Preparation: How we package insights matters

Imagine trying to build a piece of furniture using only a finished photo and no instructions. That’s often what it feels like for teams trying to reuse research that wasn’t prepared for rediscovery.

Jake suggests shifting the way we structure research outputs. Rather than only creating standalone reports, teams can build insight summaries, modular pieces that highlight a clear finding, link back to supporting evidence, and include relevant metadata (like who conducted the research, when, and for what purpose).

These summaries should act like ingredients in a well-stocked kitchen pantry: ready to be pulled out, mixed with other ingredients, and turned into something new.

“Preparation is about making research ready to be reused, not just reviewed once and archived.”

When insights are structured this way, they become much easier to integrate into ongoing planning, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous discovery.

Motivation: Building a culture that values research reuse

Another factor driving research waste is mindset. Researchers may feel pressured to move on to the next study without time to follow through on previous work. Meanwhile, stakeholders may see research as a one-time input rather than a long-term source of truth.

Jake encourages leaders to shift that mindset by:

• Celebrating reuse: Highlight when decisions were shaped by existing research. Give visibility to those who dig into past insights.
• Normalizing citations: Just like in academic work, referencing the research that informed a roadmap or design decision helps establish credibility and accountability.
• Focusing on outcomes: Encourage teams to revisit research not only for inspiration but also for measuring impact. What changed as a result?

“Sometimes being strategic is looking backward,” Jake says. “We have to build the belief that existing insights are just as valuable—if not more—than constantly doing new studies.”

This also requires creating space in researchers’ workflows for follow-through and engagement beyond the debrief meeting.

Integration: Making research visible at the point of decision

Even when teams want to use research, they often don’t know where to find it, or it isn’t available at the right moment.

Jake points out that research must be integrated into the tools and processes where decisions happen, whether that’s design platforms, product planning docs, or team standups.

He suggests several practical ways to do this:

• Link insights directly in project documents (think PRDs, Jira tickets, roadmaps)
• Use shared libraries or repositories with clear tagging and search
• Set up recurring reviews of top insights aligned with key planning cadences

This creates what Jake calls a “continuous rediscovery” loop where insights don’t just live once and die, but are regularly revisited, refreshed, and reapplied.

“It’s about connecting past learnings to present needs and making those connections effortless,” he said. 

The role of AI in amplifying (or accelerating) research waste

As AI tools become more common in research operations, many are wondering: Can AI help solve the problem of research waste or will it just make it worse?

Jake’s answer is both cautious and optimistic. He sees potential in using AI to help organize, summarize, and surface insights but warns against viewing it as a magic fix.

“There’s this idea that we can throw all our research into a bucket and put generative AI on top of it. But what we need is structure, not just content,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re just creating more noise.”

Jake sees AI’s most promising uses as:

1. Assisting in the creation of insight summaries
2. Identifying patterns across datasets
3. Mapping research citations to product documents
4. Automating tedious tagging and metadata

But he also emphasizes that insight remains a human discipline. The best research doesn’t just describe what happened, it helps teams see a problem in a new way.

Connecting insights across silos

While much of the conversation centers on UX research, Jake is quick to point out that insights come from many corners of an organization—including marketing, customer success, and support.

These different disciplines often investigate similar customer problems, but their findings rarely converge. By creating shared language and centralized access to insights, organizations can begin to connect dots across silos and create a more complete picture of the customer.

He recommends:

• Structuring insights in a consistent format across teams
• Creating cross-functional insight councils or working groups
• Highlighting examples where multiple sources validated the same customer need

This not only improves decision-making but helps build a shared understanding of what really matters to customers.

Leadership takeaway: Run small experiments to reduce research waste

Jake closes the conversation with a call to action for leaders: Don’t wait to overhaul your entire research system. Start by revisiting a single study.

“Take a few existing reports that were really influential. What was left behind? What else is still useful today?” he suggests.

From there, try a small experiment:

• Revive one or two insights and present them to a product team
• Test how easy it is to find relevant research in your current repository
• Create a lightweight insight summary and track how it's used

Over time, these small efforts build a culture that values research reuse and maximizes the impact of customer insights.

Final thoughts: The real ROI of insight

Jake’s message is clear: impactful research isn’t just about uncovering new information; it’s about connecting the right insight to the right moment.

That takes preparation, motivation, and integration. But it also takes curiosity, empathy, and a willingness to think of research as more than a deliverable. It’s an ongoing conversation with your customer.

“The most strategic thing a team can do is to rediscover what it already knows,” Jake says. “And use it to build something better.”

Episode links:

• Jake Burghardt on LinkedIn
• Stop Wasting Research book; 15% off discount code SWR-POD will work through Dec 15, 2025
• Jake’s monthly Integrating Research newsletter
• Lija Hogan on LinkedIn
• Take your research to the next level: This webinar discover how to elevate your research strategy using new features and techniques in the UserTesting platform for more impactful insights
• Unlocking audience insights: driving smarter decisions across product, marketing, and UX: This guide on how to collect and apply customer feedback to inform product strategy and cross-functional decision-making
• Next level your research: from analysis to actionable insights with Steve Portigal: This episode of Insights Unlocked focused on shifting from data analysis to synthesis and making research findings truly actionable.
• How to succeed at launching a user research repository: This blog post exploring how to build and maintain a research repository so insights stay visible, reusable, and integrated into team workflows.