Landen Haake
Product and design strategist

From Ambiguity to Clarity

How Foundational Research Shaped the Assistant Developer Strategy

 INTRODUCTION

How do you build a world-class developer ecosystem when the landscape is a complex, undefined frontier? In Q3 2020, we were faced with this strategic challenge: to bring a clear, user-centered vision to the Google Assistant's 3rd-party developer domain, a space critical to the platform's growth but lacking a foundational research strategy.

This wasn't about testing a single feature; it was about charting the entire territory from scratch.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

From Ambiguity to Clarity: Building a Foundational Strategy

Our primary goal was to transform ambiguity into an actionable, evidence-based roadmap. We operated on three core principles:

  1. Map the Terrain First: Before exploring, we needed a map. We committed to first understanding the existing landscape and identifying all critical knowledge gaps.

  2. Expand the Definition of "User": We hypothesized that a successful ecosystem served more than just developers. We intentionally set out to explore the needs of all potential actors in the space.

  3. Create a Foundational, Enduring Roadmap: Our deliverable would not be a single report, but a comprehensive strategic roadmap that would guide product and engineering decisions for the long term.

THE TEAM

As the project's lead UXR, I drove the entire research strategy from inception to delivery.

I defined the roadmap, secured stakeholder alignment across Product Management, Engineering, and XFN leadership, and managed supporting UX researchers who were critical to the project's execution. This initiative was a deep collaboration that relied on the trust and partnership of the entire cross-functional team.

THE PROCESS

Part 1: Scoping the Unknown

With a complex and undefined problem space, our first step was to create structure. We began by conducting comprehensive secondary research to synthesize all existing internal data, mapping the current state of the developer ecosystem. This allowed us to identify critical knowledge gaps. I then led a series of stakeholder interviews with leadership to align on business priorities and define the most urgent questions we needed to answer.

Part 2: Executing a Multi-Method Global Research Plan

With priorities aligned, we launched a multi-phased research plan to gain a deep, foundational understanding of our users.

  • Qualitative Deep Dives: I led a series of in-depth interviews with developers across multiple countries to uncover their core needs, motivations, and pain points. This foundational work provided the rich "why" behind their behaviors.

  • Quantitative Validation: We then designed and deployed a large-scale survey to validate our qualitative findings and segment the developer audience. This gave us confidence in our insights and helped the team prioritize which user needs would have the broadest impact.

Part 3: Synthesizing a Strategic & Enduring Roadmap

The final phase was to translate our rich findings into a clear and durable strategy. The immense volume of data from our mixed-methods approach was synthesized into a single, comprehensive research roadmap. This artifact didn't just present findings; it laid out a multi-quarter plan of prioritized research and product opportunities. It served as a strategic guide for the entire product area, providing a clear path forward.

THE IMPACT

This foundational research provided a new level of clarity and strategic direction for the Assistant's developer ecosystem. We moved from a state of ambiguity to having a shared, user-centered vision that the entire team could rally behind. The work was recognized by peers and managers as operating at a senior, L5+ level, demonstrating high independence and strategic leadership.

Key impacts

  • Roadmap & Strategy Influence: The research and resulting roadmap directly influenced the long-term product strategy and engineering priorities. Stakeholders immediately began using our findings to request further exploration and pre-validation of new feature concepts.

  • Expanded Product Opportunities: Our findings successfully expanded the team's focus beyond a narrow definition of "developer," highlighting critical opportunities to build new features for other user types within the ecosystem.

  • Established UXR Leadership & Best Practices: I became recognized as the trusted, "go-to" DevX researcher for the domain. The comprehensive research roadmap I created was socialized and referenced by other UXRs as a team-wide exemplar for how to approach and structure foundational research in complex spaces.