In season four of The Office, Ryan returns to Scranton to launch ‘Dunder Mifflin Infinity’, a push for new technology and sales initiatives within the flailing paper company.

A bunch of everyday office dynamics get shaken up at once:

1. Michael, ever the obtuse and lazy manager, fails to read the memo directing him how to use PowerPoint, leading to an awkward team meeting.

2. The rest of the Scranton office employees have mixed reactions to the new website ordering system and BlackBerrys.

3. Creed panics about being pushed out for being too old and dyes his hair jet black to seem more youthful!

Feeling threatened and insulted by the tech push and the implication that he’s obsolete, Michael then launches his “back to basics” counteroffensive. He drags Dwight on a gift‑basket road trip to win back old clients through personal charm instead of the new website.

The truth proves hard to take: those clients mostly tell Michael that they’ll only consider coming back if Dunder Mifflin improves its technology and pricing.

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Everything Is Changing (Again)

UXR has largely been dealing with the effects of AI a little better than Michael did with Powerpoint. But there’s another change underway which might have us clutching at our gift baskets.

The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 felt like the start of a seismic shift. Early 2026 represents another inflection point:

1. The launch of OpenClaw has made personal, autonomous agents realistic (albeit with security worries).

2. Posts from engineering leaders like DHH and Boris Cherny have outlined how AI reorients how developers write code.

3. Jakob Nielsen has written about how the entire field of UX is set to be upended by AI.

All of these developments point to an evolving tech landscape, but what’s most acute is the impact on engineering and downstream effects on product development.

To Code or Not to Code

Engineers are the load-bearing wall of any product organization. They write the code that creates the product. Of course, there are many other vital roles within software companies, but the team at the centre of it all is engineering.

Anecdotal evidence and data from AI-forward companies point to a rethink of this central task.

Of course, engineers do more than generate code, but the core activity within their role is code. What happens once a chunk of that work is passed to AI? Or maybe that’s too assumptive: does a chunk of that work get passed to AI?

For now, it’s unclear. But just a bit of educated guesswork brings up some possibilities:

1. Perhaps most alarmingly, junior-level engineering roles slowly dwindle. There’s already some evidence that these starter positions are going away. The long-term effect is a vacuum in the mid-level engineer space within the next decade, but let’s come back to the short-term.

2. Engineers become conductors, with more time spent on architecture and code review. If there’s less time spent on generating code, activity shifts to existing, adjacent work.

However, these options are incomplete. They miss the obvious change in calculus for product development.

When building is no longer expensive, how does the process of building change?

In my next post, I’ll play out different scenarios for engineering, PM, and design, then talk through the implications for UXR.

It might sound overly dramatic to swap AI for winter in this context, but recent months have shown how much product development is shifting. If you work in UX research, this warrants your attention.

AI x Winter

To be clear, I’m less concerned about AI performing UXR tasks and more curious about how AI changes the way companies build products. Here’s the domino effect we currently see playing out:

1. AI’s ability to write code is fundamentally challenging assumptions about the role of developers.

2. PMs are rethinking what tasks are core to their role, given the shifting landscape of writing code.

3. Designers are considering whether they should lean into engineering tasks given the speed of building with AI.

Against that backdrop, UX research is also bound to shift.

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What Now?

I’m bringing back the Scaling Research newsletter and podcast to address this moment. We need more open conversation, ideas, and examples to show how the UXR practice can navigate this AI era.

Winter is coming, and we have the agency to do something about it.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Publish your thoughts and experiences. LinkedIn, your own Substack, Medium, wherever: we need more people sharing their perspectives.

2. If you’re working in settings where AI has fundamentally shifted your work and have thoughts about where UXR sits in the present and future, I want to have you on the Scaling Research podcast. Please reach out to opata.olende@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.

3. If you have teammates or UXR friends who would benefit from this conversation, share Scaling Research with them.

I’ll be back in a few days with a longer post about the shifts in product development that we should be paying attention to. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for reading Scaling Research. If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader looking to learn from your peers, you’ve found your people. 😀

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you!

