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.

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
Gold
Tuesday, March 31, 2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Share the love for this talk
Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
Speakers: Nathan Shedroff
Link:

Summary

Now that you’ve collected that great design research, integrated qualitative with quantitative, and put it to work into making products and services better, it’s time to get double the mileage (influence) from those same insights and use them toward corporate strategy. The missing element from the traditional business strategy process is the critical insights that come from (mainly, qualitative) user research. Our peers use qualitative market research that misidentifies business opportunities (and solutions) because they have an incomplete frame. With the right tools, processes, and framing, your research can influence decisions of WHAT products and services get green-lit.

Key Insights

  • Design researchers often understand customers better than any other function but are rarely included in organizational strategy.

  • Most organizational strategy is poorly done, relying on outdated, incomplete templates and lacking adequate research validation.

  • Effective strategy should be continuous, circular, and evolve in real time rather than being a linear, one-off activity.

  • Bridging qualitative and quantitative research is a key advantage design researchers have over traditional business strategists.

  • Researchers must become fluent in business strategy vocabulary, tools, and processes to contribute effectively.

  • Expanding internal networks and starting dialogues with mid-level strategists is often more effective than targeting senior leaders directly.

  • Storytelling with tight, layered narratives that connect research insights to company mission and goals is critical for impact.

  • Operationalizing research insights with business context and financial impact strengthens credibility and influence.

  • New tools like living personas and stakeholder maps can help embed ongoing customer understanding within organizations.

  • Business cultures are resistant to change, especially if findings challenge established quantitative metrics like net promoter scores.

Notable Quotes

"Design researchers, salespeople, and customer service agents have the best understanding of what customers need, but they are rarely invited into corporate strategy processes."

"Most strategy is done pretty poorly, it's misleading, sloppy, and often ignored after it’s produced."

"Better strategy is continuous, circular, and evolves in real time with every organizational action."

"Your research is not just useful for product development but as a validation mechanism and source of leadership insights."

"Don’t lead with your research process; lead with the insights because no one cares about the process until they want to challenge it."

"Living personas are online, constantly refreshed market segment profiles that everyone in an organization can consult."

"Use tools that present your work visually and professionally because grounded-looking research is taken more seriously."

"Connecting each budget request to your organization’s strategic goals signals seriousness and can raise important conversations."

"Successful companies are organized around what made them successful, and their past success is often their worst impediment to change. – John Pittman, Autodesk."

"The culture of business education has taught MBAs to be confident about many things that are simply not true."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jorge Arango
[Demo] How to re-categorize content at scale using LLMs
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Melissa Schmidt
How UX Research Hit It Big in Las Vegas
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Dorelle Rabinowitz
The Magic Word is Trust
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Phil Gilbert
A Consistent Culture of Design
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Devon Powers
Imagining Better Futures
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Lukas Moro
“Feels Like Paper!”: Interfacing AI through Paper
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Tracy McGoldrick
IBM User Experience Program—The What, Why and How
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Frances Yllana
DesignOps Exposed: What do our peers really think of us?
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Erin Weigel
Real-world lessons to improve your conversion rates
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Llewyn Paine
Coexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Sheri Byrne-Haber
The Importance of Accessible Design Systems
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Daniel J. Rosenberg
Designing with and for Artificial Intelligence
2022 • Enterprise Community
Aditi Ruiz
Pulse Check: Empathy Mapping Your Product Manager, Pt. 2
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Dr. Karl Jeffries
The Science of Creativity for DesignOps
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Maggie Dieringer
Cutting through the Noise
2020 • DesignOps Community
Jamika Burge
Embracing change: Navigating shifting landscapes with compassion and agency
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold

More Videos

Nalini Kotamraju

"I underestimated how much identity our team tied to UX and how scary that loss felt to many of them."

Nalini Kotamraju

Research After UX

March 25, 2024

Dean Broadley

"Don't be a pot plant, be a crab."

Dean Broadley

Not Black Enough to be White

January 8, 2024

Denise Jacobs

"I appreciate your allyship when I'm in the room, but I appreciate it more when I'm not in the room."

Denise Jacobs Nancy Douyon Renee Reid Lisa Welchman

Interactive Keynote: Social Change by Design

January 8, 2024

Kim Fellman Cohen

"Our first problem statement was too big, so we refined it to something more doable and actionable."

Kim Fellman Cohen

Measuring the Designer Experience

October 23, 2019

George Aye

"Every major brand has a dark side brought to you by design on purpose, 40 hours a week."

George Aye

That Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide

November 16, 2022

Nathan Curtis

"You need to be the connector between people trying to drive decisions and others influencing them."

Nathan Curtis

Beyond the Toolkit: Spreading a System Across People & Products

June 9, 2016

Greg Petroff

"Compass is a pretty frank place where people feel safe to speak their minds, even at leadership levels."

Greg Petroff

The Compass Mission

March 10, 2021

Chloe Amos-Edkins

"We have this collective superpower navigating the breadth and depth of human experience across cultures."

Chloe Amos-Edkins

A Cultural Approach: Research in the Context of Glocalisation

March 27, 2023

Mackenzie Cockram

"Heat maps showed users clicking on areas they thought were clickable but weren’t, resulting in click rage."

Mackenzie Cockram Sara Branco Cunha Ian Franklin

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live

December 16, 2022