How UserTesting unites its distributed engineering team with Bluedot

UserTesting is a leader in experience research and insights. A trusted company by top brands for 15+ years, UserTesting, recently merged with UserZoom, has over 3000 customers in 50 countries, including 75 of the Fortune 100 companies.

The UserTesting teams are distributed across the Americas, APAC and European time zones. The product and engineering teams are focused on developing and refining the customer experience and technological backbone that enables UserTesting to deliver its user experience research services effectively. This global distribution presents unique challenges, especially in terms of collaboration and communication across different time zones. Klara Furstner as Director of Engineering, coordinates one of the teams and their cross-team initiatives.

Tackling time zones and meeting challenges for global teams

The team faced two primary challenges:

1. Limited Time Overlap: With team members spread across various time zones, finding sufficient overlapping working hours for meetings was a significant hurdle. This limitation impacted the team's ability to collaborate effectively and make timely decisions.
2. Meeting Overload and Information Retention: The team struggled with back-to-back meetings and the associated challenge of taking accurate notes while staying engaged. Furthermore, recalling the rationale behind decisions made in past meetings became increasingly difficult, leading to repeated discussions and inefficient use of time.

More efficient method for collaborative work in distributed teams

UserTesting adopted an innovative approach to address these challenges by leveraging Bluedot's video recording, storing, and sharing features for internal meetings. This solution was chosen for its comprehensive capabilities, including:

• Video Transcripts and Summaries: Instead of relying on manual note-taking, the team could now access transcripts and concise summaries of their discussions, making it easier to review key points without revisiting the entire meeting. It allows the attention of the meeting organizer to be freed up to conversation instead of multitasking while keeping notes, which often leads to missing points.

• Searchable Content and Organizational Features: Bluedot's platform offered advanced search functionalities and the ability to organize videos into smart collections, significantly enhancing the accessibility of information.

This approach provided a more efficient and effective method for managing the team's collaborative efforts, especially in addressing the challenges of time zone differences and meeting overload.

Reducing repeated discussions and sharing knowledge more effectively.

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The implementation of Bluedot's solution had a profound impact on UserTesting's engineering team:

• Time Savings and Increased Productivity: For Klara and her team, the solution saved at least two hours per week by eliminating the need for multitasking during meetings and reducing the time spent on follow-ups. It also facilitated better strategic and technical alignment within the team by providing a reliable reference for past discussions and decisions.
• Enhanced Global Collaboration: Team members in vastly different time zones could participate in discussions asynchronously, ensuring that everyone had access to crucial meeting content without the need to align schedules perfectly.
• Improved Decision-Making Efficiency: The ability to refer back to recordings and transcripts for context on past decisions significantly reduced the need for repeated discussions and clarified the rationale behind choices, streamlining the decision-making process.
• Knowledge Sharing and Onboarding: The platform enabled the team to share informative sessions about different aspects of their product and operations more effectively.

In summary, by addressing the critical challenges of time zone synchronization and information management, UserTesting's engineering team leveraged Bluedot to enhance internal communication and collaboration, ultimately contributing to the company's ability to continuously deliver on its product roadmap and innovation initiatives.

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