Getting better insights, quicker

FutureLearn, an online education platform, faced challenges in delivering actionable user insights efficiently. With a small research team of two supporting five agile product teams, the existing quarterly planning cycle resulted in long lead times for research findings. This often led to over-reliance on surveys and inconclusive A/B tests, highlighting the need for more robust, timely user insights.

To address these issues, I introduced a lean research model focused on continuous delivery and collaboration. We replaced quarterly cycles with bi-weekly research days, pre-scheduled for testing learner experiences in the lab or remotely. Product teams provided note-takers and observers, fostering shared understanding and alignment. I also set up a Trello-based repository to improve access to and reuse of existing research findings.

Insights from each research day were collaboratively synthesized with product teams, ensuring findings were actionable and delivered within two days instead of weeks. By streamlining participant recruitment and scheduling research at manageable intervals, we balanced frequent, smaller studies with foundational research demands.

The new model significantly reduced lead times, improved collaboration, and embedded research more deeply into the design process. Product teams valued the faster turnaround and actionable insights, leading to more user-centered design decisions. FutureLearn continues to use this agile approach to deliver impactful research at scale.

For more about this project, watch this video: Adventures in Agile Research - a UXPA lightning talk https://youtu.be/EXVqVeQj-uI