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Before we created the Universe, we consulted R&D professionals to learn about their research approach and how they look for answers from experimental observations. We discovered that people used different approaches, which can be classified into three categories: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. In this blog, we outline each category and propose a Universe workflow that would best suit the approach.
1. The Ant 🐜
Known for their organising capabilities, this R&D professional structures their research by creating a document (in Word or a Notepad) to outline objectives, hypotheses, and questions. They then review papers and websites, saving insights, answers and comments in the document as they go.
2. The Bee ️🐝
The semi-structured R&D professional begins their (re)search strategy by immediately searching on Google without creating a document or outline. However, they eventually realise the importance of recording their findings and creating a document, including main links and reflections on what they learned.
3. The Grasshopper 🦗
Google is the main starting point for these R&D professionals. The research process starts immediately and continues until the desired answer is found. The solution is then implemented in the design, experiment, or lab. You can recognise these professionals by the many tabs they have open, unsure if they can be closed yet.
We designed the Universe to accommodate all three types of R&D professionals, providing ultimate flexibility for research processes:
Approach 1: Create a study and link your entity pages to the study
You begin your research by creating a study page in the Universe. On the study page, outline the study's objectives, questions to be answered, and potential pathways you have in mind. As you conduct online research, create entity pages for solutions, technologies, or products that you come across. Then, connect your entity pages directly under your study page in the Universe and build a structure. You can use the overarching study page as the report page, summarizing your findings and referring to the entity pages for specifics. This approach is perfect for the Ant 🐜as you organise and structure your results while you do your research, keeping control.
Approach 2: Create a study and capture documents, links, and highlights in that study
In the second approach, you use the study page as your notepad. You can link the relevant URLs, articles, or patents directly to the study page with the Plugin. You can create the study page from the Universe web app or the with the plugin's purple button. Once you complete your online research, you can go to the Universe and build a structure by creating entity pages with your collected findings and linking them underneath your study. You can link the captured documents from the study page to the targeted entity pages. The Bee 🐝 favors this approach because it ultimately builds a structure, but it offers flexibility on the timing.
Approach 3: Capture and link knowledge for future review
The last workflow allows you to start with your research and link webpages, patents, or articles to new or existing entity pages by creating highlights or saving the URLs to your inbox. By highlighting text, you automatically save the URL as a document in the Universe and Inbox. You can safely close your tabs and find your links, notes, and highlights in the Universe. You can give structure by connecting it to a study page, but it's not required - The Universe has your back. The most important thing is that you have saved your research trail, and you and your colleagues will be able to find it. Later, you can return to your inbox, select the saved pages, and connect them to a study or entity page. This approach resembles the grasshopper 🦗that works fast and swiftly jumps from one learning to another.
Feel free to adopt the strategy that best suits your work style. If you have developed another approach, let us know so we can share it with other R&D professionals.
Would you like to learn how to implement your ideal workflow in the Universe or schedule a session with us to build and internalize the Universe?
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