Research and Strategy Projects

“Imagine being in your car when it goes off a bridge into the water below. How do you escape?”*

This was the question I asked nearly 1000 survey respondents and focus group participants in product liability research work conducted for a leading law firm. Our objective was clear: understand what user perception was and then work to understand where user perception of liability fell for managing and providing survivability information.

I conducted the work by beginning with a large-scale web survey, followed by a series of focus groups to arrive at the answer to the research question. From that data, I was able to also ascertain that the general public didn't know how to properly escape a sinking vehicle but there was no clear consensus on who should be held responsible for submerged vehicle deaths.

*The ideal answer to this question is to roll down your windows and undo your safety belt as soon as you realize you are in the water, then exit through the windows and swim away from the car to safety. Cars will float long enough to allow you to do this, and the electrical systems will work long enough even once submerged to allow you to do this.

My client was seeking to update their financial trade processing systems for their independent broker-dealers. I organized and conducted a contextual inquiry program that led me to over a dozen offices in 9 different states. During each 3-hour session, a client SME and I observed and captured details about how these broker dealers were completing their work on the platform, as well as other supplemental tools that they were using to ensure success.

I then analyzed and summarized this material for the client, who was able to incorporate these details into their roadmap and implement them in their next major platform release.

Planned and facilitated a series of 12 focus groups around the country with veterans and their caregivers to determine their needs for healthcare portal communication and data with the VA. Used information gathered to create the prototype and requirements for the first version of the MyHealtheVet portal, which is still in use today.

The purpose of this project was to articulate the value that the worldwide sales team provided to the organization beyond revenue numbers, and determine a roadmap for improving that value over time.

This project began with field research in which I sought to understand the day to day activities and best practice activities of the global sales team members. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, this research was broad and framed as being focused on identifying best practices. I also had the opportunity to interview some of the sales teams members' customers to determine the experience they were having.

At the conclusion of the research, I conducted market research and worked with SME's to identify and articulate best practices in sales team peformance optimization. This information was then crafted into comparative analysis that presented strengths and opportunities of the client's sales team relative to best-in-class, with recommendations for maintaining high performance and closing gaps.

Finally, my team and I developed a business case which articulated the expected return on investment for the various activities the client could undertake to improve sales team performance.

The client, a leader at an automated marketing analytics and insights product, was interested in expanding their market reach from enterprise clients to mid-market clients. They wanted to understand what features would resonate most with this new market segment, and receive a roadmap with subsequent messaging guide to position the new product with the new user base.

We based the research on confirming or refuting the internal team's assumptions of various user groups via the Riskiest Assumption Test approach. At the client's request, I interviewed a group of current users to understand the key features of the current product that they felt were indispensable. I then recruited and interviewed global mid market and agency potential users.

The results of the research clearly identified those assumptions which did not hold up for mid-market users. The existing product was unlikely to succeed in introduced as-is in the mid-market.

Furthermore, the interview protocol helped me to identify the mental model that the mid-market users did have, and allowed me to identify product features which would resonate with them. I crafted a roadmap of how he might migrate his product to meet the mid-market audience needs.

Finally, I crafted a marketing and content strategy that would allow my client to eventually educate upskill these users into core users of his primary tool feature set.