UX Research Team Training: Running Studies to Shaping Roadmaps

Strong research doesn’t just gather data. We train researchers who earn influence across organizations, build trust, and drive pivotal decisions. 

Design Research Mastery, our flagship UX research training, gives your team’s work the standing to become a driver of design and ROI, not just a footnote.

  • Grow team consistency & credibility
  • Foster UX’s organizational influence
  • Build more competitive products, services & systems

From research planning to design storytelling, elevate your team’s ability to turn burning questions into data-driven recommendations with impact.

Ask About Research Training
Alberta Government
Apple
AT&T
EMIDS
Farm Credit Canada
Fresenius Medical Care
Government of Canada
Intact Insurance
Manitoba
Microsoft
Nestle
Oaktree
Ontario
Siemens
Sobeys
Sun Life Financial
Telus Health
Alberta Government
Apple
AT&T
EMIDS
Farm Credit Canada
Fresenius Medical Care
Government of Canada
Intact Insurance
Manitoba
Microsoft
Nestle
Oaktree
Ontario
Siemens
Sobeys
Sun Life Financial
Telus Health

Never Launch Research, or Training, For Its Own Sake

Does this sound like your organization: research quality depends on who’s running it; findings get delivered then shelved; or stakeholders push back with, “Just run a survey,” or firefighting steals away mentorship capacity?

Design Research Mastery is UX research training built to turn that around. Whichever format you choose — self-led or with an instructor — instills valuable research practices that teams can use immediately, and stakeholders can trust to move the needle.

Hands holding “Design Research Mastery” book beside laptop and notebook on desk, promoting UX research training.

Premium Learning Materials

Lifetime access to the self-led modules and Sara’s online toolkit.

Copies of the Design Research Mastery book, by Sara Fortier, rolled into every team registration.

Professional taking the self-led version of the Design Research Mastery course on a desktop computer.

Self-Led Course Packages

Every seat works through the curriculum on their own schedule.

Ideal for lean or cross-timezone teams that need to build consistency yesterday.

A UX research expert leading a virtual team training session,

Remote-Led Training Options

Live virtual instruction applied to your team’s projects.

Great for distributed teams that benefit from real-time guidance.

 

A confident UX research expert leading an in-person workshop for a team to elevate shared practices.

In-Person Workshops

Our instructors can come to you with on-location intensives.

Best for strengthening collaboration and shared knowledge.

UX research expert training a team, woman leading discussion with laptops, collaborative brainstorming.

Who Design Research Mastery Is Built For

Our designer-led approach means that every Outwitly training is built by UX experts and designed for any skill level or background, whether you’re upskilling PMs and engineers with no research background, or seasoned service designers looking to elevate.

With DRM, teams don’t just get certified — they get clear frameworks for impact, backed by 15+ years’ UX leadership experience from an org with 1,500+ professionals trained, $30M of generated revenue, and 10M+ users served.

Whether your team is:

  • Lean and looking to quickly apply frameworks
  • Enterprise-scale and needing one standard that holds across every unit
  • Public-sector and working within red tape or rigid vendor requirements
  • Private-sector and needing research ROI that moves as fast as the roadmap does
  • Newly formed and building a practice from the ground up
  • Inherited and replacing whatever habits came before

Outwitly’s DRM Training supports credible, consistent and influential research practices for long-lasting product or service impact.

Request Research Training Explore Other Training

Move Research Out of the Findings Report, and Into The Product

Research either changes what gets built, or it costs the org twice… once to run the study, and once to fix the issues that research would have avoided. 

Every path through this program — self-led or custom — builds team capability in producing practical, strategic research outcomes that captivate stakeholders and move better decisions, better products and better services.

The handoffs from planning, to research, to reporting are laid out in checklists, not left for your team to figure out.

 

Upskill Your Research Team
A UX research team trainer leading an in-person workshop at a client team's office.
  • Consistent, reliable methodology, no matter who's running the study
  • Strategies for building stakeholder buy-in that releases budgets and greenlights roadmaps
  • Research planning tied to real business priorities from the start
  • Scaling team capability to take on more complex projects
  • Insights that drive better solutions, proving their value to the product/service and the business
Upskill Your Research Team

Frameworks Built & Taught by the Same Expert

Because reading from the textbook isn’t what you pay instructors for.

