Google TV
TV that goes beyond TV
INTRODUCTIONS
TV team is the second team I joined at Google, where I spend my last 2+ years with a group of the most talented people on this revolutionary product called: Google TV.
So first thing first, what is Google TV?
You can learn more from this official website. But I hope to give you my definition with context.
Prior to 'Google TV', Android TV is Google's TV OS product, that are widely implemented by big TV brands such as Sony. It is still some users' favorite today. By the time I joined this team at late 2018, a small group in Android TV thought the old 'app-centered' model should not be the future of the TV experience and we could re-innovate the whole entertainment industry with the best of Google.
One of the most important idea of Google TV is to break the current walled media experience and bring best contents user love from subscriptions or free services directly to users. Instead of checking your Netflix, HBO max, and Hulu separately, jumping between these three services and still miss lots of free contents outside there, now you can see all contents from these 3 services, in addition to other services you use, show up together on your home page, organized only by your preference.
Google TV officially launched on September 30th, 2020 on the new Chromecast. Since then, it has been receiving positive reviews and ratings by top tech reviewers and, more important, our users.
MY ROLE
I joined the TV team together with my team to establish the first UX team, committed to bring this 'Google TV' experience to billions of our users. Google TV is created by the collaboration of the whole team and most my work cannot be delivered without close collaborations with the rest of the team and frameworks we created together.
I lead cross-functional, cross product areas initiatives from vision to final execution, result in the creation of Google TV and successful launch of 1P ( Chromecast with Google TV ) and 3P products( e.g. Sony 2021 TV models ). My roles can be briefly summarized as:
Design lead of OOBE (out of box experience)
I led collaborative UX with 6+ PAs and succeeded in 10+ milestones including final launch of Chromecast of Google TV, Sony TV 2021 model, TCL 2021 new model, etc. It contains 3 paths and 20+ sub-projects. It is the very first impression of Google TV experience, as well as the foundation since it gets users ready for a long list of critical features of “best Google”. It has received widely positive reviews. CNET described that set up experience " ... was a breeze."
A great video made by Best Buy to learn the big picture.
Design lead of Settings
Settings drive feature adoption and helps users configure the device for optimal Google TV experience. As UX lead, I have led the collaborative effort with XPA product/design leads to found and manage a TV-optimized Settings that are easy to understand, find and use. The scope of the project includes 500+ nodes which impact every single aspect of the product.
Design lead of Apps, Services & Recommendations
This is the key to “personalized Google TV experience”. The whole Google TV experience cannot exist without accurately collecting user's services throughout users' initial setup and daily use. I led this complex work with stakeholders from 4+ product areas, resulting in alignment from all product and privacy leads.
Design lead of Better together
This is my 1st priority now. I partnered with talents across Google to make the experience fluid and connected across devices. Most of the work on this initiative is ongoing but here are some public info that you can have a peek.
"Helping all your devices work better together." - Google I/O
"Google will finally replace the Android TV remote app later this year" - 9to5Google
