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HITS, Microsoft's internal human insight system: From research library to living body of knowledge
Summary
Imagine a workplace where every research request you receive takes into account what your organization already knows. Product teams have the answers to common UX questions at their fingertips, and finding insights has become second nature to everyone. You rarely wonder whether the insights you find are still true because other researchers are always adding new evidence that supports them. In this session we discuss HITS, the human insight library Microsoft uses internally to achieve these goals, and the culture we’ve been working to develop around its use.
Key Insights
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Microsoft’s HITS indexes individual research observations and insights instead of entire reports for more precise and instantly accessible knowledge.
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HITS supports durable knowledge by connecting research findings over time, preventing repeated studies on already known issues.
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A layered knowledge model in HITS reflects raw data, information, knowledge, and wisdom to progressively synthesize research.
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Every claim, insight, and recommendation in HITS has a unique URL, enabling traceable citations and easier collaboration.
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HITS accommodates both tactical evaluative research and foundational generative research by linking discrete insights and enabling reference to richer narrative formats.
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There’s a concept of insight durability and deprecation in HITS, allowing the community to peer review and track the lifespan of insight validity.
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HITS is used across functions including researchers, designers, and product managers, balancing openness with content quality controls.
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The search engine in HITS uses full-text search complemented with entity recognition, enabling flexible topic discovery with topic hubs.
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The system fosters connection by tracking who publishes in specific research areas, supporting follow-ups and cross-team collaboration.
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Building and maintaining HITS is resource intensive and requires cultural alignment, but custom solutions outperform generic content management tools at Microsoft’s scale.
Notable Quotes
"Don’t mistake motion for progress. Running many studies doesn’t mean you’re learning something new."
"HITS indexes individual insights, not just whole reports, so you can drill down into the actual claims behind evidence."
"Every claim and recommendation inside HITS has its own URL so partners can share and track knowledge."
"Our goal is to maintain a living body of knowledge that evolves organically as new research comes in."
"Researchers can publish directly without intermediation to avoid blocking knowledge sharing."
"Knowledge can be dangerous and misused, but democratizing access helps self-regulate by enabling fact checking."
"We treat foundational and tactical research differently, using more flexible structures where rigid reports don’t fit."
"The more people know about HITS, the more they want to use it, though some teams have cultural resistance."
"HITS is not a replacement for researchers but an augmentation to scale their expertise across the organization."
"We want to build more social features around insights to encourage community discussion and connection."
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