Case study

Knowledge systems that power decisions

To reduce duplication and strengthen product decisions, I built a centralized knowledge ecosystem at Zendesk — including a searchable insights library, operational documentation hub, and connected insight-sharing systems. The result: faster access to research, better cross-functional alignment, and a more strategic use of user insights across the org.
Outcome
Reduced research duplication by improving visibility of past work
Enabled faster stakeholder access to relevant insights
Strengthened the connection between research and roadmap decisions
Created a discoverable, living archive of customer understanding
Supported a more mature research culture through documentation and transparency
Challenge
As the research team grew, so did the volume of insights, documentation, and research artifacts — but without a clear system to manage them, valuable knowledge was often lost, duplicated, or siloed. Researchers were spending too much time digging for past work, and stakeholders struggled to find relevant insights when making product decisions.
The opportunity
The goal was to design a centralized knowledge ecosystem that would not only organize research assets, but also support broader product and cross-functional alignment. This meant improving discoverability, standardizing documentation, and connecting insight outputs to systems used by design, product, and support teams.
Solution overview

The knowledge architecture included three key pillars.

01
Searchable insights library

A centralized, tagged repository was implemented in Confluence — where the targe audience was already working — to house summaries of all completed research projects (with links to assets). Each summary page included metadata like topic, product area, collaborators, methods, participant counts, and key takeaways. This made it easy to surface related work and reduced duplication across product lines.

02
Operational documentation hub

Core workflows, best practices, templates, and tooling guidance were collected into a Confluence space for researchers and collaborators. This streamlined onboarding, aligned expectations, and increased consistency across methods and deliverables.

03
Connected insight systems

Research findings were linked to support ticket themes, product feedback, and customer verbatims — enabling teams to triangulate insights and validate priorities. Stakeholders could explore research in context and connect it directly to customer signals.