UX Research Ops for a Team of One: Scaling Yourself Without Burning Out

By Philip Burgess - UX Research Leader

When people think of UX Research Ops, they often imagine dedicated specialists supporting large research teams. But what if you’re a team of one—responsible for planning, running, and delivering every study? The truth is: ResearchOps is even more essential in this context. With limited time and resources, building repeatable systems allows you to scale yourself and still deliver meaningful impact.

Why UX Research Ops Matters for a Solo Researcher

Without structure, you’ll spend precious time reinventing the wheel—writing fresh consent forms, juggling ad hoc recruiting, or reformatting reports. By setting up lightweight ResearchOps practices, you reduce overhead and free up bandwidth for the work only you can do: generating insights.

Core ResearchOps Areas to Focus On

1. Templates and Playbooks

• What to do: Create ready-to-use templates for research plans, recruitment emails, consent forms, and reports.

• Why it matters: Cuts down prep time and ensures consistency.

• Pro tip: Start small—one solid plan and one report template can save hours.

2. Recruiting Shortcuts

• What to do: Build a lightweight participant database (even a simple spreadsheet) with tags for demographics and past participation.

• Why it matters: No more scrambling each time you need participants.

• Pro tip: Automate scheduling with tools like Calendly or Doodle to eliminate back-and-forth emails.

3. Knowledge Management

• What to do: Store all reports, notes, and insights in one central place (Google Drive, Notion, Confluence).

• Why it matters: Makes it easy for stakeholders (and your future self) to find past learnings.

• Pro tip: Use a consistent naming convention (e.g., [Product][Study Type][Date]).

4. Metrics and Tracking

• What to do: Track your studies, participants, and impact in a simple dashboard or spreadsheet.

• Why it matters: Demonstrates value to leadership and helps prioritize future work.

• Pro tip: Record not only “studies completed,” but also “decisions influenced.”

5. Stakeholder Enablement

• What to do: Educate product/design partners with “self-service” guides for when you can’t run every study.

• Why it matters: Empowers others while keeping quality high.

• Pro tip: Provide a one-pager on when to use surveys vs usability tests—a little enablement goes a long way.

Tips to Stay Sustainable as a Team of One

• Prioritize ruthlessly: You can’t do it all; focus on the highest-impact work.

• Automate where possible: Scheduling, note-taking, and even some analysis can be streamlined.

• Say no with empathy: Position it as a bandwidth issue, not lack of interest.

• Celebrate small wins: Every template or system you build is future time saved.

Closing Thoughts

ResearchOps isn’t just for big teams. As a solo researcher, it’s your secret weapon. By building lightweight systems, you make your work repeatable, reduce chaos, and prove that one researcher can still drive outsized impact.

Philip Burgess | philipburgess.net | phil@philipburgess.net