Insights Cross-Pollination

How often do you collaborate with other insights teams? How much do you work with partners in Sales and Marketing? How about your insights peers in Data?

If this isn’t a consistent practice within your UX research team, you’re missing out on a significant opportunity for impact.

Brad Orego built a cross-functional insights alliance at Auth0: he’s seen the immense benefits of cross-pollinating with other parts of the company. In this episode of the Scaling Research podcast, we talk through his experience and dive into related UXR leadership topics.

My Picks of the Week

• I haven’t yet tried the product, but I love this Limitless launch because it showcases the power of scoping down to the Venn diagram of feasibility and user value.

• Dave Hora dives into the need for research to maximize impact by working in rhythm with organizational rituals.

• I could include a Ben Thompson (Stratechery) article nearly every week, but his post on MKBHD(s) after the recent Humane AI fiasco is a standout.

• I continue to be wowed by Perplexity and the number of everyday tasks that it’s simplifying. For example, I now get my daily Kenya news roundup in Perplexity. It’s not perfect — when asked about the NBA playoffs, it reported that the Toronto Raptors (who aren’t in the playoffs) are leading their series against the 76ers — but it’s making my life simpler.

Thanks for making it all the way to the end! Have a great weekend! 😎

Preview photo by Lanju Fotografie on Unsplash

If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to drive greater impact in your organization, you’ve found your people.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

The Dangers of a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to UXR

Between the tech sector layoffs and Judd Antin’s UXR Reckoning article, UXRs are — perhaps now more than ever — scrambling to figure out what shifts to make to deliver more impact.

While the draw to copy the playbooks of others is tempting, it’s also dangerous.

Josh Williams has some excellent advice for us:

“I hope research leaders just take a moment to think about [whether] they are supporting the org in the right way and throw out the playbook of what that looks like…just start from scratch and say, ‘What does my organization need and what do they need now?’"

“So I just want everyone to not worry about the zeitgeist and what everyone's saying, except for the message that we're essentially hearing. Have you gone through a reckoning? Have you understood your value and how you're going to support your organization? I think that's more important than doing it like anyone else does it.”

In my chat with Josh, we cover:

• The role of research in organizations.

• The tendency to view research as a monolithic practice.

• Attachment to projects vs focusing on other mechanisms to deliver impact.

• The balance between good enough and rigorous research depending on the risk associated with the decision being made.

• Research leaders not being bound by industry trends or expectations.

• The future of research.

Enjoy! 🎧

My Picks of the Week

1. Dharmesh Shah is chock-full of brilliant takes. I particularly appreciate how he breaks down concepts from an engineering standpoint. His excellent interview on Lenny’s Podcast is worth your time.

2. Intercom was at the top of the content game years ago, but they’ve slowly tailed off over the last half-decade. Their first episode of Off Script is a return to those strong, opinionated, and interesting content roots.

3. Henrik Mattsson and Jess Holbrook have a valuable discussion on AI and UXR.

Newsletter Notes

Stay tuned for some superb podcast interviews that are already recorded and heading your way over the coming weeks. 🎙️

A note on the newsletter format change:

• I’m focusing on podcast interviews more than writing.

• I may occasionally write a long-form post, but it’ll be rare. Conversations make me more energized, so I'm leaning in that direction.

• I’ll also be posting my picks of the week to highlight interesting blogs, videos, podcasts, and books.

Thanks for making it all the way to the end! Have a great weekend! 😎

If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to develop your practice, you’ve found your people.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

From the News Room to Research Ops

“How did you get a job in Research Ops?”

After I started my past role running Research Ops at Zapier, I got this question in my LinkedIn DM nearly every week. Folks from UX research, design, people operations, and many other practices would reach out to learn about my path into this field to make a switch themselves.

Today, you'll hear this transition story from someone I greatly admire in the Research Ops community: Kasey Canlas.

Kasey has taken a winding career path, having worked in news and project management before shifting into ReOps.

In my chat with Kasey, we cover:

• How volunteering time in UX research paved the way for her move into Research Ops.

