Product Management
Synthesizing Research
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Synthesizing research is the process of combining and integrating multiple sources of information to generate new insights and understanding. This can include combining data from customer feedback, Customer Interviews, Competitive Analysis, Surveys, or quantitative analysis.
Synthesizing Research is part of our Product Management Career Leveling Framework. Explore next steps in your career from this industry-standard model.
Intro to Synthesizing Research
Synthesizing research involves combining data from various sources to develop a comprehensive understanding of a topic. It requires careful planning, organization, and analysis to ensure that the resulting insights are accurate and useful.
Discovery – Learning vs. InsightsMarty discusses the difference between learning and insights in product discovery work. While learning is valuable, the goal is to gain insights that can solve customer problems and benefit the business. Merely learning techniques is not enough; teams must apply their learnings to successfully deliver products. Marty warns against teams getting too focused on learning processes rather than outcomes. Strong product leaders look for profound insights that can pivot strategy or solve problems beyond their current scope.
Gathering Customer Feedback
Gathering customer feedback is an essential component of synthesizing research. This can be done through Surveys, focus groups, interviews, or other methods. It is important to ask the right questions and collect data in a way that is both meaningful and actionable.
Designing Your Product’s Continuous Feedback LoopSachin explains steps involved in preparing for analysis: • Catalog your sources of feedback (Customer Interviews, Customer Surveys, Customer Support, etc) • Develop a feedback river • Develop a feedback system of record • Incorporate Feedback Into Your Product Roadmap Process
Analyzing Customer Feedback
Analyzing customer feedback involves reviewing the data collected and identifying patterns and trends. This may involve using statistical analysis, qualitative analysis, or a combination of both. The goal is to extract insights that can be used to inform decisions and improve products or services.
Analyzing and synthesizing user research dataThese are GitLab's internal guidelines on how to synthesize research. It covers how to: • Gather data and discuss with your team • Cluster the data into themes • Discuss and revise as needed • Distill findings into insights
How to synthesize research dataMeghan provides a 5 step guide for synthesizing User Research: • Review your research goals and use them as a North Star • Organize and review the data • Identify affinities, patterns, and themes • Summarize your findings • Share your findings
Customer feedback strategy: How to collect, analyze and take actionSection 5 of this articles covers "Seven steps on how to analyze customer feedback": 1. Collate your data 2. Determine how to categorize the feedback 3. Get a quick overview 4. Code the feedback 5. Refine your coding 6. Calculate how popular each code is 7. Summarize and share
How to look at evidence and not translate it into your own agendaJasmine outlines how to eliminate your own personal biases in the User Research process and focus on what matters most, solving real problems instead of what we think matters.
Turning User Research Into Smart Design DecisionsLindsay explains how to turn research findings into product changes with a 4-step process: Define expected outcomes Prepare your research findings (create a report) Effectively communicate results Plan next steps