Quick disclosure :)
To protect company data confidentiality and keep this summary concise, certain details and metrics have been intentionally omitted. Still curious after reading this case study? Let's chat!
Unity is committed to leveraging AI to revolutionize game development, empowering creators with tools that enhance efficiency, creativity, and immersion. As AI became a key focus, ensuring that product teams were aligned on AI strategies and priorities became critical. User research played a pivotal role in this alignment effort, and I was the user researcher supporting all AI initiatives on Unity Engine.
By leading a comprehensive meta-analysis of internal research data, I aimed to identify key insights that could guide AI initiatives across product teams.
Timeline
From reviewing internal research data to disseminating insights across teams in approximately 3 weeks.
Background
Unity is at the forefront of integrating AI to transform game development, focusing on enhancing creator workflows, automating processes, and fostering innovation. As AI adoption grew, it became essential for product teams to maintain a cohesive strategy to ensure that these technologies were aligned with the company’s overall goals. Unity places significant value on AI’s potential to redefine how games are made, emphasizing the importance of coordinated efforts to maximize the impact of these advancements on users and maintain Unity's leadership in the industry.
This category outlines the step-by-step approach I took while leading this project. Several details are intentionally being excluded due to confidentiality.
Planning
To address this challenge, a meta-analysis of all internal research on workflows was undertaken. This analysis aimed to identify common insights and themes across different projects conducted by UX research, marketing, and product teams. The goal was to provide a cohesive understanding of user needs and to ensure that AI initiatives were developed with a consistent, user-centered focus.
Methodologies
Cross-Functional Discussions: Engaged with stakeholders across product, design, and engineering teams to capture their goals and open questions.
Meta-Analysis: Collected and synthesized insights from various internal research projects related to workflows and AI tools.
Key Insights
In addition to nuanced findings specific to the Unity user experience, key insights included the following:
Integration enhances workflow efficiency: Users are more likely to adopt AI tools that seamlessly integrate with existing workflows, allowing them to focus on strategic and creative tasks. Poor integration disrupts productivity and leads to frustration, as users spend more time on manual processes.
Error prevention is critical for user confidence: Users prefer AI tools that proactively minimize errors, particularly when reusing components across projects. Consistent error prevention and feedback mechanisms help users maintain confidence in the tool’s reliability, reducing the time spent on debugging.
Artistic control drives user satisfaction: Users prioritize AI tools that enhance their creative process without compromising their artistic control. Tools perceived as augmenting rather than replacing creativity are more likely to be embraced, as users want to ensure the quality and uniqueness of their work.
Efficiency and productivity are top priorities: Users, especially decision-makers, are motivated by AI tools that optimize resource utilization and streamline workflows. They seek solutions that reduce the need for manual troubleshooting and allow for more time spent on creative and high-value tasks.
Deliverables
Presentations to director-level staff across product teams to ensure alignment and to communicate the importance of user-centered AI development.
Comprehensive role-based personas accessible to all stakeholders and Unity employees aimed at fostering a more user-centric and empathetic approach across the organization.
Through this meta-analysis, Unity was able to align its AI initiatives, ensuring that all efforts were directed toward creating tools that truly enhanced the creativity and efficiency of its users. This alignment not only improved the internal coherence of AI projects but also reinforced Unity’s position as a leader in providing user-centric AI solutions for game development.
The research significantly enhanced Unity’s AI product direction by:
Shaping Strategic Thinking:
The insights guided senior management in refining their AI strategies, ensuring that user needs were central to the development process.
Consistency in Decision-Making:
The findings were disseminated across various teams, creating a unified approach to AI product development.
Scaling Research Impact
By facilitating discussions among cross-functional teams, the research enabled a broader impact, influencing not just AI initiatives but also overall product development processes at Unity
