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Summary
In this talk, Michelle Merritt shares insights gained from her experience building the Polaris system at WeWork, which was designed to gather and organize diverse user research data from various sources. She explains the innovative approach they took, treating it not merely as a database, but as a dynamic, user-centric system that encouraged interaction and pattern recognition among researchers and community managers. Michelle outlines the importance of proper taxonomy for tagging data and the continuous evolution of their categorization methods based on user needs. Now, at CBRE, she is tasked with expanding research practices and creating an effective research repository. Michelle highlights the challenges and opportunities in collecting and integrating different types of user evidence across large organizations and touches on the need for human curation in maintaining valuable research archives. The discussion also explores the tools people use for managing research and the collaborative practices necessary for effective data sharing within teams.
Key Insights
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Polaris is designed as a multi-user system that allows interactive engagement with user research data.
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Tagging research data is essential for uncovering valuable patterns and insights, requiring continuous updates to taxonomy.
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The role of a curator or information architect is critical for managing a research repository effectively.
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Curation and human oversight are necessary to interpret user data in context and maintain institutional memory.
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Creating a conducive research environment involves a combination of qualified tools and a culture of sharing within organizations.
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Research repositories can benefit from being integrated with other organizational data sources like Salesforce.
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Efforts should be focused not only on collecting data but also on ensuring it is accessible and usable for all stakeholders.
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Training non-researchers in basic research methods enhances overall research capabilities within a company.
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The use of various tools (like Confluence, Airtable, and Polaris) presents unique challenges and learning curves for researchers and teams.
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There is a growing recognition of roles focused on data curation and information architecture within research teams.
Notable Quotes
"Without further ado, let's get to the main discussion today with Michelle Merritt."
"Michelle was if Michelle you can unmute but would it be fair to say you were kind of the information architect of the entire Polaris system?"
"You had like a whole array of taxonomies around the journeys like five or six major customer journeys."
"We were looking at office space... we went and we said, we actually need to capture monitors and laptops."
"We wanted to show not only... reality but also highlight problems to make things better."
"You're highlighting problems that people may not want to surface."
"I love working like this is having a war room, covering an entire wall with personas."
"Sometimes I don't know if that issue is still relevant, like maybe it was from three years ago and storage was a problem but it's been solved."
"There’s a huge human element which needs to be addressed in the next generation of research repositories."
"I think it's almost like having a research librarian providing curation is very valuable."
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