My Experience

Establishing a Research Practice

Research designed to keep pace with the roadmap

When I joined Ozmo, there was no Product organization and no research practice yet. The VP of Product and I joined at the same time and built both functions together. I designed the practice around the goal of turning the company into believers of Design-driven research and insights.

Designing for organizational trust and delivering value

I Built Ozmo's research practice from scratch alongside a new product organization, designed to deliver at sprint cadence. Before this, research took 3–6 months per cycle with minimal visibility. The deliberate design decision was timing: in an agile shop, insights delivered after decisions are made don't change them. Building around sprint cadence, with organizational visibility, ensured research shaped direction rather than arriving after it. Research cycle time dropped 66%.

Previously at Exadel, an estimation team would translate brief client consults into project estimates, often inaccurate because the underlying need was not properly understood. I led a cross-discipline effort to introduce Discovery as a set-cost engagement, giving disciplines time and structure to genuinely understand a client's current state before recommending direction. The model was formally adopted as the de facto approach for ambiguous client intake.

The throughline across both: research and discovery earn trust fastest when they're built into how an organization moves, not bolted on as an extra step.

Here's how establishing Ozmo’s Research practice turned into an adopted, valued design service:

💼 Case:

At Ozmo, I joined with a mandate to build a Product Design function from the ground up, alongside a brand-new Product organization forming at exactly the same time.

⚠️ The problem:

In order for Design to contribute to strategy and influence the roadmap, insights needed to be delivered earlier and inclusively.

🛠️ Process:

Upon joining Ozmo and shaping the Design Org from the ground up, I saw a huge opportunity in how research and discovery were performed. As a member of the leadership team, I knew my team could provide invaluable insights on how to impact the business. I evolved how research was conducted so that it could align with Sprints, gaining regular, ceremonial visibility. I also educated those around us through thought leadership activities on the benefits of research, user outcomes and insights-gathering done by design.

Anytime research activities were planned or occurring, I made sure participation was open to the whole company. My team and I posted our study schedules within the company calendar and invited/recruited cross-discipline support through internal comm-channels.

✅ Results:

I successfully shifted Research at Ozmo into a highly visible, valued, inclusive practice that fit effectively into Agile ceremonies and consistently delivered roadmap-influencing insights and findings. Ultimately, discovery and research efforts at Ozmo were typically completed at 66% faster timelines than before.

View a detailed look at how Discovery aligned user needs to business value ⇨

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