Shaping the Vision for Azure Quota Experience
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform used by millions worldwide. One of the biggest challenges has been cloud reliability, affecting both users and the business.
I led the UX strategy to reimagine how users manage their cloud resources and quotas, using research to uncover key pain points and find high-impact opportunities to make their workflows smoother and more reliable.
Timeline
2023 - 2025
Role
Product Designer
Team
Research, Engineer, PM, Copilot
Responsibilities
Strategy, User Research, Journey Mapping, Prototype
Measured Impact
- Increased CSAT from 25% → 75%
- Reduced quota-related issues by 70%
- Cut cloud workflow failures by 50%
Microsoft Azure
Reshaping Cloud Quota Management UX
Year
2023 - 2025
My role
Designer
Team
Research, Engineer, PM
What's been done
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform that enables users to run and manage cloud resources. Quota management has long been a known pain point within the Azure experience.
In this project, I led UX strategy efforts to establish user foundation, align teams on a shared vision, and uncover design opportunities to improve the complex quota workflow.
Impacts
- Shaped a future vision (including AI opportunities) and aligned cross-functional teams
- Enabled execution of multiple UX initiatives grounded in user insights and strategy
- Increased CSAT from 25% → 75%
- Reduced quota and capacity issues by 70%
- Cut cloud workflow failures by 50%
The Challenge
Cloud workflows are frequently interrupted by quota issues but no one had a clear view of the real issue
There was a high number of support tickets caused by cloud failures related to quota limits, ranking as the second most common issue. These failures disrupted workflows unexpectedly, forcing users to rely on support for resolution and driving up operational costs for businesses.
I realized we needed a deeper understanding of users and their challenges to uncover the root causes behind these failures and design long-term, scalable solutions instead of temporary fixes.
Goal
Enable users to manage quota and resolve issues independently, while aligning the team on real user needs and long-term strategy.
Approach (Summary)
I reframed the problem by starting with the user, then aligned teams around shared insights and built a long-term vision to guide strategy.
I applied systems thinking to deeply understand the root causes before shaping solutions that were both practical and scalable.
1. User Foundation Discovery
Partnered with UX researcher to conduct systemic user research
- Conducted in-depth interviews and surveys with users and stakeholders
- Mapped quota workflows, Jobs-to-be-Done, failure points, and key opportunities
- Created a cloud journey map to visualize and communicate findings
2. Vision & Alignment
Defined UX strategies that balanced business priorities with user needs
- Facilitated cross-team workshops to align on user insights and opportunity areas
- Established both short-term and long-term UX visions to guide the product roadmap
3. Design Execution
Translated strategies into actionable design opportunities:
- Delivered North Star experience concepts for future-state vision
- Identified Copilot AI guidance as a key opportunity to improve user workflows
1. User Foundation Discovery
Establishing a shared understanding of user needs
I partnered with researchers to build a strong user foundation. Together, we identified key user groups and roles, mapped the broader cloud ecosystem, and uncovered quota workflows, goals, behaviors, and friction points that shaped how users manage their cloud resources.
Identifying 200+ Usability Gaps
Audited the existing experience to uncover usability issues and friction points across workflows.
Outcome: Framed findings as actionable short-term opportunities to gain buy-in for longer-term strategic improvements.
Uncovering User Needs and Behaviors
Clarified target user segments and roles to understand their goals, workflows, and mental models through in-depth interviews and surveys.
Outcome: Defined user priorities and surfaced deeper issues, helping the team focus on high-impact areas that drive meaningful improvements.
Visualizing Insights into a Journey Map
Mapped findings into a comprehensive journey map to break down complexity and highlight where the most friction occurred in quota workflows.
Outcome: Established a shared source of truth that aligned product, design, and engineering teams around key problem areas and future opportunities.
2. Vision & Alignment
Turning user insights into strategy
Then, I shifted from discovery to synthesizing insights and shaping a clear product direction. By collaborating across teams, I turned research findings into actionable opportunities that guided our UX strategy.
Defining High-Impact Opportunities
I transformed key pain points into actionable opportunities, validated through a survey of 100+ users.
Outcome: Revealed high-impact opportunities to prioritize, helping the team focus on solving the most critical user and business challenges.
Driving Alignment Through Collaboration
I facilitated cross-team workshops to align on priorities and brainstorm solutions, giving teams clarity on where to start and how to move forward.
Outcome: Drove both tactical execution and long-term direction through collaborative prioritization.
3. Design Execution
Translating strategy into solutions
With alignment secured, I translated this vision into actionable solutions, delivering both quick wins and long-term improvements.
Short-term goal
Help users manage quotas more easily with clearer guidance, greater efficiency, and improved transparency
Design Solution / Guidance
Guide users through key tools
Use the “Get Started” section to help users navigate quota services. Highlight essential features that support visibility, usage monitoring, and better quota decision-making.
Design Solution / Guidance
Surface key quota insights at a glance
Snapshot view offers users quick access to alerts, forecasts, and recent requests, helping them stay informed and make smarter decisions around quota planning.
Design Solution / Efficiency
Save filter sets
Enable users to save custom filter sets, making it faster and easier to revisit views tailored to their needs.
Design Solution / Efficiency
Cross-subscription selection
Allow users to manage quotas across multiple subscriptions, increasing flexibility and improving visibility for better decision-making.
Design Solution / Transparency
Improved entry point to request history
Improve visibility into past quota requests with clearer entry points and request status updates, helping users track progress with confidence.
Design Solution / Transparency
Estimated cost preview for better decisions
Display estimated costs upfront to help users make informed decisions when submitting quota requests.
Long-term Goal
Help users manage quota more confidently through better guidance, recommendations, and self-service troubleshooting
In shaping the long-term vision, I designed an AI-powered Copilot experience to deliver contextual guidance and actionable recommendations within cloud workflows
➡️ See how I brought this vision to life →[Bringing AI Guidance to Cloud Workflows]
Design solution / Copilot
Get real-time troubleshooting support with Copilot
Enable users to get instant explanations and step-by-step guidance when quota-related errors occur, helping reduce friction and unblock errors.
Design solution / Copilot
Check capacity status proactively with Copilot
Allow users to check real-time capacity availability and avoid deployment failures, reducing guesswork and improving confidence.
Broader Impact
- Established a strong UX foundation that simplified complex workflows.
- Drove a shift from short-term fixes to long-term solutions.
- Facilitated cross-functional conversations to align design, product, and engineering around shared vision
