Stronger Together: Lessons Learned from UX Research Ops
This video is featured in the Knowledge Management playlist.
Summary
Design Ops and Research Ops teams are essential to design and research, providing strategic perspective as they solve problems and remove blockers. In this session, we review the shared functions of these two teams, focusing on Knowledge Management. We will talk about the rise and fall of research repositories in the ReOps space, outline the lessons learned, and present a way forward: a knowledge management system for both Design and Research - created and managed by Ops.
Key Insights
-
•
Distinguishing between static explicit knowledge (e.g., playbooks) and dynamic explicit knowledge (e.g., personas) requires different management solutions.
-
•
Many UX teams conflate asset organization with insight sharing, which undermines repository effectiveness.
-
•
UX research repositories often fail because they are designed only for researchers, not broader stakeholders.
-
•
Knowledge management principles from library science can greatly improve UX repository strategies.
-
•
Reframing UX deliverables as business assets changes how value, access, and impact are measured and managed.
-
•
Design information management systems create transparency by linking assets like templates, insights, and digital properties.
-
•
Design intelligence—analyzed and actionable design data—is a crucial, often missing layer in business intelligence.
-
•
Different UX roles need tailored views of knowledge, from high-level strategy to granular component history.
-
•
Collaboration between research ops and design ops is essential to break silos and build scalable UX operations.
-
•
Dedicated people and processes are key to successful knowledge ecosystems, not just tools or technology.
Notable Quotes
"Don’t decide on the solution before you understand the problem space."
"Repositories were meant only for researchers, not for stakeholders, and a lot of them failed."
"UX assets are actually valuable resources that generate revenue and contribute to business success."
"Knowledge management is what librarians and archivists have been doing for hundreds of years."
"We need to build connective tissue—shared taxonomies and relational schemas—to tie UX knowledge together."
"Design intelligence is the technologies and strategies organizations use to make informed business decisions from design data."
"Business intelligence already exists in many domains, but design intelligence is still the missing piece for UX."
"The repository isn’t the solution to your problem; knowledge management is."
"Different roles require different slices of information with varied levels of context."
"When UX teams see how these tools make their jobs easier, initial resistance usually disappears."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The question for hiring managers is how to move from expecting people to be UX researchers to inviting them to become UX researchers."
Victor M. GonzalezPracticing Learners and Learning Practitioners
March 10, 2021
"The workplaces conditions and expectations to perform faster forever are biologically impossible to sustain."
Alla WeinbergHealing Toxic Stress
September 23, 2024
"Performance reviews at HubSpot are ongoing conversations, not one big yearly event."
Libby MaurerTreating Diversity & Inclusion in Hiring as a Design Problem
December 5, 2019
"Ops folks are the linchpin connecting leadership and designers, orchestrating all the instruments."
Briana Thomas Christina RodriguezWhen Design Ops Comes in H.O.T. : A Tale of a Transformed Design Org
September 30, 2021
"Previously, IBM designers were inventing their own buttons for every product, which exasperated chaos and inconsistency."
Mitchell BernsteinOrganizing Chaos: How IBM is Defining Design Systems with Sketch for an Ever-Changing AI Landscape
September 29, 2021
"AI tools should augment human research, not replace moderated sessions, at least not yet."
Jon Temple Kalee Dankner Bruce Falk Lauren GalanterPanel: Stacks, Security, and Stakeholders: The Hidden Work of UXR Tool Procurement
March 12, 2026
"Accessibility isn't about dumbing down interfaces; except for color, most guidelines do not require changing the look or behavior of components."
Sheri Byrne-HaberThe Importance of Accessible Design Systems
January 8, 2024
"Start with trust by default; most people won’t disappoint you and will deliver responsibly."
Ana FerreiraDesigning Distributed: Leading Doist’s Fully Remote Design Team in Six Countries
January 8, 2024
"Doing at least two benchmarking rounds lets you see if optimizations have measurable impacts over time."
Daniela Magaña Flores Ariane Rahn Jeff Ephraim BanderAhead of Competition: Learn What UX Benchmarking Can Do for Your Business Today
March 10, 2022
