Palantir's Lily Berman Navigates Legal Hurdles to Revamp Federal Website

Lily Berman, the UX Strategy Lead at Palantir, successfully tackled legal impediments in conducting user research for a major federal agency's website overhaul. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), designed in the pre-UX era of 1995, posed significant challenges by limiting federal agencies from extensively engaging with the public in user research. Undeterred by the constraints, Berman devised a strategic qualitative user interview experiment, working within the PRA's parameters by involving just 9 carefully selected participants.

Berman's innovative approach involved observing users through Teams, avoiding the protracted approval process mandated by the PRA. The goal was to gain meaningful insights without contacting more than 9 members of the public. The approved research plan focused on a one-hour session with each participant, aiming to understand their interaction with the federal agency's website. Despite limitations on compensation and recruitment scope, the experiment yielded valuable information about users' challenges and preferences, contributing to the ongoing efforts to modernize the federal agency's digital presence.

The success of this experiment not only showcases Palantir's commitment to overcoming regulatory obstacles but also provides a model for conducting impactful user research in environments constrained by legal frameworks. The insights garnered from this qualitative approach are now guiding the transformation of the federal agency's website, ensuring a more user-centered and efficient online experience for millions of annual users.