Sara Fortier built the DRM curriculum and the toolkits that come with it over a decade leading research and design work for clients like Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, and Telus. Every registration includes eight self-led modules recorded by Sara herself, and reference templates her teams use daily across the end-to-end research process. Your team learns to:

  • Scope a project, align stakeholders early, and build a research plan tied to business priorities
  • Run interviews, field observations, and diary studies that produce sound, usable data instead of noise
  • Ensure findings are synthesized in a rigorous, unbiased way that uncovers genuine opportunities
  • Present recommendations that win buy-in and turn into profitable action
Looking for a book companion? That’s included too —  with an added method (workshops), more examples, and true stories from Sara’s journey building an 8-figure design and research company.
Ask to Register Your Team Explore the DRM Book
Image of Sara Fortier, Design Research Mastery author and course creator
  • Modules 1–3: Design Research Foundations, Project Success & Research Planning
  • Modules 4–6: In-Depth Interviews, Observations & Diary Studies
  • Module 7: Making Sense of Data
  • Module 8: Design Storytelling
  • Bonus Masterclass: Advocating for Design Research
Ask to Register Your Team Explore the DRM Book

A Complete System for Elevating Your Team’s Research Practice

The straightest path to take your research further? Custom solutions that map directly to your goals.

Every training, coaching or talent engagement is shaped around the KPIs your UX department is going after— the challenges they’re facing, the research projects they’re running or planning, and the outcomes you need to show for it. 

Choose one private training option, combine them, or ask for our recommendation. (English and French language options available.)

Get a Custom Team Quote Explore Fractional Leadership
UX research expert leading a custom team training based on their actual goals.
  • Custom Live Training — sessions built around your team's specific goals, on-site or virtually
  • Group Coaching — live, weekly 1-hour advisory on real projects
  • Custom Playbook — a documented research standard tailor-made for your organization to follow
  • Practice Partnership — a senior practitioner works alongside your team as a standing fractional advisor
Get a Custom Team Quote Explore Fractional Leadership

15+ Years in the Making: DRM’s Story

Our CEO, Sara Fortier, built Design Research Mastery (“DRM”) from over a decade of lessons leading research and design work, four of them in Silicon Valley.

A combo of mentorship, academia, entrepreneurship, and trial and error turned one consultant’s process into trusted templates that teams across North America use to turn research into roadmaps.

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1. Leading Strategy in Silicon Valley

Straight out of her MDes in Interdisciplinary Design, Sara spent 4 years leading UX strategy in Silicon Valley for Fortune 100 and 500 clients — and laying the groundwork for DRM.

Global network icon with connected user avatars around a globe, symbolizing online community, collaboration and social media.

2. From Consultancy to Community

Sara founded Outwitly in Canada in 2016 and grew it to 8-figures, building resources for teams and contractors, and creating content that drew in a talent pool of 20K+.

Upward bar chart icon on pink circle, indicating business growth, revenue increase, and marketing analytics.

3. Scaling the Impact of Buy-In

Inspired to help more teams turn research into roadmap-changing buy-in, Sara built the DRM course. Training became a core Outwitly service, beside UX staffing and delivery.

Open book icon on yellow circle, symbol for reading, education, library resources, and study materials.

4. The Playbook Gets Published

Sara began expanding DRM into a book in 2023, adding career stories and a vision for the future of UX, and chose the publisher of Good Services and This is Service Design Thinking.

Rocket launch icon on pink circle background representing startup growth, fast performance, and innovation.

5. Launching an Enhanced Curriculum

In 2026, the book launched to packed room in Ottawa & Toronto — industry leaders, professors, and practitioners. It’s now a cornerstone of Outwitly's programs (1,500+ trained to date).

Design Research Mastery book cover with laptop, tablet showing the UX maturity guide, some of the many resources provided by Outwitly as a complement to their UX research team training.

