I established a UX research and design program for Azure Quantum, partnering with leadership to formalize design collaboration that elevated product quality and delivered a user-centered design culture.

The team was focused on increasing user engagement and adoption and had telemetry that indicated a 14.9% onboarding success rate, with over 85% abandonment of these first-run workflows. I joined the team to conduct user research and provide details to better understand the root causes of the attrition.

Timeframe: Apr ’21 – Sept ‘22

Team: Senior UX Designer (Me), 2x TPMs, 5x Quantum Software Engineers

My work: Research, Enterprise UX, Design system, Illustration

Onboarding workflows initially only included Workspace creation and Overview page “Quickstart” exercises to submit a first quantum job. The Sample Gallery, Credits and Quota experiences, and the Credits program evolved from my user research and design direction, as well as cross-functional collaboration.

Baseline Research included:

• Onboarding workflow telemetry - 14.9% of new users successfully completed the onboarding workflows, while more than 85% abandoned the process. Telemetry couldn’t explain why users were dropping at key points, and research was needed to uncover the details.

• An initial PM user study - Nine participants, ranging from quantum developers to researchers and decision-makers, were all unable to complete onboarding first-run workflows within an hour. Outside of the study, some participants ended up taking 48 hours, with others taking more than a week.

• Additional User sentiment study - Users felt the Azure Quantum onboarding experience should be more self-explanatory, claiming the experience was fragmented, lacked pricing details, and required frequent back-and-forth with documentation that created confidence barriers to making decisions.

I partnered with Product Management to cross-functionally socialize these insights and drive the definition of the high-level UX Outcome and break onboarding workflows into separate projects.

High-level UX Outcome:

”Users can easily create an Azure Quantum workspace, submit a first quantum job, learn how to submit subsequent jobs, and clearly understand usage and pricing without contacting support.”

UX initiatives I drove across all work streams:

My roles:

User research | Design | Design socialization and workshop leader | Cross-collaboration with Quantum Researchers, Product Management, Engineering, and Documentation teams | Alignment with Azure Product Management, Branding, Marketing, User Research and Design teams.

* This case study is focused on using Azure Quantum portal onboarding workflows to submit quantum jobs, and does not cover CLI, Quantum Developer Kit (QDK) / VS Code, or Azure Quantum Python SDK options for submitting quantum jobs.

SITUATION:

There are four main pages to Azure Quantum Workspace Creation:

Basics / Providers / Tags / Review + Create

Each page had several incremental steps with telemetry insights indicating attrition throughout the workflow, but no indication to explain what was causing it.

“Is it meant to look complicated? Because it does.”

- Research participant

PROCESS:

• Synthesized research insights and journey-mapped the user’s experience, then cross-functionally socialized, providing visibility and participation, to gain alignment on a common understanding of the user’s current experience.

Users were not having a pleasant journey.😖

• I conducted a workshop focused on simplifying workspace creation, to socialize the design discussion, drive visibility, and gain team input and alignment on onboarding strategies

• This cross-collaborative approach provided a deep understanding of the user’s experience across the team, enabling co-discovery and co-definition of the desired UX Outcome, success, and progress metrics.

UX Outcome:

“First-time users can easily identify a clear path to create an Azure Quantum workspace and build a higher degree of trust and user confidence through initial success in the onboarding process.”

Success metrics and progress metrics:

I aimed to reduce user frustration, build user confidence in the first step of the onboarding experience, and increase pattern consistency by focusing on more helpful messaging, simplifying task completion, and strengthening Fluent framework design-system alignment.

Key initiatives -

• Refined communication — Used UX office hours to workshop more inviting, action-oriented titles, taglines, and calls-to-action.

• Optimized workflows — Collaborated with engineering to identify opportunities to provide hint text and prefill values with known user data.

• Simplified onboarding flow — Reduced decision points, pricing friction, and cognitive load, enabling faster first-job submission and higher completion rates.

• Strengthened framework alignment and advanced Fluent components — Partnered with Azure Fluent PM and Design leadership to ensure consistency across components and patterns, and contributed to component variation design, documentation, and cross-team socialization.

• Streamlined compliance — Worked with Microsoft Legal to simplify provider Terms & Conditions acceptance, removing a key blocker in workflow setup.

• Enabled rapid iteration — Created fully functional prototypes to facilitate design discussions, user research, and stakeholder alignment.

