Stop Making Decisions in the Dark

Quick wins to build research capabilities that actually drive strategy

TL;DR: Most organisations fail because they build first, research later. Here's how to flip that script with practical steps you can implement this week. (Prefer to read on Medium? Head here!)

The Million Dollar Question

In 2013, Google made a very expensive bet on Google Glass, convinced they were creating the future. By 2015, it was dead. Why? They built a solution, then desperately searched for a problem. Additionally, poor understanding of their target audience led to marketing troubles as well as privacy concerns.

The lesson: Understanding your audience isn't optional, it's a matter of survival.

Your immediate action: Before your next product or investment decision, ask this question: "What evidence do we have that customers actually want this?"

You will see that this very simple question applies almost universally. Whether you’re selling sneakers, organic juice or AI-powered data analytics, your customer base will always determine whether you’ll flop or achieve breakthrough results.

Organisations that thrive are characterised by a common denominator: they have made research an integral part of their strategy, leading to an unparalleled understanding of their audience. Let’s explore how they achieve that and how you can do the same.

The Spectrum of Research Integration in Strategy

The integration of research into organisational strategy isn’t binary: it's not a simple matter of "doing research" or "not doing research." We’ll talk about four Levels of research integration in strategy:

Where you need to be on this spectrum depends entirely on your organisation's context: your industry, competitive landscape, rate of change and strategic ambitions. A fast-moving startup in a nascent market might thrive at Level 2, while an established enterprise in a rapidly disrupting industry might need Level 4 capabilities to survive.

Here's how this plays out in practice.

📍 Level 1: Research as Spot-Check

A team is debating whether to add a new feature or change their pricing model. Opinions fly around the room, but no one actually knows what customers think. Someone finally suggests, "Maybe we should run a quick survey?"

Key indicators you're here

• Research findings live in email threads and get lost within weeks

• "We should probably ask our audience" only happens after decisions are made

• No dedicated research budget: studies get cobbled together from other budgets

• Research is seen as a "nice to have" that delays "real work"

• The same questions get researched multiple times by different teams

• Insights have a shelf life of exactly one meeting

🧭 Level 2: Research as Guide

It's the start of Q3 and the product team is planning their roadmap. They pull up last quarter's customer satisfaction survey, review the competitive analysis from June and check the latest NPS scores. Research has become part of the planning rhythm: it’s predictable, scheduled and valued.

Key indicators you're here

• Research happens on a schedule (quarterly/annually) but rarely in between

• Findings live in a shared drive or basic repository

• Someone has "research" in their title or job description

• Research informs planning but doesn't change plans mid-flight

• Different teams commission similar studies without knowing it

• Insights influence decisions but don't drive them

🤝 Level 3: Research as Partner

The product team is designing a new feature. Embedded researchers are running rapid prototype tests while designers iterate. The marketing team is crafting messaging while researchers conduct live message testing. The strategy team is evaluating market expansion while researchers are in the field gathering competitive intelligence. Research isn't just informing decisions: it's shaping them as they evolve.

Key indicators you're here

• Researchers embedded within product teams

• Research happens during development, not just before

• Democratised research tools available to non-researchers

• Stage-gate processes include research checkpoints

• Cross-functional teams collaborate on research initiatives

• A research repository that teams actually use and contribute to

🧬 Level 4: Research as DNA

The CEO starts Monday leadership meetings with "What did we learn about our users this week?" Product roadmaps begin with problems detected in the target audience, not feature ideas. Teams share user insights in Slack channels that everyone follows. The company celebrates failed experiments as enthusiastically as successful ones because both generate learning. Real-time dashboards show user behaviour as it happens and machine learning models identify emerging patterns before they become trends. Cross-functional teams regularly include their target audiences in design sprints.

Key indicators you're here

• Customer obsession is a core value lived daily, not just stated

• Every leader has research KPIs in their performance metrics

• Customer metrics are tracked as closely as financial metrics

• Product and engineering teams have direct customer feedback channels

• Failed experiments are documented and shared openly

• Strategic decisions always start with customer evidence

• The organisation can spot and act on weak signals quickly

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Would you like to find you where you stand on the spectrum of research integration levels? Take our five minute quiz!

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Do You Know Where You’re Headed?

Many organisations are flying blind. They launch features based on internal debates, set pricing by gut feel and wonder why customers don't behave as expected.

If that sounds familiar, here's where to start:

This week: Break one assumption.

Pick your most confident assumption about your customers. The one everyone "knows" is true. Now go prove it wrong.

• Call 5 customers and ask about it directly

• Send a quick poll to your email list

• Check if your data actually supports what you believe

Why this works: You'll either validate your assumption (great!) or discover you're wrong before it costs you money (even better).

Next week: Make it routine.

If challenging one assumption felt valuable, pick another. If it felt pointless, you might already know your customers better than you think. Either way, once assumption-breaking becomes natural, make it systematic.

For small teams:

• Before any big decision, ask: "What assumptions are we making here?"

• Add "customer evidence" as a standard agenda item in planning meetings

• When someone says "customers want X," the response becomes "how do we know?"

For larger organisations:

• Require customer evidence for any project over $10K

• Assign research responsibilities to someone (even part time) so they can regularly challenge assumptions

• Track decisions that were changed based on customer input

Your ultimate goal is to move from "we think customers want this" to "we know because we asked."

Red Flags: Avoid These Things at All Costs

🎭 Research Theater

• Beautiful reports that change nothing

• Studies done to justify pre-made decisions

• Research that takes longer than the decision timeline

🔬 Analysis Paralysis

• Endless research without action

• Waiting for "perfect" data before deciding

• Researching things that don't affect decisions

🏰 Ivory Tower

• Researchers who never talk to business or product teams

• Insights don't translate to action

• Research language is used that isn’t understood by non-researchers

Building Your Research Advantage

Google’s expensive lesson reminds us that research isn't a luxury. It's the difference between building what you think your audience needs and what they'll actually use.

What separates organisations that thrive from those that stagnate isn't resources: it's their appreciation that understanding their audience is a strategic advantage worth pursuing. It’s all about the art of asking questions.

The good news? You don't need to jump from Level 1 to Level 4 overnight. In fact, you shouldn't. Each level builds essential muscles for the next - and you might well not need to get to Level 4.

To move forward, start by getting honest about where you are today. Strip away the aspirational thinking and assess your current state of play. When did you last make a major decision without customer or user input? How long does it take insights to influence action? Who in your organisation has never interacted with a customer or user?

🎯 What changes are you ready to make THIS WEEK?

Check where your organisation stands - Take our 5-minute quiz!

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Thanks to the great Alex Pawlowski for this fabulous collaboration. Make sure you follow or subscribe to his Substack “The Strategy Stack”!