Intel
The Essence
Creating an internal tool, Reservation, to facilitate reserving systems for chip testing for 250+ validation engineers across 36 lab sites.
Type
UX/Product Design Internship
July 2023 - Nov 2023
Ingredients
Tools AdobeXD, Miro, NodeJS, Angular CLI, HTML/CSS, Bootstrap, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Sharepoint
Skills Wireframing, Branding, Stakeholder Interviews, Iterative Design Reviews, Frontend Code
Infusion
Team 1 Manager, 2 Leads, 6 Developers, 2 Designers
Organization Design Engineering Group : Cloud Applications Software Development Team
Duration 5 months
What I Worked on
My main project, Reservation, was an internal tool for validation engineers to reserve systems for chip testing across 36 lab sites. I led stakeholder interviews to identify technical and operational challenges, shaping new use cases. I worked with 6 developers on iterative design reviews and created style guides, logos, and branding for internal product libraries. Beyond Reservation, I built and managed an internal website for theValidation Resources Cloud Solutions group, streamlining communications, workflows, and announcements for 7 teams. I also explored frontend coding to better support my team’s developers.
Problem
Over 250 validation engineers across 36 lab sites share the same systems for chip testing, but miscommunication and lack of visibility make scheduling difficult. Engineers can’t easily see which systems are in use, leading to unnecessary orders of new systems. This mismanagement wastes resources, increases costs, and disrupts operations.
Solution
I designed a website that displays real-time system availability with filtering options for time, project, board, site, validation team, CPU QDF, NGA config, and more. Users can reserve systems for future use, while built-in checks allow station owners to approve or deny requests, ensuring proper access control and resource management.
Internship Experience
Reservation: Iterative Design
Brainstorm
I started by conducting stakeholder interviews to understand how different teams using this platform needed different functionalities from the platform.
Having identified the technical and operational pain points to construct new use cases, I compiled the requirements for my new new features as so:
Working in AdobeXD
I used Adobe XD to create mock ups to send to developers.
Iterative Design Reviews
We used Miro to communicate inconsistencies in the design and implementation. This document was where I spent 80% of my time, communicating pixel by pixel changes with developers :)
Results
This resulted in bringing down the materials costs by ~2.5% over 3 months.
Here’s a snippet of the final product:
Low Fidelity Sketch
From there I was able to begin preliminary sketches:
I got a certification in Adobe XD!
Reservation: Branding
Style Guide
I created a style guide inspired by the company colors for our internal product library.
The goal was to create a comprehensive style guide, logos, and branding materials to enhance the coherence and usability of all our internal product libraries.
Logos
Some of the logo options I pitched to senior DEG executives.
Cross Team Communication
Problem
After releasing Reservation, I noticed recurring issues from my stakeholder interviews: poor communication, lack of visibility, and difficulty accessing documentation. These challenges affected both engineering and management teams, making it hard to find information about the various products we owned.
Solution
To address these pain points, I proposed an internal website to improve communication across all teams under the Validation Resources Cloud Solutions Organization, part of the larger the Design Engineering Group. This organization spanned 7 team across 5 time zones (USA, Mexico, Israel, India, and Taiwan).
Results
I built and launched this solution as a Microsoft SharePoint website to centralize information and improve accessibility. At my final intern presentation, I showcased it to senior DEG executives, who then expanded its implementation across all sub-organizations within DEG.
Frontend Code
New Beginnings
After spending so much time with developers, I wondered if I could learn the basics of frontend development myself. I started Angular tutorials with a senior mentor, and built a website of my own:
Pushing Changes to Reservation!
I was even able to push my code to our release of Reservation! See if you can spot my contribution from code to the final website:
Reflection
My First Internship!
I couldn’t have asked for a better first job. I learned so much about UI/UX and product design, but my biggest takeaway was communication. I learned how to advocate for my design ideas to developers and collaborate to bring those concepts to life. I’m grateful to my manager, Evelyn, for giving me the freedom to shape my learning path and explore a new career—frontend development. That said, I believe my strengths align more with Product Design. This experience helped me understand myself better and discover where I thrive.