Simplifying setup and installation
Enhancing embedded software developer experiences through introducing UX best practices to streamline installation — reducing friction, supporting software-defined vehicles, and making it easier than ever to digest vehicle sensor data at the edge.
Role
UX Designer II
Platforms
QNX, Linux
Clients
BlackBerry,
AWS
Duration
2.5 Years
The Problem
Automotive embedded software developers struggle to setup BlackBerry IVY which enables normalizing vehicle sensor data, edge computing, and accelerates the development of personalized in-vehicle services while reducing costs.
Summary
My Role
I led the UX effort of simplifying the installation process by reducing cognitive load, touch points, amount of clicks, keyboard strokes, operationally improving CI/CD, and supporting effortless installation of IVY for our users.
Outcome
Resulted in error free, timely installation across multiple business partners with measurable impact on CSAT, completion rates, and reduced CRM support inquiries.
Context
As software-defined vehicles continue to gain momentum, Tier 1 automotive manufacturers face challenges in identifying agnostic, ISO-compliant tools that support the rapid development and deployment of personalized in-vehicle experiences.
The primary objective of IVY was to maintain a user-centered approach throughout the development and design process — enhancing usability, aligning with BlackBerry’s core values, addressing the technological constraints of Amazon Web Services, and driving innovative, creative solutions.
OPPORTUNITY & CHALLENGE
The opportunity
The set-up and installation experience offered by BlackBerry reflected poor, misaligned, segmented, and confusing user experience in it's flow and UI.
This presented an opportunity to design multiple solutions that simplified the user journey, reduced touchpoints, enhanced user knowledge, expedited the process, and ensured users can confidently interact with the product before developing assets in a vehicle.
OPPORTUNITY & CHALLENGE
The challenge
A primary constraint in integrating design processes into the development cycle was limited time. Existing user flows were time-intensive and not well-suited to conventional research methodologies, making them difficult to evaluate efficiently. This heavily restricted user buy-in during development planning cycles.
RESEARCH & INSIGHTS
Starting with users
Joining the project one year into development, the initial priority was to align with stakeholders and business partners, and to develop user personas that informed the multiple teams in real user needs.
The personas served to re-establish a clear north star for the project, enabling increased focus and informed product direction after a period of misalignment.
RESEARCH & INSIGHTS
How might we?
We began with brainstorming and asking "how might we" statements to identify how we can research our users and business partners in a method that is cyclical, report focused, easily disseminated, can be drilled into, and feed's into our multi-team development cycles.
DESIGN STRATEGY & GOALS
The strategy
Our overall UX design strategy required that our users remain at the centre of development and planning — we used users' direct feedback during release cycles to uncover workflow pain points. We leveraged a cyclical collation method to guide every design and development decision.
DESIGN STRATEGY & GOALS
Design goals
Through our iterative approach, our user problems began to surface, and our priorities began to clarify.
Reduce touchpoints
Design to reduce redundant and nuanced touchpoints that obfuscated user understanding of product workflow.
Streamline setup
Align product setup with user expectations and experience by using pattern recognition and enable realtime feedback to give users confidence and flexibility.
Use simplified language
Reword product documentation to directly align with common industry standard terms and phrases to reduce ambiguity.
Design for growth
Build and support a scalable system in CI/CD that supports multiple business partners with a consistent experience no matter the hardware.
IMPLEMENTATION
Bringing the strategy to life
Our UX strategy focused on listening to the users by collating feedback data, enhancing clarity, easing the use of the product, balancing technological limitations with user feedback, and revisiting our current implementations.
We invested in restructuring the architecture of the product to reflect real user goals, streamlining the setup flow, migrating documentation platforms, and enabling users to bring unique driving experiences to the software-defined vehicle.
By simplifying the experience and understanding the users' unmet needs, we made the experience faster, more intuitive, stress-free, and creative.
IMPLEMENTATION
Establishing UX foundations
This foundation gave the team a shared understanding of user needs and created a repeatable process for connecting user feedback → design decisions → development → validation.
1. Gather user feedback from business partners
2. Collate feedback to highlight design opportunities
3. Align feedback with business requirements
4. Establish team-member buy-in
5. Prioritize design opportunities with colleagues
6. Conceptualize design opportunities through mockups or workflow diagrams
7. Test mockups or workflows with real users
8. Iterate designs
9. Bridge design-development gaps by translating mockups into clear specifications that developers can implement
10. Review staged implementations to ensure user needs are met
11. Prepare feedback cycle following implementations
12. Observe implementations for the next planning and development cycle
Establishing foundational UX practices of design thinking into CI/CD operations significantly helps product owners understand the value of designing and testing before implementation.
RESULTS & IMPACT
Impacting our users
Our UX strategy focused on keeping our users at the centre of our development cycles.
With our users' feedback and dedication, we iterated our solution multiple times over several years. In our iterations, we:
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Reworked the entire installation and setup workflow to align with user goals and expectations
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Migrated documentation solutions, and
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Created a more logical and efficient flow from solution installation to development.
The result: A faster, more intuitive experience that eliminated user confusion, improved productivity, improved engagement, and drastically decreased the amount of time it took to install the solution.
RESULTS & IMPACT
Results
Following the 1.0 release, we captured the following metrics:
82%
CSAT Average
99.7%
Decrease in installation time
30+
Business partners acquired
~20%
Decrease in operational cost
275m
Vehicles world-wide
What Improved?
We redesigned the entire IVY structure to reduce touchpoints, eliminate confusing language, and boost confidence.
Onboarding and setup are smoother, touchpoints are minimal and intuitive, and documentation matches developers' expectations.
How do we know?
Following the 1.0 release, we continued to observe user feedback:
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CSAT scores continued to trend upwards
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Common frustrations were eliminated
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Less negative feedback was being provided
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User time on task was nearing expected timeframes
Why does it matter?
Automotive sensor developers require a substantial amount of time to develop and debug their code before testing solutions in a vehicle.
A confident, low-friction experience encourages reuse, reduces CRM engagement, strengthens brand trust, and drives innovation forward.
REFLECTION
Education through design
What I would do differently is separate stakeholder alignment from user validation more explicitly. In a technically complex product, internal stakeholders can provide invaluable domain expertise, but their confidence in a workflow isn't necessarily evidence that a developer will find it intuitive.
In the future, I would educate stakeholders earlier on the importance of the UX process, and I'd establish clearer moments when decisions are independently validated by the people who actually use the product.