• The power of getting a key leader bought into the ReOps practice.

• Solving low-hanging fruit to deliver value early on.

• Why you need to build relationships with your company's legal and data privacy teams.

• Advice for a UXR leader who wants to launch ReOps.

Over to You

• What’s been your experience transitioning into Research Ops? Was there a tipping point that enabled you to make the switch?

• What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to a research leader who’s making the case to add ReOps to their team?

Reply via email or hop into the comment section to share your perspective.

Contact Kasey

LinkedIn

If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to develop your practice, you’ve found your people.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

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A Repo Is (Sometimes) Not The Solution

Here’s a common scenario that plays out in research world:

1. Your research team runs lots of projects. Over time, you realize it’s far too complex to access and use these historical insights. 🤔

2. You figure that there must be a solution to this problem. Oh yes, research repositories! 🧐

3. You make the case for a repo and get approval to purchase. 🤑

4. Voilà! The repo is here, and it’s beautiful! 😍

5. Over time, you realize it’s far too complex to access and use these historical insights. 😭

If you want to avoid this repo death trap, I have some good news: Stephanie Marsh is about to teach you how to navigate the knowledge management maze!

In my chat with Stephanie, we cover:

• How frustration with 3D pie charts kick-started their career in research.

• Why knowledge management is a more gnarly problem in UX research than in other functions.

• The allure of research repos as a knowledge management solution.

• The value using research skills to determine knowledge management needs.

• Repositories vs libraries.

• Practical steps to get started with improved knowledge management.

Over to You

• What experience have you had with research repositories?

• Where has knowledge management tripped you up? What’s the main lesson you learned from that experience?

• If you could share one tip about improving knowledge management, what would it be?

Reply via email or hop into the comment section to share your perspective.

Contact Stephanie

You can also connect with Stephanie using the links below.

LinkedIn: Stephanie Marsh

Twitter: @Steph_Marsh81

Medium: Stephanie Marsh

Book: User Research

If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to develop your practice, you’ve found your people.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

Today, I’m switching it up and sharing a midweek article. I dive into a problem that I’m currently trying to solve. A new podcast episode drops on Friday.

What Happened

Two months ago, three of my UXR team members were laid off. 😢 Two of these brilliant folks leaned operational (Research Ops & Insights Program Manager).

Why It Matters

• We lost all our operational might in a single day.

• The operational work didn’t disappear. We still have research happening across the company, and my team needs to ensure continuity.

The Big Question

How do you run a scaled-up operations practice with no ReOps people?

Phase 1: Keep The Lights On

Part of the brilliance of operations folks is their systems thinking, attention to detail, and intricate processes. Removing the person(s) at the centre of these operational hubs means it’s a scramble to keep things moving.

You might ask:

Wait a minute: why was it a scramble? Don’t you know what work they were doing and how they executed programs?

Despite being close to projects in those programs, some information isn’t immediately apparent. Here are some of the questions that I was asking myself:

• “Where is the data from this automated workflow stored? I know where to see the workflow outputs, but where’s the rest of the information?”

• “What the heck broke that dashboard?!”

• “Who is our connect for topping up incentives?”

• “Does changing this Zap break the entire seat provisioning process?”

Trust me — there are dozens of such questions to answer, even with detailed documentation.

So, Phase 1 of our new Ops world became about keeping the lights on.

Here’s what I told my team:

We won't create new processes, try new tooling, or pursue any fancy ideas for a few weeks.

Just. Keep. Things. Moving.

1. UXRs took ownership of recruitment and incentives processes. 💰

2. I handled seat provisioning and vendor renewals for our research tools. 🪑

3. Our market research partners completed our customer panel refresh. ❤️

4. The entire team hopped in to handle questions and requests from the wider company. 🙋🏾‍♀️

It worked, but it’s not sustainable. After those initial weeks, we needed to shift to long-term mode.

Phase 2: Align and Conquer

Phase 2 is where I find myself today.

