to Define and Maintain a DesignOps Roadmap
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Kate Towsey
The State of ResearchOps: More Than Just Theory
2019 • DesignOps Community
Amy Paris
Delivering Equity: Government Services for All Ages, Languages, Sexual Orientations, and Gender Identities
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Nick Cochran
Growing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections
2019 • Enterprise Community
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Sarah Fathallah
Beyond insights: Rethinking the role of researchers as stewards of organizational wisdom
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Nathan Shedroff
Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
George Hinchliffe
Delivering Amazing Experiences
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold

More Videos

Ned Dwyer

"Measuring impact means linking research insights back to decisions and how they affect roadmaps and priorities."

Ned Dwyer Emily Stewart James Wallis

The Intersection of Design and ResearchOps

September 24, 2024

Michael Land

"Most of our designers are contractors; they have limited voice because they’re bound by contracts."

Michael Land

Establishing Design Operations in Government

February 18, 2021

Sam Proulx

"There are no screen readers built in for VR/AR yet; accessibility is still considered a hack in these spaces."

Sam Proulx

To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility

November 18, 2022

Vasileios Xanthopoulos

"The UX academy gave non-designers 20% of their time to learn and practice user experience methods."

Vasileios Xanthopoulos

A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to User-Centric Maturity at Scale

January 8, 2024

Andrew Custage

"Aligning content to audience expectations requires understanding their intent through market research."

Andrew Custage Michael Mallett

The Digital Journey: Research on Consumer Frustration and Loyalty

March 29, 2023

Marjorie Stainback

"Our program changed trains people to create high quality, unbiased user research."

Marjorie Stainback Kelsey Kingman

Transforming Strategic Research Capacity through Democratization

October 24, 2019

Alla Weinberg

"You don’t have time not to build connections; the lack of connection is why everything is taking longer."

Alla Weinberg

Cross-Functional Relationship Design

December 6, 2022

Jerome “Axle” Brown

"Caring for people emotionally during insight sessions directly impacts their productivity and willingness to engage."

Jerome “Axle” Brown

How to Use Self-Directed Learning to Ensure Your Research Insights are Heard and Acted Upon

March 11, 2021

Jen Crim

"Our offices have stand-up desks, nice collaboration areas, and comfy seating with a fresh, on-brand look."

Jen Crim Jess Quittner Saritha Kattekola Alex Karr Gurbani Pahwa

Culture, DIBS & Recruiting

June 11, 2021