Communicating Research
Communicating research refers to presenting your findings and their implications in a clear, concise, and engaging way to various stakeholders.
Purpose
The goal of communicating research is to ensure insights are understood, actionable, and impactful towards product development decisions. In addition, it helps to foster a shared understanding and alignment across teams.
- Informed Decision-Making: Facilitates evidence-based decisions in product development.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Builds a shared vision and understanding among cross-functional teams.
- Increased Impact: Ensures that valuable research insights contribute directly to product improvement and innovation.
Context
Industry Context
In many organisations, research findings are often siloed within the research team and may not reach the broader audience of stakeholders. This can lead to missed opportunities for leveraging insights to drive product development.
ZeroBlockers Context
In the ZeroBlockers framework the entire Stream Team is involved in research. Therefore the key value of communicating research is for keeping others such as the Product Team, other Stream Teams and Internal Product Teams informed about the work that you are doing. It is not the responsibility of a Stream Team to ensure that their work is understood by other teams, but since it is valuable for the wider product and organisation it is important to make it as easy as possible for other teams to access research.
ZeroBlockers Practices
| Practice | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Interviews | One on one conversations with customers to gather insights, feedback, and pain points. | Product Managers should have access to join these interviews to ensure that they are up to date with the latest customer feedback. |
| Research Repository | A centralised location for storing and managing research data, insights, and findings. | Easy access to research data, insights, and findings for all stakeholders. |
| Stream Team Kanban Boards | The board showing current work items across all stages from research to delivery. | Provides visibility into the progress of research and development work. |
| Blogs | Written articles or posts published on an internal or external platform to share insights, updates, and stories. | Sharing in-depth knowledge, company news, and best practices with a wider audience. |
| Email Newsletters | Regularly scheduled emails containing updates, news, and resources sent to all employees or specific groups. | Consistent, broad communication that keeps the entire company or specific departments informed on key initiatives and updates. |
| Internal Wikis | Collaborative web pages that can be edited by anyone in the company to provide and update information. | Centralising knowledge, maintaining up-to-date documentation, and sharing best practices or guidelines. |
Other Practices
| Practice | Description | ZeroBlockers Opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation | A visual and oral summary of research findings, typically using slides. | Slides require a presentation - people rarely flick though slides async. They can be a good companion or used as screenshots in a blog, wiki or email. |
| Report | A detailed written document outlining the research process, findings, and recommendations. | Companies are overflowing in reports. Often they make people think that information is being communicated but often it is not. Rather than using a rigid structure the free-form approach of blogs and wikis can let people come up with more effective delivery approaches. |
| Workshop | An interactive session with stakeholders to discuss research findings and implications. | It is challenging to get people to commit time to something that is not a core part of their role. It is better to use async communication so that people can consume the information when it suits them. |
| Infographic | A visual representation of research findings, using graphics to summarise key points. | Information is often lost in infographics. They are good for marketing but not for communicating complex information. |
| Video Summary | A short video that outlines the research findings and recommendations. | Videos are great for communicating complex information but they are very time consuming and expensive to produce. For very important information they can be great but for most things they are overkill. |
Anti-patterns
- Information Overload: Presenting too much data without clear insights or recommendations.
- Lack of Context: Sharing research findings without sufficient background or explanation, leading to confusion.
- Focusing on methodology over findings: Dwelling on research methods instead of emphasising the key insights and their impact.
- Neglecting storytelling: Failing to connect your findings to a relatable narrative that resonates with the audience.
- No Follow-Up: Failing to define clear next steps or actions following the communication of research findings.
- Silenced Voices: Not allowing sufficient time for questions, discussion, or contributions from stakeholders.
Case Studies
Using AI to Improve Discoverability of Research Insights
How Instacart leveraged AI to improve the discoverability and accessibility of research insights, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their research processes.
Instacart
Supergluing Insights: Making Research Stick with Stakeholders
How Adyen improved the impact of their research by effectively communicating insights to stakeholders, ensuring that research findings were understood and acted upon.
Adyen
Delivering Impactful Research Readouts
How GSK improved the effectiveness of their research readouts by refining their delivery methods, ensuring that research findings were well-received and acted upon.
GSK
The Impact of Research Beyond the Report
How Uber effectively communicated research insights beyond traditional reports to drive impactful decision-making and foster innovation.
Uber
Effective Communication of Customer Insights at Finnair
How Finnair improved the communication of customer insights to ensure that research findings effectively informed decision-making and product development.
Finnair
