Shared Learning

Marty Cagan argues that a common and avoidable form of waste in product teams is when one member, often a user researcher, learns something important about customers but the rest of the team doesn't absorb it. Findings delivered as reports or presentations tend to be treated as just one more input and are largely lost. Cagan has become stricter on this point and believes learning research is not worth doing unless the whole team can take part in it. He therefore argues that researchers should enable the people who must act on the problems to experience the learning directly. Shared learning should be made an explicit practice rather than something merely implied by Lean UX.

01Key takeaways

• Treat research as worthless unless the people who must act on it experience the learning directly.
• Bring product managers, designers, and engineers into customer interactions rather than relying on secondhand reports.
• Recognize that a researcher's core job is enabling team learning, not producing reports.
• Watch for isolated learning by any team member and actively share it before it is lost.
• Make shared learning an explicit team practice instead of assuming it happens.

02Key sections

The hidden waste of lost learning

Beyond failed solutions, a frustrating waste occurs when a team member learns something important about customers but that insight never reaches or changes the team. The author notes this happens often and is avoidable.

Why reports and presentations fall short

When a researcher delivers findings secondhand, the team usually sees them as mildly interesting rather than urgent, so valuable insights go unused.

Anyone can be the isolated learner

The problem is not limited to researchers; product managers, designers, or engineers can also learn in isolation and fail to convey the significance of what they found.

A harder line on shared learning

Because organizations have dropped researcher roles when results go unused, Cagan now insists that learning be done together or not at all.

Making shared learning explicit

The researcher's real value is enabling the whole team to experience learning directly, making shared learning an explicit practice rather than an implication of Lean UX.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.