Long-term, one thing is clear: I can’t copy + paste the workflows and tasks handled by our former teammates and divide them across our UXRs.

• UX research and Research Ops are different roles.

• Applying a specialist's exact approach and process to a group of Ops generalists assumes that we’ll dedicate equal time and resources to operational work.

We need a fresh approach that enables our researchers to contribute a small chunk of their time to operational work. We’re looking to conquer this challenge together.

Guiding Principles

I have three guiding principles for dividing up operational work:

1. Researchers can (within reason) pick where they want to contribute to operational work. Selecting your area of focus = greater buy-in.

2. We need at least two UXRs assigned to any tool or process. This enables coverage for time off and busy work periods.

3. Researchers should expect to spend only 2-3 hours per week on regular operational work.

Time will tell if these guidelines enable solid coverage. 🤞🏾

Next Steps

• Our team has picked focus areas. ✅ We have three or more people covering most areas, with the majority of UXRs involved in at least two spaces.

• We’re adapting documentation to ensure that everyone knows exactly how to contribute to their focus area.

• Finally, we’re getting into a rhythm of running this new iteration of Ops without our Ops folks.

I don’t have major lessons to share just yet. Sometimes, it’s helpful to simply outline our current state and learn how others are tackling this problem.

Over to You (for real, please share your experience)

Have you gone from no Ops team, to an Ops team, to no Ops team?

• How did you handle the transition?

• What did you learn?

• What would you do differently?

If you have advice to share, please reply or comment.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week! 👋🏾

Thanks for being part of Scaling Research.

If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to grow your practice and have a bigger impact, you’ve found your people.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

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A Research Lab Program? In the Year 2023?!

Yes, they still exist.

In fact, labs might be more valuable than ever.

From Craig Perlmutter:

“How much more attention do you pay when you’re watching a film at the cinema versus when you’re at home? You don’t look at your phone anywhere near as much. You pay attention. You’re there — you’re present!

The value of a good [lab] facility for me is that it gives you those same feelings and the recognition of importance. It’s a commitment.

You might not have the budget for a full-fledged research lab, but it’s worth stepping back to consider both the upside and downside of our increasingly remote-first approach to UXR.

In my chat with Craig, we cover:

• His path from working on call centre software to running his first research lab.

• Using a lab to highlight the value of research to senior leadership.

• In-person vs remote research: when and why each is valuable.

• Setting up a research lab, including how to create a proof of concept.

Over to You

• How much in-person research are you running? How much has this changed in the last couple of years?

• How can you replicate the “movie cinema” feel of lab research sessions to improve your remote research experiences?

• What stood out to you the most from this conversation?

Reply via email or hop into the comment section to share your perspective.

You can also reach out to Craig using the links below.

LinkedIn: Craig Perlmutter

Radio Station: skylinegold.co.uk (Saturdays at 8:00 am)

Thanks for being part of Scaling Research. If you’re a UX Research or Research Ops leader trying to scale your practice, you’ve found your people. Podcast episodes drop (nearly) every Tuesday and an article every other Friday.

Say hi anytime on Twitter or LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! 😀

Yes, It’s Another Democratization Discussion

From Dave Hora:

“The landscape of how research works and what it should be doing is shifting, and in some ways shifting out from under us.”

After nearly a year of (seemingly) constant news about UX research layoffs, it does feel like the research landscape has shifted. It’s leaving some of us asking just how much democratization and job security are connected.

In my chat with Dave, we cover:

• His path to independent research consultant after working for five startups in nine years

• The role of research and how that definition impacts democratization

• UXR today vs a decade ago and what it means about research value

• Research vs learning

• Who owns rigour

Questions For You

• How do you define the role of research? How does this affect your approach to democratization in your company?

• Dos job security impact your view of research democratization?

• What stood out to you the most from this conversation? Why?

I’d love your perspective!  🗣️

Please reply via email, share in the comment section, or get in touch with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Get In Touch with Dave

Twitter: @davesresearch

LinkedIn: Dave Hora

Website: davesresearch.com

Over time, he’s seen the need for ReOps to carve its own path, especially as it related to building a career in the field.

