Optix Quantify
Role: Product Designer leading research, strategic design, and cross-functional alignment
Problem
EnergySavvy automates utility energy efficiency programs, helping utilities reduce fossil fuel use.
Utility energy efficiency programs faced a critical timing issue: auditing only occurred after program completion, leaving managers without real-time visibility. This created two distinct pain points:
- For evaluators: Up to 80% of their work week involved data cleaning—manually inputing paper forms or massaging inconsistent Excel dumps
- For program managers: Operating "blind" on program performance, forcing them to make major budget decisions (like flooding marketing spend in final program quarter) without knowing if goals would be met
No one had attempted to provide real-time visibility into program performance before Optix Quantify, but EnergySavvy would leverage predictive data science to make it possible.
Approach
I conducted extensive user research through remote interviews with efficiency program managers and evaluators, focusing on current workflows and pain points. The team whiteboarded findings to align on core problems before the data science work completed—a strategic greenfield advantage.
Key research artifacts included a timeline model showing evaluation progression and identification of the fundamental bottleneck: data hygiene consumed disproportionate resources before any insights could emerge.
Solution
The design delivered:
- User flows based on validated workflows
- Multiple wireframe iterations (adjusted as product scope shifted from suite component to standalone application)
- An interactive prototype using Foundation and HighCharts to communicate interaction patterns to developers
- Information architecture mapping that evolved over time from a module-based to a standalone product structure
Outcomes
EnergySavvy shipped the proof-of-concept in October 2014 to an enthusiastic initial customer. Evaluators subsequently began requiring the software in their utility contracts — validating the solution's market fit and addressing the auditor pain point directly.
Lessons
If you communicate well, delegate effectively, and keep folks focused on the problem we’re trying to solve and not distractions, you’ll be successful. Doubly so if you’re working on both a new product and a rethink of the overall platform. (Hard learned lessons.)