• Validated through testing — User sentiment favored fewer, simpler choices and a “quick-start” low-code path before exploring advanced configurations.

• Aligned documentation — Partnered with content teams to update and unify documentation with the revised user flow and design vision.

RESULTS:

Through workflow optimizations and the addition of the Quick Create path, workspace creation success rates improved from 14.9% to 42%.

Quick Create path - only required two user inputs, Workspace name and Region selection

Advanced create path - many of these improvements also applied to the Quick create path

I designed an initial workspace creation landing page that included the Advanced Create path and Quick Create path presented in cards and outlining each path’s benefits, enabling a clear user choice. If we could determine that the user had a current subscription, it was selected by default with the quick create path enabled. If no subscription was detected, then the Advanced create path was selected by default, with the ability for users to select a subscription and opt for the Quick create path.

Advanced Create path - complete workflow

Quick-Create path - complete workflow

Once selected, the Quick create path was only two steps, with two keyboard inputs required for workspace name and region selection, enabling a near-instant workspace creation path.

Leveraging user research insights, telemetry, and cross-functional collaboration to design a smoother onboarding experience. This work improved success rates in the first step of the onboarding process, enabling first-time users to easily create an Azure Quantum workspace and build a higher degree of trust and user confidence through initial success.

SITUATION:

User research revealed that the Overview page and its Quantum Computing Quickstart and Optimization Quickstart options were overwhelming for first-time users and gated initial success. Users were looking for an easy win to take back to their organizations, but they found the Quick Start options too complex, which immediately left them feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

Many users struggled with this entry point into Azure Quantum, which involved setting up your local environment in VS code, adding the Azure Quantum Developer Kit (QDK) extension, include Python and Jupyter Notebook support if needed, installing any Python updates, then connecting Jupyter notebooks through an Azure Quantum workspace to submit programs to a remote quantum service. If the user wanted to do both Quantum Computing AND Quantum Optimization, then they had to go through both of these setup configurations.

PROCESS:

I conducted initial research with Quantum thought leaders, researchers, developers, enthusiasts, and practitioners to understand users’ perspectives and guide redesign discussions. By inviting cross-functional participation, I drove co-discovery and the co-definition of a UX Outcome (ideal user experience), success metrics (goals), and progress metrics (tasks) we aimed to achieve for the Overview page experience.

UX Outcome:

“Provide a launching point that focuses new users on the easiest pathway to submit a first job, while supporting returning users and enabling sustained user education for all users.”

Success metrics and progress metrics:

User research highlighted two clear themes to adopt Azure Quantum:

• Users needed first-run success, subsequent-run success, and accessible support and documentation, to demonstrate capabilities to their organization.

• Users needed easier Quickstart exercises. One participant suggested integrating Jupyter notebooks (details) into Getting Started exercises, providing pre-made interactive environments as starting points for learning and exploration.

Focusing on Jupyter notebook integration and technical feasibility, through Figjam workshops, design lunch-and-learns, and UX office hours, I enabled visibility, participation, and a cross-functional understanding of user intentions, expectations, and goals.

I was able to align engineering and product management in the user-centered need of an Overview page redesign and the repositioning of “Quickstart” exercises.

• Engineering leadership was initially hesitant to prioritize the Jupyter notebook option over local environment setup, so I couldn’t reprioritize the Jupyter notebook option as the “Quickstart” option. Aside from this Quickstart renaming idea, I developed a design proposal to meet the needs of both new and returning users, and enable additional learning opportunities for all users, then conducted usability tests to gather user insights on this idea and present them back to the team.

• The design featured a three-panel layout that catered to new and returning users.

  1. Start with Azure Quantum Notebooks – a guided, interactive starting point for beginners

  2. Access Quickstart Exercises – the local configuration option, and more advanced setup for experienced users (still labelled Quickstart 😖)

  3. Start with Learning Materials – links to documentation for deeper exploration

Variation one -

Variation two -

Conducting one last A,B,C,D usability test with 6 participants, I included all Overview page options. These last two variations, which repositioned Jupyter Notebooks as the “Quickstart” option, resonated best with users. 6/6 users preferred variation two, which presented Getting Started as “Quickstart without install” and repositioned the Local configuration option to the navigation with Learning Materials. This variation mitigated decision fatigue and decreased the likelihood of early abandonment by opting for a more challenging path while still allowing access to the more advanced option and additional Learning Materials.