In our chat, Tim talks about:

• Moving from HR recruiting into UX and Research Ops

• Defining the roadmap for Research Ops at Airbnb

• Establishing the importance of career growth paths for ReOps

• The ubiquity of problems in Research Ops across different companies

• ReOps as a proactive partner for the UX research function

Enjoy the chat! 🎧

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Cory runs Research Ops at Credit Karma. She has a wealth of experience having worked in Ops for companies of different sizes in a range of industries.

In our chat, Cory talks about:

• The value of Research Ops vs the research coordinator role

• What projects she tackled when starting her current Ops role

• The importance of building relationships with cross-functional partners

Enjoy! 🎧

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One of the numerous benefits of hosting the Scaling Research podcast is the divergent thoughts that trigger from my conversations with guests. My subconscious is constantly processing and connecting ideas from these chats.

An area that I’m looking to explore in the near future is ReOps reporting models. Should ReOps sit within UX research (UXR)? Or perhaps a wider Ops function within the Design/Product org makes more sense? When does one approach fit better than another?

As I consider Research Ops at Zapier, much of my work affects product managers (PMs) and designers. Does it make sense to have a separate, disconnected person with a similar role for Product and Design?

Part of me says Ops work should be connected:

• Whoever handles UXR tooling could (surely) help with Design tooling

• The person in charge of the UXR budget planning and tracking could easily add Product or Design budget to the mix

Then, another side of me whispers:

• UXR is vastly different from Design and Product

• Does a central Ops service scale as UXR, Design, and Product mature?

What Do You Think?

I’m nowhere near an answer here, but I’d like to hear your opinion.

How have you set up Research Ops? What are the benefits of your reporting model? Please get in touch and let me know. 🙏🏾

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Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

Kate is the Research Ops Manager at Atlassian and the catalyst behind the Research Ops community. If you've ever Googled Research Ops, she's probably one of the first names that come up.

Kate's wide-ranging path into Ops gives her a unique lens on this work. In our chat, she shares about:

• The difference between Research Ops and research admin

• The importance of learning how to manage a team

• Creating research systems vs individual research resources

• …and much more

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If you're hiring for the Research Ops position at your company, Kim Porter (Research Ops at BT) has some handy tips for how to frame that role. Have a listen below! 🎧

All Hands Support (AHS) has been a practice at Zapier since the company launched. Each teammate spends some time doing customer support every week. This enables our team to:

• Never lose sight of the problems that our customers encounter

• Fix some of the issues that our customers share with us

Last year, as the company grew larger, we decided to adjust AHS to provide more customer interaction options.

Increasing Exposure Hours

In rethinking our AHS setup, we considered how to expose more people in our team to the everyday use of Zapier.

The more exposure our team has to people who use our product — especially when that exposure is well crafted — the more likely we are to understand the real problems they encounter. This isn’t rocket science, but it’s also not common practice.

We decided to experiment with AHS research ride-along sessions (ride-alongs) to give our team more close contact with Zapier users. 

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Setting Up Ride-Alongs

Ride-alongs allow anyone across the company to join in on a research session.

These sessions are remote user interviews with new customers where we ask about their:

• Everyday work

• Journey to using Zapier

• Current automated workflows (Zaps)

Following the session, we run a short debrief to share our top observations.

Setting up ride-alongs to make them accessible for our employees across the world was a challenging task. I started three tasks in mind:

1. Create a light training session to give teammates additional context about UXR.

2. Set up an easy flow for teammates to find and join ride-along sessions.

3. Find a tool that facilitated an ideal observer and participant experience.

Training

For people with experience in UX, user research seems perfectly normal. However, many outside of the UX field think research is confusing and intimidating.

If you’re a marketer, recruiter, accountant, or even a designer with little research experience, it’s easy to shy away from this practice. I didn’t want unfamiliarity with UXR to be a barrier that prevented participation in ride-alongs, so I created a ‘UXR 101’ training session. 

