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LearnFoundations of Innovation
Module 13•Unit 4 of 6•11 min

The Insights Plan

Ad-hoc research produces ad-hoc results. An Insights Plan is the disciplined document that turns research from a scattered activity into a purposeful one. It connects the decisions you need to make to the questions you must answer, the methods you will use, and the insights you expect to produce. It keeps research honest: every study must earn its place by informing a real decision.

Definition

Insight -

a non-obvious, actionable understanding of people that reveals why they behave as they do and points to an opportunity.

Definition

Insights Plan -

a document that ties the decisions you must make to the questions, research methods, and insights needed to make them well.

What an Insights Plan contains

1

Decisions to be made. What choices does this research need to inform? If a study informs no decision, cut it.

2

Key questions. The specific things you need to learn, prioritised by risk and uncertainty.

3

Methods & participants. Which research type answers each question, and who you need to reach.

4

Synthesis & insights. How you will turn raw data into shared, actionable insights the team believes.

5

Timeline & resources. What it takes and by when - keeping research proportionate to the decision at stake.

The biggest upgrade to any research effort is to start from the decision, not the tool. Instead of "let us run a survey", ask "what decision are we making, and what is the cheapest way to learn enough to make it well?" Method follows question follows decision - never the reverse.

From data to shared insight

Research only matters if it changes what the team does. The synthesis step - clustering observations, spotting patterns, and framing crisp insight statements - is where value is created. And insights must be shared: an insight locked in one researcher’s head changes nothing. Great teams make insights visible, memorable, and tied directly to the decisions they inform.

Discuss

Does your research start from decisions or from methods? How much of your past research actually changed a decision - and how much was just produced and filed?

Try this at work this week
Draft a one-page Insights Plan for your current project: the top decision, three key questions, one method each, and how you will share what you learn. If a question maps to no decision, delete it.

Sources

  1. Global Innovation Institute (GInI), Foundations of Innovation - the Insights Plan.
  2. IDEO.org, The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design, 2015.
  3. Portigal, S., Interviewing Users, 2013.
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