Additional benefits of this option included moving Quota usage to the Operations left-side menu, and co-locating it with Credit Usage and Job Usage, creating a more intuitive entry point and a holistic view of usage while removing clutter from the Getting Started workflows.

RESULTS:

The redesigned Overview page focused the navigation on initial success through “Getting started” experiences and Sample Gallery, while providing “Local configuration” options for more advanced users and empowering engagement for all users through additional “Learning materials”.

* This work and included research, sparked the creation of the Notebook Gallery (explained in the next micro case-study below👇🏼), enabling user discovery, exploration and learning through templated Jupyter Notebooks to submit Azure Quantum Jobs.

SITUATION:

Engineering participation in user research for the Getting Started workflows led to the creation of the Notebook Gallery, a curated collection of pre-built Jupyter Notebooks. Drawing from research insights shared in workshops and UX office hours, we collaboratively defined the gallery’s intent and structure, to teach foundational taxonomy, structure, and process, lower barriers to first success in quantum computing, and foster long-term engagement through practical, educational, sample-driven task completion. Due to my focus on competing parallel initiatives, this experience moved to production before a full UX refinement cycle could be completed.

PROCESS:

Notebook Gallery work began by setting up telemetry, viewing usage data over a 20-day observation period provided the following insights:

• 30% of users who visited Notebook Gallery didn’t take any further action, leaving the page.

• 58% of users who accessed the Notebook Gallery cloned a notebook to use.

• 50% of these users actually utilized the notebook and ran at least one cell (so 29% of users who initially took action to clone a notebook actually tried to execute a single task).

• Only 17% of users who landed on Notebooks Gallery, cloned a notebook, then completed the notebook sample workflow, and actually submitted a quantum job.

• In two specific instances, 75% of one provider and 100% of another couldn’t submit a job through cloning a QC sample due to not provisioning one during workspace creation.

The additional user research, coupled with this telemetry, was taken into workshop and UX office hours discussions, which helped define the UX Outcome we intended to provide users and the success metrics that we intended to improve.

UX Outcome:

“Both new and returning users can easily explore, learn, and build through hands-on, partner-driven examples and submit quantum computing and quantum optimization jobs through Jupyter Notebooks.”

Success metrics and progress metrics:

I invited the cross-functional team to usability research, revealing significant usability and communication gaps that led to user confusion, frustration, reduced engagement, and hindered quantum job submissions.

• Enabled a firsthand perspective that was valuable in aiding a more constructive cross-functional user-centered mindset in workshops and UX office hour discussions

• Fostered shared understanding and accountability, aligning teams around UX Outcomes and measurable success metrics.

Key Research insights - leading to low engagement, abandonment, and fewer job submissions:

• 3 of 6 participants were unfamiliar with Jupyter Notebooks or their intended use.

• 4 of 6 participants were unable to complete the task of copying and submitting a notebook within one hour.

• 2 of 6 participants expressed a need for a clearer “Hello World” style introduction to orient new users to the gallery.

• Advanced samples were difficult to find; gallery navigation lacked clarity.

• Inconsistent notebook explanations and missing contextual guidance.

• Unclear messaging, poor labeling, and weak calls-to-action.

• Search bar placement and results were ineffective.

• Workflow confusion around submitting jobs and provider selection.

• Provisioning blockers prevented new users from submitting samples.

• UI issues such as unused icons and irrelevant tags cluttered the interface.

• No introductory content to support first-time users or guide initial success.

Guided by telemetry data and direct user feedback, I focused design efforts on delivering our UX Outcome through a more intuitive, engaging, and user-centered experience. I created all design media, facilitated cross-functional discussions, and led iterative research cycles that rapidly informed and refined the vision.

Key initiatives -

• Clarified content hierarchy through more informative category titles, call-to-action taglines, and page messaging.

• Renamed “Notebook Gallery” to “Sample Gallery” to better communicate purpose and context.

• Refined card components—standardizing titles, explanations, and CTAs to emphasize Azure Quantum’s provider-agnostic and code-agnostic capabilities.

• Collaborated with Quantum engineers to design more engaging and educational sample experiences.

• Aligned with Azure Fluent design system PMs and designers to ensure consistency with Fluent interaction patterns and visual standards.

RESULTS:

Specific telemetry metrics:

• Within 2 months after implementation, close to 50% of all users who landed on the Sample Gallery cloned a notebook, completed the notebook sample workflow, and submitted a quantum job.

