background
The Futures Design organization was created in early 2022 with a mission to design product experiences that bring Amazon into the future. Within the Futures Design org, I joined the Envisioning team, focusing on near-term innovation (1–3 years out) feeding directly into existing product roadmaps.
team goals
Partner with existing product teams within the larger Devices & Services org to drive strategic "Think Big" innovation efforts, highlighting new opportunities and forward-thinking features and services.
headwinds
1) The Futures Design org, being new, is still finding its stride within Amazon. New mechanisms are continuously tested to improve effectiveness.
2) High potential strategic opportunities identified are difficult to pursue due to siloed teams, uncoordinated strategy, and divergent design patterns within the larger org.
3) Innovation workshops are more effective in-person, but shifting office culture has led to a preference for remote participation.
6-week Design Jam for Alexa Social (top), and a 2-day Fire Tablet Ideation Workshop (bottom).
tactics
primary method: Through multi-week innovation workshops meticulously planned ahead of time, the Envisioning team collaborates closely with cross-functional teams throughout the larger Devices & Services org. In these highly tailored workshops, we lean heavily into storytelling centered around usage data, customer experience outcomes (CXOs), and other research-driven insights. Quick sketching, storyboarding, and interactive prototypes are frequently used to gauge research participant reactions and convey visions to stakeholders.
secondary method: Occasionally, we come across a concept with abnormally high potential that lacks backing from any specific device teams. When this happens, we take it upon ourselves to push that concept even further through design prototypes and "Wizard of Oz" demos that help others experience what it could feel like in a more realistic customer scenario.
Staged areas for two separate concept demos.
results
1) The Envisioning team has successfully driven several "Think Big" innovation efforts that have been incorporated into existing product roadmaps, helping to shape Amazon's future product experiences.
2) Despite headwinds, the team has managed to identify and pursue high-potential strategic opportunities, leading to more coordinated strategies and cohesive design patterns across teams.
3) New cooperative partnerships with various product teams within the Devices & Services org have been established and strengthened.
learnings
1) The Futures Design team needs to continue refining its mechanisms and approaches to be more effective within Amazon's structure.
2) In-person collaboration remains crucial for effective innovation workshops, highlighting the need for a balanced approach between remote and in-person participation.
3) The Envisioning team must navigate the challenges of siloed teams and uncoordinated strategies to drive innovation effectively.
Three example Futures Design projects included below.
Nightstrom Design Jam & Showcase Demo
background
The Devices & Services org has long held the mental model that our family of products and services should work Better Together and that customers will benefit from this familial coherency (e.g., owning an Echo and a Fire TV is better than just owning an Echo). Harmony is when products in Amazon’s Devices & Services family unlock exponential value by functioning as a cohesive whole, adapting to the customer and their environment better over time.
project goal
In December 2023, the Futures Design org produced and began demoing the first iteration of our yearly "Showcase" mechanism. The demo consisted of four scenarios which took place between a staged kitchen, bedroom, office, living room, and via mobile, leveraging real furniture and printed backdrops. The Showcase demonstrated future Harmony concepts which delivered on user needs that emerged from the Future of Home Life insights research. Development began in early July, with a 2-month-long “Nightstrom” Design Jam, and rolled into a Showcase sprint which translated our best ideas into high fidelity, multi-device prototypes.
my role
I was the sole participant present throughout both Showcase and Nightstrom workshops, among the 30+ other people that collaborated on this. I was instrumental in defining Harmony as it applies to D&S. I spent months identifying high-value Better Together scenarios, weaving them together for a cohesive Showcase presentation, and mapping the tech capabilities required to deliver these experiences in the future.
We frequently created storyboards depicting a moment in the customer's life, focusing on priority CXO's. These storyboards would eventually lead to an exercise where tech enablers are identified (colored squares above). For the Nightstrom/Showcase project, I mapped these tech enablers (right) based on dependencies and timelines.
results
The demo was presented to our Panos Panay (SVP) in early 2024 and received glowing praise. Our group was asked to follow up with a deeper dive into feasibility and a path to ship. Partner buy-in continues to be a challenge without additional pressure from leadership to prioritize, so it’s unclear right now exactly what might ship and when.
Fire Tablet Design Sprint
project goal
In addition to delivering a great content consumption experience, we aimed to help customers get more out of their Fire Tablets by making it easier for them to discover new and relevant content, quickly switch between different activities, and easily discover new use cases and capabilities.
my role
I planned and facilitated a five-day sprint that included presentations by six “Fire-Starter” experts and 14 full-time participants from eight different roles at Amazon. On the final day, two new Launcher models were presented to stakeholders.
Learn about the problem > spark inspiration > quick ideation > repeat, repeat > consolidate best ideas > vote.
results
The sprint had a fairly appreciable impact on the Tablet feature roadmap, resulting in narrowed focus, reduced ambiguity, and increased momentum. 29 high-potential concepts were generated in the sprint and added to the Futures Design ideation database. Several of those ideas have since been expanded on and rolled up into Project Dali (improved browsing on the For You page, launched 2023) and the Fire Tablet vNext work.
Project Sidebar
project goal
The Envisioning team’s high-level goal was to experiment with a new mechanism aiming to fast-track PRFAQ reviews of newer, high-potential concepts generated through Design Jams. The narrower goal was to create a “CX simulation” (aka Figma prototype) used to assess interest via UX research, and present recommendations in a PRFAQ to FTV leadership.
my role
I identified a high-potential concept generated in a previous Fire TV Design Jam, and working closely with a PM, jumped into rapid design exploration and designing. A working prototype was built and used to gather qualitative feedback through in-person customer interviews.
results
Preliminary designs and research insights were included in a PRFAQ presented to Daniel Rausch in September. Overall feedback was positive—next steps were assigned to PM and BD.