Amazon QuickSight
Self-serve analytics
Andy Jassy, then CEO of AWS, launches Q at AWS Re:Invent 2020
QuickSight wanted to build a way to let users to ask questions about their data, and get answers in seconds. I developed the initial concepts of Q, an ML-powered analytics product. Q was launched by Andy Jassy, then AWS CEO, at Re:Invent.
What I did
Product design
User research
Workshops
Team + stakeholders
Product managers
Engineers
Data Scientists
Leadership
Launch
Dec 2020
Democratizing insights
Traditional B.I. tools like Amazon QuickSight were great at helping Business Analysts share real-time information with their teams using dashboards. But if a team member had a follow-up question, they’d have to ask their Business Analyst, who could take hours if not days to respond.
To address these frustrations, our team started working on Q, a ML-powered service that allowed non-technical users to ask questions of their data using natural language, and get answers in seconds. We were convinced of its value. We just needed to convince the senior leadership at AWS.
As the lead designer on the project, I helped the team anchor our product vision by developing a narrative illustrating what problems we wanted to solve. Tight timelines coupled with collaboration across teams and timezones made ruthless prioritization and stakeholder management imperative on this highly visible project.
The pitch
I created this supplemental UX packet to pair with our team’s document outlining our product strategy and funding needs. Designs were intentionally kept low-fidelity to focus on the concepts, not the visuals.
“This is going to completely change the BI experience.”
Andy Jassy
CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Impact
The meeting was a success — our team secured funding to build Q and was given an ambitious timeline: Launch by AWS re:Invent 2020. I left the team shortly thereafter, but I was cheering from the sidelines as Andy Jassy launched Q himself.
