Wind River | Virtual Lab
TIMELINE
Q4 2022 - Q4 2023
ROLE
Lead Designer & Researcher
RESPONSIBILITIES
Interface Design
User Interviewing & Analysis
Heuristic Evaluation
Competitive Analysis
Workshop Facilitation
Efficiency by design
Virtual Lab is a tool for managing distributed test environments for DevOps engineers. Given the inherently high costs of embedded development, efficiency gains are always top of mind.
Role-based access controls, resource transparency, and resource constraints were some of the key features we focused on after user interviews helped us prioritize the exec team’s long list of wants.
When I joined the Virtual Lab team in November of 2022, the application lacked many basic features.
Aptiv’s impending acquisition of Wind River meant that all teams were under increased pressure to prove our value.
For the Virtual Lab team, this meant clearly identifying, prioritizing, and implementing the remaining table-stakes features.
I worked on:
👩💻 Interviewing and analyzing interviews.
🕺 Developing personas based on my research.
📍 Mapping the user journeys.
📝 Collaborating with the PM and engineers to prioritize features.
🖥️ UX flows and UI design.
With only a basic understanding of embedded development and zero experience with virtualized hardware, I had a lot to learn before I could start designing.
SUBJECT MATTER RESEARCH
Embedded development is really complicated
Embedded software is built into devices other than traditional computers, and is often the brain of the device.
Successfully shipping embedded software requires cross-functional collaboration between Software Developers, Hardware Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and Technical Product Managers.
All of these teams use tools to manage their products and work within resource constraints.
This is where Wind River Virtual Lab comes in.
…it’s also really expensive
From the specialized labor required to the expensive physical resources needed for pre-production testing and prototyping, embedded development teams must always be working to mitigate inefficiencies.
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