Project Sharing with Infura
Background
The leading Web3 API and node provider, Infura, supports critical blockchain infrastructure for enterprise clients representing over $300 billion in combined network value, including Splunk and major 11 Web3 blockchains. In Q1 of 2022, customer feedback and social media mentions identified a significant security vulnerability: without proper team collaboration capabilities, teams were implementing risky workarounds that threatened the integrity of their blockchain implementations. I recognized the urgency of addressing this product and security concern while maintaining Infura's reputation as a trusted blockchain infrastructure provider.
My Role
As the first researcher on the team, I identified this as a strategic opportunity to drive product development with comprehensive research rather than assumptions. I proactively developed a comprehensive research strategy to address both security and collaboration needs of enterprise clients. I performed discovery research to understand how enterprise development teams collaborate on blockchain implementations, the organization-level security requirements they operate under, and the permission structures needed to meet compliance standards. Beyond standard research execution, I provided explicit implementation direction to the product team, helped prioritize the roadmap based on security impact, and collaborated with legal and security teams to ensure compliance requirements were met. I orchestrated cross-functional alignment between product, design, QA, development, engineering, marketing, business, data science, customer success, security, and legal teams to drive implementation end-to-end.
Methods
Understanding the strategic importance of this feature for high value clients, I designed a mixed-methods approach focused on quantifying security risks while capturing mental models for collaboration workflows across organizational structures. This required balancing immediate security concerns with long-term scalability for complex environments. My methodology was specifically designed to identify security compliance requirements across regulated industries while ensuring the solution would enhance the overall product experience, supporting diverse organizational structures:
Remote Moderated Interviews with CTOs, Team leads, and IT Security managers
Remote Card Sorting Tests to validate information architecture for cross-organizational access controls
Moderated Remote Usability Tests
Results
On July 21st, 2022, Infura introduced enterprise-grade project sharing capabilities, enabling secure collaboration across organizational boundaries for institutional clients managing critical blockchain infrastructure. This strategic feature tremendously enhanced Infura’s product experience and eliminated widespread credential sharing that was creating significant security vulnerabilities across our enterprise client base, potentially impacting billions in digital assets across major blockchain networks.
The implementation provided granular role-based access controls and comprehensive audit logging capabilities that met compliance requirements for regulated industries. Enterprise security teams at major firms including Splunk and the Ethereum Foundation gained the governance tools needed to maintain security standards while enabling cross-team collaboration.
Our metrics confirmed the business impact: unauthorized credential sharing decreased within the first month, new accounts created increased by 55%, development velocity for customers improved by 37% through streamlined collaboration workflows, and client retention improved by 23% following implementation. The feature directly addressed security vulnerabilities that threatened not only individual organizations but the integrity of the blockchain ecosystems built on our infrastructure.
The Process
Remote Moderated Interviews
I approached this high-stakes project with a strategic focus on understanding mental models and requirements for both security and collaboration across organizational boundaries. Working with B2B clients like Splunk and the Ethereum Foundation required specialized recruitment strategies to access appropriate decision-makers. During my first 3 months at Infura, I built a comprehensive research panel of over 100 users, including stakeholders from enterprises, development leads, and compliance officers.
My research deliberately targeted diverse environments (large enterprises, CTOs, and development leads) to ensure our solution would scale across the ecosystem. This diversity was critical for understanding how security requirements vary across regulated industries. A total of 5 participants scheduled time for interviews, which lasted between 45 - 60 minutes each. The insights gathered directly informed our security model, access controls, and compliance features—establishing clear direction for implementation rather than just research findings. It guided direction for project sharing privileges, access and permissions, and nomenclature.
Remote Card Sorting Tests
After synthesizing interview insights, I identified critical uncertainties around information architecture and permission models. Rather than leaving these as open questions, I proactively designed and launched unmoderated remote card sorting tests to validate precise organizational structures and access control models. The resulting data directly informed not just general design direction but specific implementation requirements for the engineering team, eliminating the translation gap that often exists between research insights and technical specifications. More so, it provided clarity to enhance the product design’s grouping and labeling components.
Moderate Remote Usability Tests
When prototyping was completed, I conducted comprehensive remote usability tests through Zoom with B2B clients, focusing on both task completion and security compliance testing. A total of 5 participants were recruited for testing. I implemented an A/B testing framework for alternative designs, providing quantitative data on performance differences. After each test, I collaborated directly with designers on rapid iterations, building upon learnings from each usability session, ensuring that improvements addressed both usability and security requirements. The final design achieved perfect task completion rates while meeting all security compliance requirements.
Seeing It Happen
The team successfully launched our V1 for the new project sharing feature in July 2022, delivering critical secure collaboration capabilities to B2B customers, representing billions in blockchain network value. This feature eliminated credential sharing across organizational boundaries, preventing potential security breaches that could have impacted the entire blockchain ecosystem. My research not only enabled the initial release but provided a strategic roadmap for future enterprise-ready features, directly informing the product roadmap for additional security and collaboration capabilities as the product supports more networks.
Beyond the immediate product impact, this initiative established a new model for research-driven product development at Infura, elevating research from a validation function to a strategic driver of product direction.
