3 ResearchOps Questions for Zach Cordier, Nimbly Insights
A ResearchOps Member Spotlight — Designing one of the first mobile ethnography research platforms, staying current on different platforms for research, and driving more automation of ResearchOps tasks.
Our ResearchOps community is made up of members with diverse backgrounds, working on varied operations in their organizations, with dreams of advancing researchers’ craft even further. By spotlighting individual members, we grow awareness of common challenges and new strategies to think bigger about ResearchOps.
3 questions for Zach:
1. How did you get started in ResearchOps? What background do you bring to your current role?
My path into Research and ResearchOps is a different one than most. My initial goal was to play professional baseball until an injury during my senior year of college. I then had to step back and reevaluate my next steps, leading to a 9 to 5.
After graduating with a Computer Information Systems (CIS) degree, I started working as a Programmer for a Market Research Software Company. I quickly realized that programming for hours upon hours was not what I was looking for as a career goal. I then had the opportunity to move into a project management role in market research as Director of Project Operations.
As Director of Project Operation for Over the Shoulder, I helped design and develop one of the first (if not the first) mobile ethnography research platforms. Here is where I got to marry my love for project management, curiosity, and technology.
For these past several years, I have honed my skills working in ResearchOps, managing the systems, tools, processes, projects, and teams that provide powerful and actionable insights at Nimbly Insights!
2. Which aspects of ResearchOps have you focused on, and what advice do you have for people getting started on the same?
With my degree in CIS, I have naturally gravitated toward the tech aspect of research. I love to stay current on the different platforms and learn how to integrate them into other research practices. As researchers, it’s our job to stay current on the latest and greatest and provide options or alternatives for our clients, but what I love is figuring out new uses for existing tools and platforms.
My advice for those just starting out in ResearchOps is to learn all sides of market research and to be curious, open-minded, and flexible! Listen to your clients, whether internal or external, and be a thought partner as they build out their research plan. What has made me successful is understanding the different roles within research, such as strategy, sales, moderator, UX research, and designer. This will help anyone getting into ResearchOps understand why we are doing research and what everyone’s role is within a project.
3. What would you like to see as the next big thing for ResearchOps in your organization?
I’m driving our team and company toward the automation of more tasks!
At Nimbly, there were ~50 different tasks that we do manually for each project. These tasks start with the RFQ/Proposal stage to the project kickoff, screeners, recruiting, NDAs, follow-ups, rescheduling participants, and project closeouts, all while running a handful of projects at a time. Thus more automation leads to less burnout/project fatigue.
You can find Zach in our ResearchOps slack community and on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-cordier/
Curious about how other community members answered our three questions?
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