About this episode

Erin May interviews Jared Forney about the evolving role of research operations in the age of AI and the importance of trust and communication in research teams.

Erin May talks with Jared Forney, Research Operations Principal at Okta, about how the role of research and research operations is shifting as AI accelerates product development. Jared explains why scale and rigor do not have to be opposing forces and why teams need to return to their core goals before adding new tools. Jared dives into how he builds trust across legal, product, and design teams and why that trust becomes the capital you spend when driving big change. He shares why automating more work actually concentrates human attention rather than removing it, how he approaches knowledge management and orchestration across many data sources, and why written communication and technical skills now matter more than ever. Jared also answers audience questions on governance, getting buy in for research ops, working faster under compressed timelines, AI guard rails, and breaking into the field. Highlights 02:13 Upskilling for scale and rigor 04:33 Balancing speed with research quality 14:50 Where humans fit in AI workflows 25:00 Rethinking knowledge management and MCP 32:00 Best tactic for getting governance buy-in 41:35 Enabling faster research under pressure About Our Guest Jared…

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