Before joining a ride-along, we require teammates to go through this 45-minute interactive session to learn research basics. Teammates who cannot attend the live session (usually due to large time zone differences) can go through the self-serve UXR 101 class.

This training aims to give teammates enough context and knowledge to observe a research session comfortably. It’s basic, but you’d be surprised at how helpful the basics can be, even for people who previously run research. 

Discovery

Everyone at our company is busy. They’re less likely to join ride-alongs if participation is cumbersome or complicated. I want to maximize the chance that everyone who shows an interest in ride-alongs can discover and join sessions.

This process went through several iterations, but here’s the current flow.

1. Teammates who are interested in ride-alongs join the ride-along Slack channel. 

2. An automated alert appears in the channel when a call is scheduled. This alert (and threaded messages) includes details about the call and information for first-time ride-along participants.

3. When a teammate reacts to the alert with the circle-check icon, they automatically receive an invite to the ride-along session.

Everyone attending the ride-along receives a reminder thirty minutes before the session with details about joining the call.

We simplified this flow by using Zapier to automate the entire process.

All that teammates need to do is:

• React

• Click a link at the session start time

It removes nearly all the friction that prevents a willing teammate from finding and joining a session.

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Tooling

From the start, we have hoped to have lots of teammates join the ride-along sessions. I wanted to set up tooling that enabled:

• An excellent participant experience no matter the number of observers. The last thing a customer wants is to join a call and view a sea Zapier employees!

• A stellar observer experience. Teammates can be hesitant to join sessions because they don’t know what to expect and don’t want to interact with customers.

At Zapier, we’ve long used Zoom for remote user interviews, but it’s not easy to set up a separate and comfortable participant and observer experience.

After researching and trying out different tools, we settled on Lookback.

Lookback LiveShare provides a separate observer experience with areas for text chatting and note-taking. Participants cannot see observers, and that’s a big deal for both parties: 

• Observers (Zapier teammates) never have to worry about their mic or background noise; they can focus on learning. 

• Participants only see the session moderator and can focus on questions or tasks. Of course, we always inform participants that observers are on the call. We do this both before and at the start of the session.

Lookback has allowed us to create a ride-along experience that’s different from watching a session recording. Our team can interact, ask questions, share answers to user questions, and more.

What We’ve Learned So Far

I’ve shared a lot of information here! 😅

In a future post, I’ll outline the critical lessons we’ve learned nearly one year into ride-alongs.

Over To You

Have you run a similar program? What worked or failed?

I’d love to learn from your experiences. Please share in the comments or via email. 😀

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Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

We talk about her journey into this role and then discuss Research Ops models. Kim co-wrote a fabulous blog post that inspired this discussion.

If you're considering launching a Research Ops practice at your company, Kim also has some very handy tips for how to frame that role. 

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System17 is no more. 🪦

Scaling Research is the new name of this newsletter and my podcast. Yes, in case you didn’t know, I started a podcast. 🎧 You should have a listen. 😉

Why the Change?

This blog/newsletter has been an outlet to help me think out loud. I’ve also met many people in the research field by openly sharing my work.

My podcast has produced similar effects. I’ve connected with lots of great folks through my interviews and heard from listeners about how much they value this resource.

I recently decided to change the name of the podcast. The newsletter is so closely connected that it made sense to bring them under the same umbrella. So, Scaling Research was born. 😎🤓

What’s The Plan Moving Forward?

Every Friday, subscribers will receive one email from me. It’ll contain a podcast episode, blog post, or both.

I’ll take a one-week break once in a while because taking a break is healthy.

If you want to learn how to better scale UX research at your company, subscribe!

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Photo by Meghan Schiereck on Unsplash.

Here’s the full collection. 🎧

Episode 1 — Intro

Episode 2 — Design Ops vs Research Ops

Episode 3 — How to Establish a Research Ops Practice

Episode 4 — How Research Ops Varies from One Company to Another

Episode 5 — Launching Research Ops at Ticketmaster

Episode 6 — Year 1 vs Year 3 in Research Ops

Episode 7 — The UX Research Coach

Episode 8 — Season 1 Wrap Up

Want to learn how other people are scaling research at their companies?

