Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Power of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform
Monday, December 16, 2019 • Advancing Research Community
Share the love for this talk
Power of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform
Speakers: Etienne Fang
Link:

Summary

Uber is powered by insights. Chances are good that your company is, too. We’ve all had firsthand experiences of an inconvenient truth: insights are only as good as our ability to make use of them, and centralizing insights in a tool is only one piece of the puzzle. In this session we’ll not only share how we created our insights database, Kaleidoscope, but also what we’ve learned about changing behavior through partnerships and processes at an organizational level.

Key Insights

  • A unified insights taxonomy with 'who, what, why' improves clarity and usability of insights.

  • Insights are defined as actionable learnings that inform decisions, not just raw data or facts.

  • Triangulating insights across functions and geographies reveals broader opportunities and regional nuances.

  • Insight creators want their learnings applied responsibly and without being taken out of context.

  • Insight consumers seek deep understanding to inform strategic decision-making.

  • Adoption of insight platforms is boosted by social incentives like awards and collaborative events.

  • Connecting existing siloed systems rather than replacing them encourages buy-in and richer networks.

  • Real-world connections and knowing who to contact are vital alongside digital insights tools.

  • Maintaining quality control and vetting content is key to building trust in the platform.

  • Ongoing challenges include incentivizing consistent submissions and automating insight imports to ease user effort.

Notable Quotes

"An insight is an important learning about people, our applications, or the world that helps us make an informed decision about a project, roadmap, or program."

"Who, what, and why help ensure an insight is complete enough to stand alone."

"Uber bus drivers in Cairo end up working longer than their scheduled shift because they still receive requests 20 to 30 minutes before their shift ends."

"Sharing is actually the end—it’s basically the last step that means you’ve completed your study or analysis."

"A kaleidoscope helps us see changing patterns to perceive new images and pursue new possibilities."

"People want to get credit and recognition for the work that they’re doing."

"The person sitting next to you probably solved that problem already—just talk to one another."

"Connecting strings of Christmas lights is a mental model for connecting teams’ insights without superseding their systems."

"Validation helps drive action, so feedback and social engagement keep people motivated to share insights."

"Sharing enables lots of great things to happen—it’s better than being locked in silos."

Ask the Rosenbot
Mariesa Lenz
What Beekeeping Taught me about Product Teams
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Mark Templeton
Creating a Legacy: the ultimate experience
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Jennifer Strickland
Fireside Chat: How Design Addresses a World on Fire
2022 • Civic Design Community
Sarah Auslander
Insights Panel
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Aaron Stienstra
Leveraging Civic Design to Advance Equity and Rebuild Trust in the US Federal Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Dr. Karl Jeffries
The Science of Creativity for DesignOps
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Irina Tikhonova
Small Wins, Big Impact: Leveraging and Elevating User Engagement
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Milan Guenther
A Shared Language for Co-Creating Ambitious Endeavours
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Sam Proulx
Accessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Ned Dwyer
Right horses for the right courses – how and when to democratize research
2025 • Advancing Service Design 2025
Gold
Mariah Hay
BUILD: Discussion
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Daniel Orbach
Zero to One: Co-Creating Operating Models with your Team
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Doug Powell
Closing Keynote: Design at Scale
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Daniel Gloyd
Designing Warmth
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Yolanda Rankin
Black Feminist Epistemology as a Critical Framework for Equitable Design
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Peter Morville
The Architecture of Understanding
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold

More Videos

Louis Rosenfeld

"If you don’t do this work ethically and thoughtfully, nobody else may."

Louis Rosenfeld

Welcome / Housekeeping

June 6, 2023

Paul Pangaro, PhD

"Organizations succeed when they have a language that works today but must evolve it to survive tomorrow."

Paul Pangaro, PhD

Systems Disciplines: Table Stakes for 21st Century Organizations

June 6, 2023

Dharani Perera

"Service design has a critical role in mapping human and agent interactions in an AI and automation world."

Dharani Perera

The mandala of service design: unlocking alignment and action through service design

November 20, 2025

Tiffany Cheng

"We applied usability test fixes post-launch to get the service out earlier during lockdown."

Tiffany Cheng

Designing in a Pandemic: Integrating Speed and Rigor

June 9, 2022

Ricardo Martins

"Startups struggle daily with pricing, and conjoint analysis is the single most underrated tool to find optimal prices."

Ricardo Martins

Unlocking the power of advanced quantitative methods

March 12, 2025

William Newton

"Executives first want to know what metric you will impact next quarter before approving big initiatives."

William Newton Jenny Chang

How to Lead With Data, and Without Data

June 7, 2023

Sahibzada Mayed

"Trauma should not be reduced to a right of passage that justifies participation in research."

Sahibzada Mayed

The Politics of Radical Research: A Manifesto

March 27, 2023

Prayag Narula

"Your primary function as a research team is to build a culture of research, not just react to project requests."

Prayag Narula

How to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To

June 10, 2022

Jack Behar

"We help teams onboard their coded components onto the UXPin platform so they can be enabled with component-driven prototyping."

Jack Behar

How to Build Prototypes that Behave like an End-Product

December 6, 2022