VR Military Training System
Some details of this project have been redacted in order to meet confidentiality requirements.
Booz Allen
Simulating high-stakes training scenarios, this virtual reality training system gives warfighters a safe space to build skills and decision-making confidence before entering the field.
Background
When I came on board, the team was already well into development. As I reviewed the existing product and the roadmap ahead, a gap became clear: there had been very little user research conducted before or during the build. Decisions about training flows, interface design, and feature prioritization had largely been made without direct input from the people who would actually use the system.
My Role
My work spanned two tracks: designing interface components for the VR experience itself, and introducing a user research practice to a project that had largely been built without one. Given the sensitivity of the client context and the access constraints typical in defense work, I designed a targeted interview process focused on what we could learn quickly and apply concretely.
Research Approach
I scheduled in-person interviews on a military base and met with military training officers responsible for structuring and implementing training programs, and soldiers who would be the end users of the system. They walked me through their current training materials and viewed our current prototype.
Key Findings
Training officers described a familiar set of constraints: classroom time was limited, younger trainees struggled to stay engaged, and access to real military systems was rarely guaranteed. Soldiers would only be able to be in the headset for 15 minutes at most, and it was possible that not everyone would be able to use it.
Iteration based on research
A faster time-in-product that would allow for more soldiers to be able to use the system
Enhanced gamification to aid attention, focus, and enjoyment
Incorporation of virtual weaponry they would otherwise have limited access to
