Summary
Growing organizational research capacity requires both bottom-up and top-down changes that can be daunting to tackle. Hana Nagel will examine the challenge of scaling research ops through the lens of social change theory, showing how service design and systems thinking can be used to create a strategy to increase research’s impact on product. By building collaboration, connection and community, you can bring enough people together to turn research ripples into waves.
Key Insights
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Small actions in organizations can lead to significant impact over time.
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User research should be scalable to involve non-researchers in meaningful ways.
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The concept of positive deviance highlights how marginalized groups can drive social change.
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Systems change requires understanding of complex interconnections between elements and stakeholders.
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Creating environments for collaboration can lead to better design practices within teams.
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Incremental changes and feedback loops are necessary for effective implementation of solutions.
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Empower stakeholders by giving them ownership of both problems and solutions.
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Engagement requires building community and creating spaces for experimentation and learning.
Notable Quotes
"All change is hard, but systems change is especially tricky."
"Making changes to a social system has a special set of wicked problems."
"Your research is only as good as how it’s acted upon."
"People who aren't researchers are going to be researching, looking for ways to make good decisions."
"Social impact is a significant positive change to oppressing social challenge."
"Change from the bottom up is important, but it requires top level alignment as well."
"Empathy isn't just about understanding; it's also about respecting existing values in any change process."
"A systemic approach to social change is incremental, step by step, sometimes step and stop."
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