Rocket Fuel Inc.
Project Summary: Internal users unanimously needed a way to upload many ads to their campaigns at one time. Users had been able to bypass this through the use of older stand alone tools which were slow an occasionally ineffective. Initial designs for a bulk ad uploader were completed and to verify the users process and experience I was asked to hold a session with the users.
My Role: User Researcher
Team Members: Tony Wolfram
Tools: Video Chat, Stickies, Path Print-ups, Google Docs
Process: Black Hat design review, Published findings

I chose to use a technique popularized by Leah Buley called Black Hat sessions. I printed up each screen that users would encounter during the bulk ad uploading process and taped them to the walls of a large conference room. I walked the 6 participants through the flow represented and issued them each sticky notes and pens. They were encouraged to place sticky notes on the print outs that expressed their thoughts. User could silently voice concerns through stickies in a group setting without being overpowered by louder voices, which typically can happen in group sessions.

Users comments ranged from "YES!", to the more critical, "Can this page be removed?". Overall the team and the participants were interested in the physical representation of the digital path, allowing them to visualize the path in full. The sessions was such a success that there were two additional sessions that took place in the NYC, and LA offices.