From Scrappy to Scalable

Apr 15

Context

The team was growing fast, but their research wasn’t. They had questions, feedback, and a roadmap full of hunches—but no real structure to make sense of it all. Research was happening, but only when someone had time, and nothing stuck long enough to guide the next decision.

They brought me in to “run a few studies.” What they got was a system they could work when I was gone.

Role & Approach

I joined as a fractional UX Research Lead to help deliver fast, focused insights. But very quickly, it became clear they didn’t just need research. They needed a way to make it usable.

While executing high-priority discovery and usability studies, I worked in parallel to build out processes the team could carry forward. That meant coaching PMs on when to bring in research, setting up a lightweight insights repository, and helping leadership prioritize which questions actually needed answers.

This wasn’t about scaling for scale’s sake. It was about building research that fit the rhythm of their work.

Key Moves

Delivered four foundational research studies while setting up repeatable planning templates
Introduced weekly “insight syncs” to bring product, design, and research into shared conversation
Created a prioritization funnel to help the team balance discovery with delivery

Outcomes

The team went from reactive research to a sustainable cadence that informed two product pivots and laid the groundwork for onboarding their first full-time researcher.

One PM told me, “We used to ask questions and hope for the best. Now we know what to ask—and what to do with the answers.” Mission accomplished.