3 unique things about being a user researcher at DoorDash
I joined DoorDash during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite not having worked with any of my colleagues in person, the journey has been both exciting and rewarding. When I reflected on the ride so far, three things stood out to me that made being a user researcher at DoorDash unique.
1. Having Strategy & Operation (S&O) as a key stakeholder, in addition to product teams
Like other companies that are at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds, DoorDash is an operation-heavy company. What I appreciate is how closely the Strategy & Operation (S&O) teams work with the product teams and researchers. When there is an idea, S&O and product work together on an execution plan based on research findings. They then roll out operational tests to get quick reactions from the market and iterate the plan as the team gathers learnings.
There are several benefits of having S&O as a key stakeholder. First and foremost, researchers get to work on business problems (e.g., how do we enter the alcohol market?) and influence business decisions on top of product decisions (e.g., how should the alcohol ordering experience look like?).
Second, operational tests allow us to quickly validate our hypotheses before allocating engineering resources to build the product. For example, once we identified customers’ need to get affordable lunches, the S&O team was able to partner with a restaurant in San Francisco and test out the concept.
There are interesting challenges that come along, too. Since many S&O team members are from finance, consulting, and business backgrounds, working with user researchers and utilizing qualitative data can be new. In the projects we work on with S&O, we continue to identify the best ways to collaborate and to influence each others’ work.
Personally, when working with S&O, I found research can be the most helpful in identifying the “next big thing” for them to look into. Once the tests are up and running, it’s okay for us to step back and allow them to gather lightweight feedback from customers by themselves. Usually they are pretty comfortable doing so, and it can prevent us from being the bottleneck.
2. We empower designers to do their own research
At DoorDash, designers are encouraged and empowered to connect with customers directly and get feedback about their designs. This not only frees up time for researchers, but also allows designers to get first-hand information. As one of the designers mentioned, “Hearing from users directly gives me more confidence in developing design solutions… I am always surprised by how much I learn by listening to their stories, happiness, and frustrations.”
We conducted listening sessions with designers to see how we can make it easier for them to conduct research, and then created multiple templates for recruiting screeners, research plans, and research findings as a result.
This doesn’t mean we fully democratized research; we made the differences between “looking for one-off answers” (which can be done by designers and other stakeholders) and “forming a foundational understanding” (which is better to be done by researchers with science and rigor) clear whenever we can, whether it’s through a learning session with stakeholders or our objectives. For example, one of our team objectives this year is to focus our energy on defining problems and identifying opportunities, as well as empowering partners in polishing the solutions.
Beyond designers, we also have “office hours” for everyone in the company who wants to get feedback from customers. We provide guidance on the most suitable approach, make sure the right questions are being asked, and most importantly, identify ways we can leverage existing research so that we don’t over-inquire our customers.
It has been rewarding to see our cross-functional partners coming to us and walk away with confidence that they could get invaluable inputs from users to move their projects forward.
3. Our work touches people’s foundational needs
When I first joined DoorDash, Rajat, our VP of product, told me that food delivery can be very emotional. “When your ride is delayed or canceled, you’d be upset but you can wait for the next one,” he said. “But when your food is delayed or canceled, most of the time you don’t have other options at home.” Indeed, when I look at customers’ feedback in situations where we failed their expectations, the frustration is real. Any negative experience impacts not only the person who ordered but potentially their guests and families as well.
The same applies to merchants who work hard to better serve customers and grow their businesses, as well as dashers who want to earn money while keeping a flexible schedule. The responsibility feels even greater during Covid-19, when we really need to respond fast to the ever-changing environment, and be helpful to the various needs of businesses, dashers, and customers.
Our research was set out to make DoorDash better for everyone. We research to understand how to help merchants be more successful, how to make the pick-up process easier for dashers, and how to let customers discover what they are craving for. It is humbling that every decision and recommendation we made may touch a small but foundational part of people’s lives.
Additionally, researching and designing experiences for a three-sided business across physical and digital worlds are definitely exciting. The team is lean enough that each researcher gets to work on projects with high impact and own the end-to-end experiences. It’s hard to give a number on what type of research we do more here, as researchers have the autonomy to decide where they want to develop and what is the best approach for products and businesses.
The research work here at DoorDash has kept me going and motivated me to wake up every day to solve one challenge over another. If you are interested in conducting high impact research and enjoy a fast-paced and energetic environment, please check out the open roles on our career page.
