The Data Lake Query Tool was an existing interface that had not yet been deployed. A team within General Dynamics Mission Systems engaged me to help improve the user experience. After defining the tool’s goals and identifying its primary users, I proposed remote user engagements to gather actionable insights.
I collaborated with stakeholders to understand their research objectives and incorporated them into a structured engagement plan. This alignment allowed me to include additional UX-focused questions and secure access to a development environment, enabling participants to interact with the live interface. With support from the team, I identified participants, scheduled one-hour sessions, and conducted nine interviews over two weeks.
To ensure consistency, I developed a moderator script and a standardized presentation to guide participants through key tasks and questions. This approach ensured reliable, comparable feedback across all sessions.
A major insight was that most operators had limited experience with SQL. The original design relied on a freeform SQL input, which proved to be a significant usability barrier. Based on this finding, we identified the need for a guided query builder that would enable users to quickly query data while also helping them learn SQL through exposure to generated queries.
Working with SMEs and engineers, I analyzed common SQL query patterns and existing query-builder interfaces. I designed workflows that simplified data querying without requiring prior SQL knowledge, while also offering an advanced mode for more experienced users.
The query builder was developed and tested in subsequent user engagement rounds. It was well received, demonstrating clear usability gains over the original design.
