When you have a website & an app that reach >1 Billion people a day there is a strong risk aversion that sets in. People are constantly trying to make improveme

When you have a website & an app that reach >1 Billion people a day there is a strong risk aversion that sets in. People are constantly trying to make improvements, add features, keep up with the competition etc, but the risk of making things worse is very high (A billion pennies a day is still more money than most people will see in their lives). Experimenting in the wild is no longer possible like it is for a startup, so instead a solid research program is needed to test and validate new features before launch. Yes having good designers would obviate a lot of the need for researchers, just like having good engineers would eliminate the need for QC. But realistically QC and UXR are both important parts of the product release process at a large company.