High-Value Resources That Keep Delivering

The templates and recorded tutorials in the self-led DRM curriculum are built to be referenced and revisited with lifetime access, no renewal needed.

Great UX research gives the whole field more impact. That’s worth more to us than any subscription fee.

Comprehensive Content

10+ hours of packed lessons, broken down to match your pace, with video, audio, PDF, and eBook formats.

20+ Ready-to-Use Templates

So your team starts from a proven structure instead of building research plans and protocols from scratch.

Design Research Mastery Book

Real career examples from Outwitly CEO Sara Fortier, with frameworks beyond what’s covered in the course.

Bonus Materials on Influence

A masterclass on gaining design research buy-in, including a guide to UX maturity — so your team walks in ready to make the case.
Why Choose This Course

Most UX Research Training Courses Teach Methodology. Not What Happens Next.

From decentralized enterprise teams to lean in-house practices, Design Research Mastery is built to bolster work that holds up — in the room, in the budget conversation, and in every project afterwards.

“Having insights is great but wrapping it into a story that sticks with stakeholders is better. This course will help design teams understand their strengths, weaknesses and be in touch with a new way of working in innovation.”

—Tanvi, Design Research Mastery participant

Building Influence Beyond Methodology

Most training covers how to run user research. DRM also builds the stakeholder alignment needed throughout a project, and the storytelling skills to land it at the end, so trust isn’t a last-minute pitch — it’s been building the whole way through.

Consistency as a Credibility Asset

Wins That Compound Across Orgs

Value That Outlasts Budget Cycles

A Vendor Path That’s Already Cleared

Custom Research Training in Both English and French

Need Help Deciding?

Not sure which format fits?

Every option builds on the same DRM curriculum. What changes is the delivery, and how much of it is tailored to your live projects.

Wondering about cost?

Team pricing scales with seat count, and custom training is scoped to what you actually need. Reach out for a quote built around your team.

Training Format

Best For

Time Commitment

Per- Session Capacity

Custom Playbook

DRM Book Copies

Lifetime Module Access
Self-Led Course Building consistency without pausing active work 10+ hours of video modules & content No limit — ✔️ ✔️
Remote-Led Training Live guidance for distributed teams Weekly sessions, over 4–12 weeks Up to 30 participants Optional ✔️ ✔️
In-Person Workshops Focused, collaborative sessions in one room 1–3 day intensives, on location Up to 30 participants Optional ✔️ ✔️
Group Coaching Applying the training to live work as it happens Weekly 1-hour sessions, over 8 weeks 10–15 participants Optional ✔️ ✔️
Practice Partnership Ongoing expert support Ongoing n/a Optional ✔️ ✔️
UX Training Case Studies

Where Training Becomes Influence and Impact

Outwitly has trained teams across government, nonprofit, and enterprise organizations, building the skills that turn design and research work into funded projects and measurable returns. 

Here’s what some of those engagements looked like.

Strengthening Design Research Practice for a Social Impact Consultancy

Strengthening Design Research Practice for a Social Impact Consultancy

 Outwitly partnered with a Canadian social impact consultancy to strengthen and unify design research practice across roles and teams. Through a multi-month training and coaching program led by senior design research practitioners, Outwitly introduced shared frameworks, language, and hands-on methods that teams could apply directly in live projects.
Full Case Study
Building a Culture of HCD at a Global Think Tank

Building a Culture of HCD at a Global Think Tank

 IISD engaged Outwitly to train Innovation Fund participants across disciplines with practical design skills and applicable foundations in HCD. Through a two-day bootcamp and three months of group coaching, participants strengthened how they framed problems and advanced proposed initiatives.
Full Case Study
Building Cross-Team UX Alignment at Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Building Cross-Team UX Alignment at Fisheries and Oceans Canada

 Outwitly delivered a tailored UX bootcamp that aligned product, IT and design teams, strengthened UX maturity and gave the staff at a public sector organization the shared tools, language and confidence to integrate human-centred design.
Full Case Study
Co-creating the Future of e-Learning in Canada

Co-creating the Future of e-Learning in Canada

 Outwitly led a structured, insight-rich Design Jam with a federal Canadian department, helping participants explore learner needs, co-create eLearning concepts and build the case that secured support to advance a unified national vision.
Full Case Study
View Full Portfolio

What is Design Research Mastery?

