Experience Research at Upstream Studios

We deliver end-to-end insights, from Brand to Product, that inform what we build and how we position it, shaping decisions at every stage.

What we are

We are the team that makes sure GitLab’s most important decisions are grounded in customer reality, not assumption, and not AI hallucination. We own the validity layer. From Jobs to Be Done frameworks, to competitive analysis on user perception and experiences, to AI research guardrails, we’re the function that de-risks ideas before it becomes too expensive to find out if they work the hard way.

Our researchers work at two levels. Some of us are embedded in Upstream Studios’ centralised teams shaping direction before it’s set. Some in the GitLab product studios, helping teams move fast with confidence. And holding it all together, we have Service Design keeping the experience joined up across teams, and Research Operations ensuring we do all of this at scale.

How we are structured

The ExR team is led by Karen Li. It is one of 8 teams in GitLab Upstream Studios. The team consists of 3 disciplines: UX Research, Service Design, and Research Operations (ReOps).

We have one researcher embedded in each of the four product studios, working at the level of the trio, VP of Product Management, VP of Engineering, and Product Design Manager, shaping decisions as they are being made. Two more researchers are embedded in the centralised teams, working directly with the team leads, supporting Design Strategy and Brand Experience. Service Design covers all studios and centralised teams, directing attention to where the seams may show the most. Research Operations enables research efficiency and quality at scale.

Team	ExR Team Members	Notes
Design Strategy	Jessica Kane, Will Leidheiser	Centralised team
Brand Experience	Jessica Kane (consult)	Centralised team
Core DevOps and Data Studio	Ben Leduc-Mills	Product studio
AI Studio	Nick Hertz	Product studio
PLG/Monetisation/Platforms Studio	Anne Lasch	Product studio
Security Studio	Nikki Shechtman	Product studio
Service Design	Bindu Upadhyay	Cross-teams
Research Operations	Cait Faughnan, Mariana Cardinali	Cross-teams

How we work

We are embedded in the teams we support, inside the studio rhythm rather than alongside it. Each researcher is in the rooms where decisions are made, and works with the stakeholders at the trio leadership level. We help grow the curiosity, desire, and engagement needed to make research land, and help teams build a deep understanding of our users and their perspectives.

Strict focus

At any given time, the UX Researcher covering a centralised team, or a product studio, is focused on the top 2-3 priority unknowns that the team’s leadership team is aligned on, while staying closer to a couple of product areas where the unknowns matter most strategically.

Two-level prioritisation

We use a two-level framework to decide what those top priorities are.

At the ExR level, we ask: is this expensive to undo, and does it impact a lot of people? If yes, it is ours to own.
At the team level, when two things both qualify, we prioritise by differentiation, growth, and retention, with the same priority calculator (Internal Access Only).
- Differentiation: What sets GitLab apart from others on the market.
- Growth: What grows first-order outcomes and drives conversion / adoption.
- Retention: What drives sustainable usage and loyalty.

Holistic Service Design

Our Service Designer stays close to Upstream Studios leadership to maintain an overview of the holistic experience, while adjusting their strategic focus on a quarterly or bi-quarterly basis, tackling the most impactful areas where there’s a higher opportunity to drive “moments that matter”, and smoothing the experiences covering multiple critical touch points.

Stay connected

Internally, we stay aligned through a weekly sync and an AI-augmented weekly summary sourced from well-maintained research issues, and a quarterly look-back doc to capture our outputs and achievements. This keeps the whole team informed across studios and teams without adding overhead.

Say no

We don’t do research for table stakes. We do research where the insights generated can influence an outcome. When something doesn’t qualify, we help find the right alternative, from sharpening a customer call script to shipping and watching analytics. We use AI to extend our reach, and we keep the research library as a core part of our intelligence platform.

Plan for PTO

With each researcher embedded deep in their area, cover takes planning. For PTO longer than a week, we give our stakeholders and manager at least a month’s notice, so we have time to figure out the plan together: The manager steps in where they can, the work waits, or the team self-serves with support. For extended leave, we’ll look at contractor coverage.

What we own

We shape research projects with our stakeholders, while owning these initiatives to support our stakeholders at the moments that matter most.

When you are	What ExR owns	What you get
Facing wide open space: looking for where GitLab can win	Watchdog	Competitive landscape analysis: what is on the market, how experiences are being designed and perceived, and where the opportunity is
Shaping future vision: working on strategy but don’t know who you are designing for	Futurecasting	Clarity on how use cases may evolve, who the future user is, and how contexts like enterprise may shift
Needing prioritisation: deciding what problems or features to tackle first	Jobs to Be Done	Validated user needs and problems to prioritise, with the context behind them
Needing experiences alignment: working across Brand and Product, or across product groups	End-to-end journeys	Coherent end-to-end journeys that drive perceived value and efficiency
Having quick ad-hoc questions: about our users or the market and wanting a quick answer	Research Library	Always-on intelligence platform powered by AI that pulls insights from existing research, customer support tickets and customer calls
Needing concept and design validation: considering a direction and needing confidence before committing	Rapid Validation Training and Set-up	Speedy and structured feedback on concepts and designs using a consistent UX quality framework
Engaging customers: talking to customers regularly but getting inconsistent signal	Customer and roadmap call scripts review	Consistent, comparable signal from design partners directly supporting roadmap decisions
Needing to do research yourself: looking for resources and knowledge on how to run research sessions	Bespoke consultation	Trialled and tested methodologies, templates, scripts reviews and research workflows

