Research rigor.

There's an old research adage: you are not the user. I was the user. A decade of IT in the seat. And I still wanted to understand the mental model of the IT Professional deeper than my own. So I toyed with every method I could get my hands on and worked them into our research roadmap quietly, without pushing, learning from the classically-trained PhDs around me. The technical background was already there. What I built on top of it was a research practice, and eventually a reputation as one of the better researchers on the team without the credential to match.

Role

IC researcher

Hands-on across the full research stack

Volume

35+ studies

Across 14G → 17G PowerEdge

Methods

Qual & Quant

IDIs, focus groups, surveys, diaries, heuristic audits

Domain

Datacenter · Edge · Telco

IT Pros as the core user population

● 01 The Frame why this work still matters to me

A leader who's run the research reads it differently.

As a Sr. Manager I set direction now, I don't moderate sessions myself. But the years I spent in the seat shape how I read research today, how I coach my team, and how I push back when a finding is being bent toward a preferred conclusion.

● 02 Study 01 · PowerEdge 17G Hardware Feedback qual · moderated IDIs

How would 16 IT Pros actually receive the 17G chassis?

Abstract n=16 · Dell Technologies Usability Lab, Seattle WA · Individual 1.5-hour moderated sessions · Comparative review of proposed 17G rack chassis, security bezels, and front I/O against the shipping 14G baseline · 17G "Steel" bezel most preferred; power button and health indicator favored over 14G; open questions on front I/O port selection.

Sixteen IT Pros, 1.5 hours each, ahead of tooling-lock on the 17G chassis. We ran 17G 1U and 2U models side-by-side with current 14G, rated three candidate security bezels against the shipping 14G bezel, and structured follow-up discussion to get at the why behind every preference.

Bezel preference chart showing 17G Steel bezel most preferred overall, with stacked bar chart of ranked preferences across four bezel options

FIG. 01 Forced-rank bezel preference. 17G Steel took first, the near-identical aluminum variant ranked last.

Power button preferences page with IT pro pointing at a server rack, alongside quoted participant feedback in green and orange

FIG. 02 Power button on 17G was clearly preferred, with one dissenting voice on accidental press risk.

Sustainability in the datacenter findings page showing respondent counts and takeaways about DC sustainability practices

FIG. 03 Adjacent finding: 14 of 16 ranked system performance over reducing carbon emissions.

○ — Additional studies · in progress 4–6 more to follow

4 to 6 more studies from the catalog will land here, same structure as above.

→ NEXT_CASE

Context-Aware Enterprise UX · patented patterns inside iDRAC.

Continue → 05/context-aware