Developer Ecosystem, Spring 2017
Realm: Research
Role: Project Lead, Researcher, Designer
Scope:
The first dedicated research initiative within the Google Developer Studio’s design team that sought to inform designers of who is watching our videos, and how the graphics of the videos impact those users’ work or impression of Google videos.
Methodologies: Literary review of developer learning, online learning behaviors, and developer segmentation.
Semi-structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders (Developer Advocates, Project Managers, Producers, Engineers, UXRs, YouTube researchers, non-Google MeetUp organizers).
Online Survey evaluating when, why, and how developers engaged with videos. Self-analysis of our channels via comments, viewing metrics, subscription history, etc.
Ethnographic observation at developer conferences, meet-ups, and hackathons.`
Deliverables: Snapshot of the demographic makeup, motivations, and habits of the developer community, plus their feedback on GDS videos.
Set of “developer mindsets” that provide a lexicon for talking about our audience in a way that emphasizes context and fluid personas. The process of researching also exposed internal gaps of communication that allowed for repetition, fragmented production, and general inefficiency. Such illuminations helped later to direct my work on systemizing the design team’s process.