X: the moonshot factory

Executive Summary

As a User Researcher working within the X Design team I supported early stage product teams through generative research and product strategy.

At X I focused on developing my research and strategy skills within the context of tech innovation. Additionally I made sure to maintain my breadth of design methods through workshops and team engagements.

Personal Responsibilities

Scoping research engagements and guiding teams through their UX needs
Conducting generative research
Synthesis of insights / recommendations and translation into product requirements
Managing research progress and shifting "client" needs

Deliverables

Research reports, presentations & recommendations

Supporting moonshots

Through generative research and design thinking methods I've supported 16+ early stage projects at X, helping them better understand their users and better identify insights and opportunities to make an impact in their lives. I work with various project teams, from small groups of engineers to a full fledged 'Moonshot' project with hundreds of members. During my time at X I've also researched, helped design and pitched an internal web tool to improve workflow and to help the organization improve its operational efficiency

Most importantly, while at X, I am exposed to and participate in a dynamic and evolving process to innovation. I've learned from successes and failures of various projects, while working with multidisciplinary teams of engineers, strategists, designers and more. Finally, I continue to bring a design and user-centered mindset to a tech focused organization, making sure that the innovation we work on makes as much impact as possible

Generative Research

Early Stage Projects
I work with small teams of engineers and designers developing emerging technologies to help shape the project strategies through a better understanding of user needs and behaviors. I do this through rigorous secondary research, industry understanding and expert interviews. In each project, I present insights that help the teams better understand how their emerging tech could be applied to real world applications.

I also worked with a group of teams, tied together by a common subject matter, by becoming a domain expert. Again, through expert interviews and secondary research, I developed a landscape understanding of this technological field. This included competitor understanding, highlighting latest technological advances and industry trends, in order to push the team to develop clear positioning and strategy to their investigations.

Working with a team focused on external partnerships I lead a research effort to understand how a specific X technology could be used to benefit a multinational partner. With the support of strategists we designed various platform solutions based on this technology.

Moonshot Project
I did similar research with one of the 'Moonshot' projects but with different goals; while working with this team, the research we conducted was aimed at refining product strategy, rather than defining it. Through 15+ expert interviews and endless mock reviews we were able to develop an understanding of our target audience in order to inform the final product requirements doc. Through various engagements we went from high level understanding of the industry and it’s tools all the way down to product definition.

Domain Discovery
As part of 2 projects we spent several months navigating the design process, together with various disciplines (strategy, research, design and engineering), to dive into an industry, understand it's dynamics and identify opportunities for X to accelerate development. These opportunities have been turned into projects at X. Throughout these project I lead research and synthesis efforts and interacted with the various disciplines to communicate findings and develop impactful solutions.

Product Development

I researched, helped design and pitched an internal web tool to address team's pain points and improve operational efficiency

I was tasked with researching various similar complaints by teams around X in order to develop a tool to address them. I structured and conducted 20+ interviews with stakeholders around the organization including various phases, from initial explorations to prototype testing and cognitive walk-throughs. Based on this research we designed an internal web platform to help Xers do their jobs better. The tool was pitched, funded and is now in MVP development. While focused on research, I played a pseudo-product management role in this project, from defining the product's audience, needs it would solve and strategy for development

Design Methodology

Beyond research I made sure to continue practicing design thinking methods to bring a more user-centered perspective to the organization

Workshops
Working with an engineer, I researched, framed and co-organized a series of workshops to tackle the theme of transit. By bringing various, designers, researchers and engineers together we developed two ideas that were pitched and investigated by the early stage engineers

I also helped research, frame and co-organize a sprint workshop to tackle a social issue through the tech expertise at X

Additionally, we conducted a workshop with an international university based on my landscape research, in order to develop novel applications to an emerging technology