02Global
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Strengthening research practice in a multidisciplinary product team.
Shared guidance, reusable templates and a central home for insight made research easier to conduct consistently and easier to use again.
- My role
- Lead Product Designer
- Industry
- Media & entertainment
- Focus
- Research operations, Team capability
- Scope
- Research practice, documentation and team development
The short version
The case in three moves.
- Challenge
- Research happened alongside product delivery, but the team needed a more consistent way to plan studies, document learning and reuse existing evidence.
- Leadership
- I introduced practical guidance, reusable templates and a shared structure for storing and revisiting insight.
- Outcome
- Research became easier to incorporate into normal product-planning cycles, while the team developed a more consistent shared practice.
01 / Context
Research existed, but the organisation could not always rely on it.
Product designers conducted research alongside delivery, but experience and confidence varied across the team. Without a shared approach, it was harder to choose appropriate methods, reduce bias and communicate the strength of the evidence.
Direct access to customers was limited and useful feedback already held elsewhere in the business could be difficult to find. Research could take too long to influence the product cycle, which affected stakeholder trust as well as team confidence.
02 / System
Build capability as well as a repository.
I reviewed previous studies and created practical guidance for planning research, selecting methods, conducting fieldwork and documenting learning consistently. Research skills were also connected to the career framework so improvement could become part of each designer’s development.
The repository, templates and supporting tools were treated as one system. Existing feedback sources fed into the shared structure, while regular coaching helped designers apply the guidance rather than simply follow a document.
03 / Customers
Create a dependable route to real people.
I worked with existing customer understanding and CRM capability to create more dependable recruitment routes for both broad and context-specific studies. This reduced reliance on convenience samples and second-hand feedback.
A repeatable route to customers meant designers could plan research with more confidence and gather evidence that better reflected the question they were trying to answer.
04 / Value
Bring evidence into the rhythm of delivery.
Planning and analysis became faster and more consistent, making it easier for findings to influence work within normal product cycles. Stakeholders could see how evidence had been gathered and were better able to judge the recommendation that followed.
The team also became more confident in conducting studies. Shared guidance, reusable tools and feedback turned research from an occasional specialist activity into a more sustainable product capability.