Intuitive Surgical intro slide
05 Objectives
Research Approach
02 Product Maturity Triangle
UX Strategist Quote
Intuitive Surgical — Gartner Quote
Not Having UX Strategy

Intuitive Surgical

Robotic-Assisted Surgery Training Platform


Intuitive Surgical is a Sunnyvale, California-based company that develops and manufactures robotic surgery products.

Their highest profile product is the 3 to 4-armed Da Vinci Surgical System. It is designed to minimize the effects of surgery to improve clinical outcomes in patients.

Outcomes

  • Led product-level discovery for failing learning platform: analyzed unusable IL 9.0 web/mobile application that had driven surgeons to create rogue Facebook and YouTube groups for training content. Synthesized research to identify critical usability gaps affecting surgeon adoption and skill development.
  • Delivered two-tier strategic roadmap: prioritized 13 immediate-impact features (breadcrumbs, progress tracking, hover states, searchable content index) requiring minimal dev resources, plus 10 visionary features (personalized glossaries, spaced repetition, real-world surgery integration) for long-term engagement and retention.
  • Navigated organizational resistance to UX maturity: advocated for iterative improvement approach versus year-long waterfall redesign. Despite stakeholder conflicts over product/UX boundaries, delivered actionable feature set grounded in user research and established UX principles that couldn't be dismissed.