I had a good meeting today with my boss and an associate, regarding the best way that our group (I hesitate to elevate us to "department" level) can serve the primary research staff and the design teams in general.
It turns out I had misunderstood the thrust of our initial conversation. I now agree that -- for the moment -- it makes the most sense for primary and secondary research to partner closely at the company, in order to serve everyone better.
It has taken a few years, but the picture is now clear -- secondary research, desk research, library research, literature review, call it what you will -- is not only crucial to the beginning of a design project, but valuable throughout. It serves to keep fieldwork honest and contextualized. It offers a background for teams entering new market spaces. And it simply SAVES TIME AND MONEY, helping teams avoid fieldwork missteps and wheel-spinning, inspiring new design opportunities and codifying industry gaps for multiple audiences.
We have already sold ourselves internally. The next step is sexifying secondary research. First of all, we lose the term. It's inadvertently pejorative and meaningless outside the profession. So what does it become?
Information Services is a favorite of mine, coined by my work associate. It's simple. I don't know that we need to step beyond that. Certainly not sexy, to be sure. But a whole lot clearer than Secondary Research or Consumer Insights or what-have-you.
I feel extremely fortunate to repeatedly find myself in a work environment where evangelization of information science pays off in spades. It takes time, but we have an opportunity before us now to streamline the research process, productize what we offer and get paid for it.
Neat.
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