Watson IoT Connection & Analytics Service

Replacing fragmentation with a clearer product direction.

This was a portfolio simplification effort inside IBM Watson IoT, bringing together overlapping analytics and connection-related applications into a more coherent product direction for industrial and operations-focused users.

The Watson IoT portfolio had grown into a collection of overlapping applications and capabilities around device connectivity, analytics, and insight. For customers, that meant duplication, inconsistency, and too much effort spent understanding where one tool ended and another began.

I helped identify and shape a more coherent future for that portfolio, leading work that operated at portfolio level rather than only at feature or application level.

Industrial monitor displaying a machine with warning and alert icons in a factory setting.

The challenge

The opportunity here was not to make one application better. It was to step back and ask what this family of capabilities should actually feel like as one product.

That required portfolio-level design thinking: understanding overlap, surfacing redundancy, clarifying value, and proposing a more unified direction the business could actually act on.

Automated robotic arm tending to green plants in a greenhouse.

My role

I led workshops, built concept models, and developed a unified experience direction that helped the organization converge around a simpler product model. A key part of the thinking was making advanced analytics more usable for domain experts, rather than expecting users to work like data scientists or piece together insight across multiple disconnected tools. The work also helped commercialize research-led ideas into a more usable single experience.

This is one of those projects where the visible design output was only one part of the contribution. Just as important was helping the business see the portfolio differently: not as a set of adjacent products to preserve, but as an opportunity to reduce sprawl, improve clarity, and free up energy for more meaningful work.

What made this hard

This is one of my clearest examples of design shaping portfolio strategy rather than just improving one workflow.

Screenshot of an IBM Cloud Service Console showing details of an entity named 'PSBOB' which is an aircraft brake system. The screen displays entity information, including the entity ID, type, creation date, location (Shanghai), and contact line. It also shows metrics data with timestamped entries for temperature, humidity, and vibration, all filled with placeholder text 'Example Data'. There's a brief description explaining the purpose of the analysis template and an 'Enable' button. The interface includes navigation options like Analysis and Data in the top right corner.
Screenshot of IBM Watson IoT Platform interface with details of entity Model_YY_626-A/B, including dimensions, data graphs, and entity information such as Entity ID, Fleet, Operator, Model, and Owner.
Screenshot of IBM Watson IoT Platform interface showing a data analysis workflow with tasks such as 'Get Data from Logical Interface', 'Lookup Maintenance Calendar', and 'Lookup Breakdown Log', along with an error message indicating a failure in 'Lookup Breakdown Log'.
Screenshot of IBM Cloud Satellite Studio interface showing configuration settings for a predictive quality application, including variables like Material Thickness, Material Hardness, Weld Temperature, and Weld Time, with hyperparameters for the model.
A line graph showing data over a 24-hour period with four series: total_in, total_out, total_unaccounted, and leak_detected. A prominent red bar indicates the time of a leak detection around noon.

“Working with Luke on the IoT product consistently demonstrated excellent design and management, results were intuitive and he always acted as a true leader throughout the product cycle.”

Abhi M

Abhishek M.

VP of Product Pyte, and former Product Management, IBM

Result

The result was a stronger product direction, less duplication, and a clearer basis for both users and teams to move forward.

Selected outcomes

  • Helped unify 8 applications into a more coherent direction

  • Reduced required development footprint by roughly 4x, freeing teams for other work

  • Replaced 6 of 8 predecessor applications at launch

  • Helped preserve customer value while reducing product sprawl

  • Contributed to a relaunch delivered in 90 days during the next phase

Screenshot of IBM Maximo Application Suite interface showing a floor plan with occupancy data, including a highlighted room labeled Team room 610 with details about capacity, occupancy rate, frequency rate, business unit, and device ID.