Leadership Projects
I put together a working group of cross-functional researchers (UX Research, Behavioral Science, and Market Insights) to develop and execute a multi-quarter research effort to study apartment shopping renters, specifically; a population Zillow knew very little about.
I led a group of researchers to revamp our existing store of customer needs -- Experience Outcomes (XO's) -- while also converting them to the more well-known framework, Jobs-to-be-done (JTBD). I created initial work plans, resource allocation, and direction for the project. I also enlisted Jim Kalbach (author of The JTBD Playbook) as a consultant on the project.
I put together a short workshop for a design team offsite to teach product designers, content designers, and design program managers how to craft research objectives.
I led a workshop at the Zillow Research & Insights team offsite in 2022 to help researchers recognize and describe the larger impact of their research. The audience included UX Research, Market Research, Behavioral Science, and Population Science. This workshop came at a time when there was increased pressure for teams to 'show' their contributions to the company.
Individual Contributor Projects
Zillow Rentals Mission Critical Moments (2020)
The Zillow Research and Insights team had just developed a new way to communicate our perspective on the most important problems to solve for customers -- Mission Critical Moments (MCMs). A small team had developed a set for the Zillow Offers (buying and selling homes) part of the business and I led the development of a set of MCMs for Zillow Rentals.
In 2019 Zillow was ramping up its home buying service known as Zillow Offers. I was assigned to spend 80% of my time for one quarter on one (of five) cross-functional teams tasked with creating a vision for how this new service would work.
In 2016, I led the research that changed Trulia's product and marketing strategy. I discovered that our most loyal users came back for our "local info". That turned into an opportunity around doubling down on this information and positioning Trulia as the neighborhood expert.
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Beyond this initial research, I was the lead researcher for Trulia Neighborhoods for the next 2 years, leading many mixed-methods research studies, from diary studies to click tests to surveys to usability tests.
Selected Writing
Case Study: The Jobs to be Done Playbook (2020)
Aligning product strategy with customer needs is a case study I wrote for Jim Kalbach's book The Jobs to be Done Playbook (Rosenfeld, 2020).
In the case study, I describe my approach to understanding user needs through the lens of Jobs-to-be-done. More details below:
Aligning Product Strategy with Customer Needs (2020)
Blog post for Trulia site. Understanding the Jobs that Trulia users are trying to accomplish. A version of this article also appears in the Jobs-to-be-done Playbook (above).
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Link no longer available.
Putting Neighborhood Research on the Map on dScout's People Nerds (2019)
I sat down with Ben Wiedmaier, Product Evangelist at dscout to talk about how we utilized dscout at Trulia to learn about how people choose neighborhoods, the factors that go into that decision, and how the city as a whole actually affects what matters in a neighborhood.
https://dscout.com/people-nerds/trulia-neighborhoods-remote-qualitative-research
How Trulia Runs Broad-Scale, Multimedia Ethnographic Research with Dscout (2019)
Trulia’s UX Research Manager, Vito Loconte walks us through how their team used Dscout to learn about everyday neighborhood moments