How we use AI

We use AI to handle the work that slows us down, so we can focus on what only humans can do: thinking, judging, and staying close to the people we research for. We align how we use AI with our AI guidance by adopting, assessing and adjusting AI tools and skills used in our practice without sacrificing quality and pass those learnings onto other Research DRIs.

AI for research, service design and research operations: We build and use AI skills and agents across all our processes, from recruiting participants to running competitive analysis to building end-to-end journeys. Our job is not to supervise every output, but to set the guardrails and gate the quality. Researchers stay in the loop as the final judge of what is good enough to act on.

AI for team alignment: We build and use AI agents to keep everyone informed across ExR without creating overhead. A weekly AI-generated summary pulls project priorities and progress from everyone’s research issues, so the whole team stays current without another meeting. This only works if we document as we go, and we use AI to help us do that too.

AI-powered research library: All final reports and deliverables we produce go into the Research Library. It is our central hub of intelligence, accessible to anyone at GitLab, at any time. AI agents in the library help people find the right insights without having to come to us first. Our collective knowledge compounds over time, and our reach grows whether or not a researcher is in the room.

We Do Research, So Can You

Who we research

The Experience Research team researches customers, end users, potential users, stakeholders, competitor users, and specialized user groups to ensure the product meets diverse needs and expectations.

How we research

Using a range of research methodologies (including user interviews, surveys, usability testing, diary studies, and card sorting) we collect raw data on user behaviors, needs, and preferences.

We then apply rigorous data analysis and synthesis to transform this data into valuable insights that inform and shape the design and development of our products.

How we help other GitLab team members do research

Note that UX Researchers are one of the many GitLab Team Members who conduct user research. Other roles, such as Product Managers and Product Designers, frequently conduct research with guidance from the Experience Research team. All Research DRIs are supported by our Research Operations team to conduct efficient and high-quality research.

If you are planning to lead a research project, you can get started here.

How to Work with Experience Research

As a GitLab Customer

Customers: we welcome you to sign up as a research participant or research panelist! We are always looking for a range of professionals to take part in our studies, and would love to have you sign-up. You can read more about what to expect as a research participant, and register your interest in taking part in future research.

What you get in return:

Influence Over Design and Product Decisions: Your feedback will be heard and considered in future design and product decisions directing anything from feature improvements to product strategy.
Smoother Experience and Better Product: Your insights will help us shape a product that better fits your day-to-day needs, improving your overall experience and productivity.

As a GitLab internal team

We’d love to collaborate with you, gather your perspective, and partner with you to engage our customers. If your team interacts with customers and users as part of your daily role or make decisions that influence the customer/user experience of GitLab products, we’d love to hear from you!. Here’s how you can partner with us:

Ensure Your Customers Are Represented in Our Research: You can nominate customers as research participants by sharing their details in the #reops channel or direct your customers to the Experience Research Panel to register their interest.
Share what you know through GitLab User Insight Repository: Share what you learn about your customers in the #experience_research channel, or connect with a designated UX researcher for specific stages or themes.
Identify Areas for Improvement That Need Further Research (unknown): If you notice areas that could benefit from deeper exploration, feel free to mention it in the #experience_research channel or contact the UX researcher for the relevant stage or theme. Providing a related issue for reference would be a bonus!
Leverage Research Insights to Guide Your Work: Stay updated by checking out the #experience_research_reports channel for the latest insights. You can also explore Dovetail, our research insights management tool, to search by keywords or watch interview session recordings. You can also consult with the UX researcher for the relevant stage or theme, to be more informed when making design, product or customer engagement decisions.

What you get in return:

Informed Decision-Making: The Experience research team provides valuable insights based on user behavior and feedback, helping internal teams make informed, data-driven decisions throughout the product development process.
Risk Mitigation: Experience research helps identify potential issues early in the development process, allowing internal teams to address these challenges before they escalate, thereby reducing the risk of costly mistakes or misaligned products.

Do you have questions about Experience Research?

The Experience Research team is here for you! Reach out in the #experience_research Slack channel to engage with the team on any research-related topic.

Have questions about logistics around recruiting, scheduling participants, accessing research tools or anything else related to Research Operations? The #research_operations channel is the channel for these types of inquiries.

Below is a full list of our Experience Research team handbook content:

Conducting Experience Research at GitLab

Research methods we use at GitLab

Finding participants

Data and research insights

Templates

Checklists

UX Research training

Resources for UX Researchers

Resources for UX Research Operations Coordinators

Measures and processes the UX Research team is responsible for

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