AncestryProGenealogists® is the professional research division of Ancestry®. They have over 120 professional genealogists conducting research for thousands of clients each year.

Project management and genealogical research can be a difficult combo to do well and efficiently.

There are many project management platforms and CRMs (Customer Relationship Management System) out there, but Ancestry needed a more custom-built platform that was tailored to their business model and the uniqueness of genealogical research.

For over 6 years I spent each day working with this system, both as the product manager and the designer. Since this system was completely in-house and only employees had access to it, they were my 'customers.'

I would meet each day with various researcher, project managers, account managers, and department management to discuss the needs and pain-points of its users.

We ran on the Lean UX approach: Ideate, Create, Revise. We would come up with solutions for users' pain-points, create mockups, test prototypes, and build. Then, we would review the changes in users' behaviors, analyze the data, and revise as necessary.