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Photo by Daniela Mota on Unsplash.

Research Ops is a relatively new practice.

There aren’t too many resources about ReOps floating around the Internet; discovering helpful information can feel like mining for gold. It’s a major reason why I created this blog and the Research at Scale podcast.

Of course, I’m not the only one creating content about Research Ops. Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned from many people in this space. Their writing and talks have helped me take the leap from UX researcher to ReOps practitioner.

This week, I’m sharing some of my favourite pieces. It isn’t an exhaustive list; far from it. The links below are simply a collection of resources that have refined my thinking about this function.

Articles

1. The Research Ops framework is the starting point for most people interested in this practice. It’s fair to argue that anyone who hasn’t read it doesn’t know much about ReOps.

2. Emma Boulton’s post on getting started with Research Ops is one of the most practical resources for someone who wants to launch a ReOps function. I largely adopted the approach that she outlined when I started my current role.

3. This article from Lucy Walsh was the first I ever read about someone’s real-life experience in ReOps. Learning about Lucy’s switch from sales to participant recruitment to full-fledged Research Ops helped me understand the potential impact of this practice.

4. How do you know whether you need a Research Ops hire? Well, this article gives you the answers! Kim Porter, Guppy Ahluwalia, and Kasey Canlas break down the main factors you need to consider when bringing on a Research Ops team member, including which ReOps model most makes sense for your context.

5. Noel Lamb and her team built an Ops platform when there were hardly any resources about this field. I like that she’s explicit about how long it took to create a mature platform.

Videos

1. This presentation from Brigette Metzler about scaling ReOps is one that I’m still processing many months later. The idea of pace layers is particularly intriguing to me.

2. Jen Cardello outlines how she scaled the UX research practice at Fidelity. While her talk is not explicitly about ReOps, it’s easy to see how Research Ops can play a role in user research's overall success within a large organization.

3. The ReOps community’s town hall on research repos was a delight. It showcased the value of this community, with so many people playing a vital role in creating this resource.

Over to You

What are your go-to Research Ops articles or videos? Has any piece challenged or changed your approach to this work?

Please share your favourites and I’ll share them in a future blog post.

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A new episode of the Research at Scale podcast is out.

I spoke to Mitch Hollis about how he launched the Research Ops practice at Ticketmaster. Enjoy! 🎧

Late last year, I ran our team’s first UX research mini-retreat.

The goals of this time together were to:

1. Work out the details of our 2021 work

2. Improve our research craft

3. Grow closer as a team

I’m yet to collect thorough feedback about the experience, but I thought it would be worth sharing why and how I put together this mini-retreat.

Why a Mini-Retreat?

Zapier is a fully distributed company. Our remote team gathers a few times a year for retreats, but the pandemic forced us to cancel in-person gatherings in 2020.

As the year drew to a close, I felt that our research team needed to disconnect from the regular flow of work. We couldn’t gather in the same location, but I thought that some time focused on long-term initiatives and team bonding would help us start 2021 with good momentum.

As I considered possibilities for this disconnected period, a few ideas came to mind:

1. I wanted the team to spend time discussing our 2021 research plans. The more we questioned, synthesized, and debated our goals, the more chance we had to make a bigger impact in the ensuing twelve months.

2. Improving the research craft at a company is often left to individuals. Attending a conference alone can be helpful, but I wanted our team to grow collectively.

3. To have even more success as a UXR function, we needed to become a better team. Time away from the rest of the company could help us more deeply know each other and determine improved collaboration methods.

The Mini-Retreat Structure

I decided to book two days for the mini-retreat. I felt that one day would be too short to achieve our goals; three days would be a drag for a remote gathering.

I also limited our schedule to five and a half hours maximum each day (including breaks).

Researchers were not expected to do any work aside from the retreat. Filling those hours with regular work would take away from what we set out to achieve with our time together.

