Research
Why "we need more research" is often the wrong answer
Sometimes the problem is not a lack of insight. It is a lack of willingness to make a decision.
Why teams often use research to delay decisions they are not yet ready to make, and how to spot the point where more evidence stops being useful.
In short
Why teams often use research to delay decisions they are not yet ready to make, and how to spot the point where more evidence stops being useful.
When research becomes the safe next step
On the surface, it sounds responsible. If there's uncertainty, gather more information, speak to more users, validate assumptions, and reduce risk before making a call. But in my experience, that's not always what's actually happening.
I was working on a project where the team had already done a solid round of serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service. They'd spoken to users, identified key glossaryFrictionFriction refers to anything that slows users down or makes it harder for them to complete a task. It can be caused by poor design, unnecessary steps, unclear messaging, or technical issues.Open glossary term points, and had a fairly clear picture of where things were breaking down. The issues weren't hidden. But the team still felt stuck. Instead of moving forward, the conversation kept circling back to doing more research. Maybe they hadn't spoken to enough users. Maybe they needed a slightly different audience. It all sounded reasonable. But it wasn't about needing more glossaryInsightAn insight is a meaningful understanding that explains why something is happening and what it means.Open glossary term. It was about not being comfortable making a decision.
More research is often positioned as the responsible next step, even when the real issue is that no one wants to make the call.
When the problem is already clear
There's a point in most projects where you stop learning new things and start hearing the same glossaryPatternA reusable solution to a common design problem.Open glossary term repeated in slightly different ways. The glossarySignalsSignals are data points or triggers that indicate changes in user behaviour, context, or external factors.Open glossary term don't get stronger, they just get louder. At that stage, more serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service doesn't add clarity — it delays action.
On one project, the team ran three separate rounds of serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service over a relatively short period of time. Each round confirmed broadly the same issues. By the end, we didn't have a better understanding of the problem. We just had more evidence of something we already knew. Nothing changed in the product during that time.
Key takeaway
There comes a point where more research is not reducing uncertainty. It is just delaying action.
Why momentum often teaches more
I've also seen the opposite: projects where the initial serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service was rougher, maybe even slightly incomplete, but it was enough to move forward. Once changes started going live, the learning became far more valuable. Real glossaryBehaviourBehaviour refers to how users interact with a system, including actions, patterns, and responses.Open glossary term, real glossaryDataData is raw information collected and stored for analysis, processing, or decision-making.Open glossary term, real outcomes — not just what users said in a session, but what they actually did when it mattered. That's usually where the best insight comes from.
What more research often really means
In my experience, we need more serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service is rarely about the research itself. It's usually about one of three things: the problem hasn't been clearly defined, so the research feels unfocused; the findings haven't been properly interpreted, so no one is confident in what they mean; or the team simply isn't ready to make a decision and research becomes a way of buying time.
serviceUser ResearchUnderstand user behaviour, validate ideas, and make clearer product decisions with evidence you can act on.Open service is one of the most important tools we have. But it only creates value when it glossaryLeadA lead is a potential customer who has shown interest in a product or service, typically by providing contact information or engaging with content.Open glossary term to something. There's a point where you have to stop looking for perfect glossaryClarityClarity is how easily users can understand what is happening and what they need to do.Open glossary term and start making informed decisions. Accept that you're not going to remove all uncertainty, and instead focus on reducing the biggest risks and moving forward. If you wait until you feel completely certain, you'll be waiting for a long time. And in most cases, you already know more than you think you do.