• Drastically reduced the 75-100% failure rate of Quantum Computing (QC) gallery samples’ run-ability to a 0% failure rate. Default provisioning of all FREE QC and QO providers during Workspace Creation enabled users to clone and submit both QC and QO samples upon Sample Gallery entry.

Specific user research metrics:

After 6 months, 88% of surveyed users agreed with the statement for the redesigned experience: “Sample Gallery is integral to learning, exploration, and understanding of Azure Quantum's offerings.

“They're super, super stripped down, like the simplest possible kind of thing, really just showing how it all just fits, which is perfect. Because it gets you started, so it does what it's intended to do, which is getting going and started, so it's really great!”

- Quantum explorer

The Sample Gallery redesign balanced the needs of first-time and advanced users, featuring “Hello World” options to guide new users through their first quantum job, while providing advanced samples and learning resources for returning users.

SITUATION:

User research on the Credits and Quotas experience revealed that many users faced difficult conversations communicating funding needs within their organizations. Users explained that the Credits and Quotas experience wasn’t helping these conversations, describing the existing dashboards and visualizations as confusing, ambiguous, and lacking actionable insights, making it difficult to interpret usage or justify ongoing investment in quantum research and using Azure Quantum.

PROCESS:

I conducted user research to frame the above situational challenge to the team, and highlight opportunities for optimization, focusing our efforts on a user-centered design direction.

Key Research insights -

Across two separate studies (12 participants total), users consistently identified five key pain points within the Credits and Quotas experience, these issues eroded comprehension, confidence, and overall trust.

• Confusing, subjective data visualizations made it difficult to interpret usage or value.

• Missing subscription quota and credit breakdowns limited transparency into available resources.

• Insufficient pricing and usage data left users unable to make informed, high-cost decisions or facilitate meaningful budget discussions with their organizations.

• Unclear credit program details and lack of self-service options for requesting credit increases or upgrades led to user frustration.

• Dependence on Azure Quantum support for basic inquiries increased operational overhead for support and product management teams.

Cross-functional participation throughout this research enabled co-discovery, co-definition, and alignment on the UX Outcome and the success and progress metrics necessary to guide a more transparent, user-centered design direction.

UX Outcome:

“Users can clearly understand credit and quota usage to easily make determinations about their organizational usage needs, and take action to alleviate credit and quota limitations and pricing concerns.”

Success metrics and progress metrics:

Initially, there was nothing to measure with telemetry in the experience, as it lacked tasks, workflows, calls-to-action, or instrumentation to apply telemetry to. User research provided the following details.

Aiming to achieve our UX Outcome and improve trust in the Credits and Quotas experience, I focused design efforts on clarity, transparency, and aligning on common usability patterns, validating these solutions through user research and socializing insights with the team.

• Collaborated with the Azure Fluent framework team to explore data-presentation patterns, aligning on a table layout commonly used for displaying usage results.

• Iterated on minor data visualizations within these table components, driving component evolution, documentation updates, and broader system adoption.

• Developed functional prototypes to facilitate design discussions, gather feedback, and refine the vision through rapid iteration.

• Iteratively A/B tested table-based proposals to evaluate how effectively they communicated credit and quota data in a familiar, easily interpretable format.

• Socialized research findings and design proposals across Product Management and Engineering via cross-functional presentations and weekly UX office hours, ensuring alignment and shared ownership of outcomes.

RESULTS:

Created the Credits and Quotas central hub for users to view and manage their Azure Quantum provider resources effectively.

Credits dashboard -

Quotas dashboard -

“ What really made the difference was these credits, this credit program that allowed us to experiment with what we were doing without using our own budget, which is very limited, so that was for us a game-changer. ”

- Quantum Innovator

The redesigned Credits and Quotas experience provided valuable user insight, inspired trust in Azure Quantum, and lowered the financial burden of learning quantum computing and quantum optimization. Users could manage quota availability and credit usage, request upgrades, apply for grants, and better plan for future projected costs and funding discussions within their organizations.

Final usability testing showed a 70% (7/10 participants) success rate for first-run workflows with quantum job submissions, marking a major leap in user trust and onboarding efficiency for the Azure Quantum program.

These UX design outcomes significantly improved user confidence, engagement, and productivity, enabling Azure Quantum users to achieve their short-term quantum goals, plan for funding conversations, and develop long-term quantum strategies within their organizations.

UX initiative results -

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