Another critical addition to the mini-retreat was….treats! On each day, team members received a meal budget to order delicious goodies. Food is an important factor for changing the feel of an experience.

Here’s a screenshot from my planning doc showing how I structured our time.

Day One

I set out to achieve one big goal on the first day: solidify our 2021 research plans.

The UXR team did a lot of pre-retreat work to ensure that our planning discussion was productive. At the mini-retreat, it was mainly a case of synthesizing our knowledge and deciding the next steps.

For this type of deep collaboration, I determined that two long sessions were ideal. I think the planning time worked out well in the end.

Additionally, we spent the start of the day in a fun AMA getting to know each other better. I’d initially intended to create working agreements for that first session; I changed my mind because I thought three intense sessions would be too much of a drain.

Between each session, I added lengthy breaks. Thinking is hard work: the brain needs adequate recovery time.

Day Two

We kicked off the second day by watching an intriguing talk from an experienced UXR leader. The speaker then joined us for Q&A and discussion on the topic.

Bringing in an experienced, external voice can work wonders. I wanted our speaker to present familiar yet challenging ideas to inspire collective learning.

Our annual retro and holiday social rounded out the mini-retreat. Each of these sessions looked very different, but both focused on bringing us closer as a team.

Reflections On The Mini-Retreat

As mentioned earlier, I still need to get feedback from the team about the mini-retreat. From my perspective, we made lots of progress on all of our goals.

Even setting aside the purpose of the mini-retreat, the disconnection from daily tasks gave our team room to withdraw and reflect. Many people aren’t afforded this opportunity in the course of their work.

I’m planning on making this an annual initiative. I’m sure that the next iteration will evolve for the better, but I feel positive about this first try.

Over to You

Have you run a remote retreat/off-site for your team? What worked well and what didn’t?

I’d love to learn from you. Please share your experience. I want to continue improving how I structure future versions for our team.

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Exciting news! If you’re interested in Research Ops I’ve got a new resource for you.

I just launched Research at Scale, a new podcast all about how to effectively run ReOps. I speak to other people in the Research Ops field to learn how they’re successfully scaling research in their companies.

The first few episodes are up and available on all your favourite podcast platforms. Go have a listen! 🎧

Towards the end of each quarter, I spend time reflecting on the work I’ve accomplished and plan for the next cycle. This year, I’ve learned that I need to be more comfortable creating longer Research Ops work timelines.

Shaped by Feedback

In my previous role, I primarily ran UX research (UXR) projects. One of the more challenging parts of the job was being managed by someone who had little experience with the UX field.

My manager had good intentions, but most of my evaluation boiled down to a single question: “Could you work faster?”

Over time, that feedback — and my lack of pushback to my manager — nudged me towards setting unrealistic timelines for projects.

I observed this when I was interviewing for new roles around the time I joined Zapier. I sensed that some of my expected timelines for hypothetical projects shocked interviewers: I’d been shaped by feedback, hardwired to try to deliver work in less than 50% of a reasonable timeline.

Delivering Research vs Delivering Services

Drastically re-scoping my projects was unsustainable in my UXR position in the long-term, but the pain is more acute when I try to rush Research Ops projects.

• With UXR, I could rely on slightly less data (e.g. fewer interviews) and still unearth helpful — though incomplete — insights.

• With ReOps, cutting corners means deliverables are less valuable to researchers, so the effects of short timelines are more tangible.

Good Research Ops work requires internal research, creating prototypes, gathering feedback, and iterating. In between these big work blocks are the time-consuming, seemingly invisible tasks: gathering context about current demands on researchers, communicating with cross-functional teams, and more. I — and others — can see the results of reduced time in any of these areas.

One Major Initiative Per Quarter

My new rule for Research Ops work is simple: one major initiative per quarter.

With this approach, I can prioritize more thoughtfully and also give myself enough bandwidth to deal with any ops-related fires that I have to put out.

Over To You

How do you structure your work? If you work in a quarterly cycle, what do you keep in mind when planning your projects?

I’m all ears: please reply and share your successes and failures.

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