In her Co-Lab talk, Katherine Cuyler (Associate Director, UX Research at Spring Health) invites us to rethink the perceived tension between methodological rigor and the fast-paced, iterative decisions happening daily in product development. She frames this not as a conflict, but as an opportunity—how can research and rapid product iteration coexist?

When her lean research team was suddenly faced with company-wide enthusiasm for continuous discovery, she chose not to shut it down or ignore it. Instead, her team stepped in to lead—defining clear, shared language and principles to help stakeholders engage with users responsibly, without sacrificing the value of rigorous UX research.

By embracing the moment, Katherine’s team created a toolkit with definitions, right-sized guidelines, and a confidence-based framework to help colleagues discern when quick discovery efforts are enough—and when deeper research is needed. The outcome? Researchers were seen not as bottlenecks or gatekeepers, but as thought leaders who empowered the org to learn from users more responsibly.