When I joined Oak Street Health, I discovered a significant gap in our product development process: we had no structured user research system in place. Design decisions were primarily made by product and population health leaders who, while experienced, often lacked direct clinical experience. Here's how I transformed our approach to user research and built a culture of user-centered design.

The Challenge

Our only user feedback came from beta testing periods, which was far too late in the development cycle to meaningfully impact design decisions. We needed a systematic approach to understand our users' needs, behaviors, and pain points throughout the entire product development lifecycle.

Building the Foundation: Tools and Processes

My first initiative was establishing the basic infrastructure needed for proper user research. We implemented:

- Userlytics for comprehensive usability study reporting

- Calendly for streamlined interview scheduling

- Optimal Workshop for information architecture testing

- Miro (later Lucidboard) for remote collaboration and ideation

But tools alone weren't enough. I instituted mandatory quarterly site visits for all product managers and designers—four working days per year in our healthcare centers. These visits were tracked meticulously and proved transformative in building team empathy and understanding of user behavior.

To ensure high-quality research, I conducted training sessions and created templates for conducting user workshops. I also partnered with our principal designer to establish a research repository in Theydo.io, housing our user personas and project insights. These insights evolved into user journey maps and feature backlogs that drove our product roadmap.

Creating Direct User Feedback Channels

A simple but powerful change was implementing a user feedback form directly within our Canopy platform. Over three years, we collected more than 650 pieces of feedback, which we systematically reviewed and prioritized. This feedback channel led to several "delighter" projects outside our standard roadmap.

One success story was the development of out-of-office settings—a feature that emerged directly from user feedback. This tool allowed care team members to delegate tasks during their absence, preventing care delays and improving patient outcomes.

The Canopy Insiders Program

I proposed and launched the Canopy Insiders program, creating a dedicated panel of end-users from our centers. This community received:

- Quarterly presentations on upcoming features

- Monthly newsletters with product updates

- Opportunities to participate in user interviews, workshops, and ethnographic studies

As the program leader, I co-hosted quarterly sessions with our ProductOps manager, creating engaging topics and activities that made users feel truly invested in Canopy's development.

The Research Lab Initiative

To complement the broader Insiders program, we established project-specific Research Labs. For major initiatives, we selected 3-4 users to follow a project from conception to completion. This approach:

- Provided deeper, more consistent feedback

- Created strong relationships between users and the product team

- Developed product advocates within our clinical community

- Generated more nuanced insights than traditional feedback methods

Impact

These initiatives transformed our product development process and organizational culture. Leadership gained confidence in our design team's ability to deliver user-centered solutions. Instead of purchasing external EMR systems, we could now proudly offer something unique—a custom tool truly built by and for care team members.

Key Learnings

1. Start with basic infrastructure and processes before launching ambitious programs

2. Make user research mandatory and trackable to ensure adoption

3. Create multiple feedback channels to capture different types of insights

4. Build committed user communities rather than relying on ad-hoc feedback

5. Show value early to gain leadership support for larger initiatives

This systematic approach to building a user research practice demonstrated how thoughtful change management and persistent advocacy for user-centered design can transform an organization's product development culture.