Tracks: ResearchOps Workshop

ResearchOps 101: How to Get ResearchOps Off the Ground.


Over the past decade, user research has matured significantly. It’s increasingly more common for large organisations to have dozens of people doing user research, whether as part of a dedicated team of researchers or other design roles. Growing team sizes and increasing organisational demand has meant that the pressures placed on people doing research have grown too. To meet demand (and be efficient, impactful and compliant) researchers in growing teams need more rigorous operational support.

ResearchOps is rising to address these needs, but most efforts fall short because they focus on individual elements and tools rather than stepping back and viewing the broader ecosystem. We need to deliver ResearchOps as a seamless ecosystem that supports researchers and the organisation in the full research workflow.

In this full-day workshop, you’ll learn about all the elements of the ResearchOps ecosystem and how they fit together. You’ll explore and map where to start in building out a practical, achievable and maintainable ResearchOps function that’s appropriate to your organisation’s maturity and scale. You’ll be able to troubleshoot with someone who’s done and is doing it all.

The workshop is fun, fast paced, interactive and engaging. You’ll get a small amount of preparation work to do so that you can make the most of the day.

Feedback from past participants:

“Go!”

“You owe it to yourself to check it out and consider how it (ResearchOps) can benefit your team.”

“(This workshop is for you)...if you want to take user research in your organisation to the next level and if you want to grow your team.”


You’ll walk out of this workshop with:

  • A clear understanding of all the pieces of the ResearchOps ecosystem (e.g. data security, training, recruitment, tools and infrastructure).

  • A manageable, custom roadmap that provides approaches for the short-, medium-, and long-term stages of building out a ResearchOps function.

  • A list of stakeholders you should expect to work with at each stage, and strategies for working with them.

  • An idea of the resources (time, financial and people) needed to deliver on your goals.

This workshop is for you if you’re:

  • Heading up (or growing) a large team of researchers and want to better support them operationally.

  • Taking on a ResearchOps role and want to know where to start.

  • Pitching the need for a ResearchOps role to stakeholders.

  • Hiring a ResearchOps role into your organization and need to understand the function better.

This workshops is less useful for you if:

  • You’re unlikely to be able to build out a team (even if a one-person team) to deliver ResearchOps.

  • You’re looking for a list of tools.

Kate Towsey.

Research Operations Manager, Atlassian


 

Kate Towsey has been a consultant specialist in ResearchOps for more than half a decade. The instigator of the ResearchOps Community and the #WhatisResearchOps initiative, she’s been instrumental in amplifying and shaping the conversation around this emerging practice. Originally a content strategist, she’s known as the researcher of user researchers and has designed and delivered labs, participant recruitment services, research panels, media archives and research communications for large organisations around the world. Kate now walks the talk as Atlassian’s Research Operations Manager in Sydney, Australia, where she’s building out a team and delivering a seamless ecosystem to support people who do research.