I conducted a series of generative mixed methods studies with users of BI tools to understand their data-related sharing and commenting needs and behavior. Using surveys and interviews, I wanted to find out three key things:

• User needs: When it comes to sharing and commenting on data-related material, what do BI-tool users care about? 

• User behavior: How do BI-tool users share their work with colleagues? How do they use BI-tools to collaborate in data-related tasks?

• Unmet needs: How do BI-tool users modify and combine existing tools to achieve their sharing and commenting goals?

I designed the research plans, recruited participants (and managed their payment), conducted remote semi-structured interview sessions, designed survey instruments, analyzed the survey and the interview data, created and presented reports to key stakeholders in Product, Design, and Engineering.

This series of generative research studies informed Design, Product, and Engineering and impacted the development of new features in the product.  See pdf for details, including main findings.

As a part of Agile teams, I conducted a series of design research studies to help Design iterate prototypes for user onboarding for Data Analysts  new to a BI tool. I conducted remote moderated usability tests with a mid-fidelity prototype to help Design get crucial information for their iteration process. I designed the research plan and was responsible for the entire research process: created the research plan, recruited participants, managed participant incentives, conducted sessions, analyzed the data, and presented the findings to Design and PM.

I asked users to imagine they were setting up the BI tool for their company. I asked them to bring in their data from a data warehouse, prepare flat tables, create a dashboard and a visualization, and share it with business users.

The broad research questions I answered were:

• When going through onboarding and setting up a BI tool for their company, what are the main things that data analysts care about? 

• How does the existing prototype meet user needs? 

The results of this research project helped Design and Product in the iteration efforts to improve the experience of Data Analysts and Analytics Managers.  See pdf for details and examples of research questions about how the prototype met users needs.

The goals of this study were to measure the usability of the metric-monitoring feature in the product and to understand usability issues. 

I created the research plan, designed the scenario and tasks for the study, conducted moderated usability study sessions, analyzed the data to document usability issues, and wrote a research report for Product and Design.

The findings of this study informed Design and Product on how to improve the existing metric-monitoring feature.

The research questions for this project were aimed at understanding main usability issues with discoverability, ease of use, learnability, ease of recall, and user satisfaction. I also estimated System Usability Scores for the feature.

This study required participants to take part in two moderated usability sessions. During the first session (Day 1), I asked them to analyze some data to create a metric. I asked them to use the product to set up the monitoring feature to keep track of the metric they created and another metric. In the second session (Day 2), I asked them to review the metrics they had been monitoring and to access the software via the email triggered by the monitoring feature. See pdf for details.