Design Research Mastery (DRM) is Outwitly Academy’s flagship UX research training for teams. Across eight modules, it teaches researchers to plan studies around business priorities, run interviews and observations, make sense of the data, and turn findings into stories that win stakeholder buy-in. Teams take it self-led, remote-led, or as in-person workshops.

Who is UX research team training built for?

Any skill level or background — from PMs and engineers who’ve never run a study, to UX designers looking to become generalists, to new learners, to experienced service designers looking to elevate. It fits lean teams, enterprise teams that need one standard holding across every business unit, public-sector teams working within rigid vendor requirements, and practices that are newly formed or newly inherited.

How is UX research team training different from a methodology course?

Most methodology courses teach the middle of a project: recruit, run the study, analyze the data. DRM teaches the whole arc around it, as the Six-Stage DRM Process.

It adds scoping and planning before a study is approved, stakeholder alignment at every stage, and a storytelling stage that ends in recommendations and roadmaps rather than a report. The difference is between a team that runs research and a team whose research gets acted on.

What formats does DRM team training come in?

Every seat includes the self-led course, whatever else you choose. You can add remote-led live training over 4–12 weeks, in-person workshops of 1–3 days, weekly group coaching over 8 weeks, or an ongoing practice partnership with a senior practitioner. Live training takes up to 30 people per session and coaching runs in cohorts of 10–15, so larger teams are covered by running more sessions.

Custom sessions can go deeper on what the course covers or into areas it doesn’t, you can combine as many formats as you want, and if you need something that isn’t listed here, get in touch and we’ll talk it through.

What’s included in the self-led course?

Every seat gets 10+ hours of video lessons, taken on each person’s own schedule. Also included: lifetime access to the modules and online toolkit, a copy of the Design Research Mastery book by Sara Fortier, 20+ templates as downloadable PDFs, and a bonus masterclass on advocating for design research. Lifetime access means no renewals — registrants keep all of it for good.

How soon can our team start the DRM training?

The self-led course is online and ready now, so your team can start as soon as licenses are issued. Custom team training is scheduled based on what you need — session length, team size, virtual or in person — we can determine start dates with you during our quick and simple discovery and quoting process.

How long does it take teams to apply what they learn?

They can apply the learning right away. Each week of the self-led course comes with its own templates, worksheets and guides, so researchers have practical tools from week one. How quickly results show up depends on your projects and the format you choose. Coaching and practice partnership options can add guided support throughout project planning, launch or execution.

Can team training be customized, and is it available in French?

Yes to both. Custom options include live training built around your team’s goals, weekly one-hour group coaching on real projects, a custom research playbook your team can follow, and a practice partnership that puts a senior practitioner alongside the team. Custom training can be delivered in English or French.

How much does DRM team training cost?

Team training is priced by quote, so you can take advantage of group rates. Cost can depend on factors like session size, virtual or format, training duration, and the scope of subject matter you want your team(s) to learn. Reach out to us with the details, and we’ll ask clarifying questions to ensure we’re aligned, and then work out a proposal and quote.

Can we buy DRM training through a formal vendor process?

Yes. Outwitly is already listed as a diverse supplier in enterprise vendor databases, so custom engagements can clear vendor approval faster than a new supplier would, and we’ll work with your procurement team on whichever path applies. We’re also proud to be a women-owned business, certified by the Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada).

Who created Design Research Mastery?

Sara Fortier, Outwitly’s founder and CEO. She grew Outwitly from a solo practice into a $12M+ company delivering UX research, service design and staffing, and spent four years leading UX strategy in California for Fortune 100 and 500 clients. Design Research Mastery (DRM) distils 15+ years of that work.

Let’s talk about what your team could do next.

Tell us where your research practice is now, and what your goals are — we’ll help you find the training format that gets there.

Get in Touch With Us