Windows Focus and Do Not Disturb

Windows Focus and Do Not Disturb
Led product strategy to create a cohesive focus experience that transforms how people work on Windows, reducing distractions and empowering digital wellbeing for millions of users worldwide.
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Summary
Role
Product Manager partnering with teams across Microsoft: Design, User Research, Engineering, Content, and Marketing
Challenge
During the pandemic, maintaining digital wellbeing and focus became increasingly difficult as life shifted online
Vision
Transform Windows into an operating system that actively helps users focus and maintain healthier digital habits
Constant notifications and visual clutter created interruptions that made it harder for people to find uninterrupted time to get work done. These challenges were particularly pronounced for neurodiverse individuals, especially those with ADHD. We recognized an opportunity for Windows to become more than just an operating system; it could be a platform that encourages people to make time in their schedule to focus and provides tools to keep them on task.
Our goal was to invigorate Windows productivity by proving that Windows can empower each knowledge worker to get their work done efficiently and with higher quality, ultimately saving enterprises time and money.
Understanding the Problem Space
Previous Solution Shortcomings
Through research and user feedback, we discovered that the existing Windows Focus Assist in Windows 10 was not well understood by users. It existed as a confusing tri-state toggle in quick settings, leaving users uncertain about what each state would accomplish.
The interface lacked clarity and failed to communicate its purpose effectively, resulting in low adoption and user confusion about when and how to use the feature.
Windows 10 old Focus Assist
Core Distraction Points
Notification Overload
Constant pop-ups and alerts pulled users away from their primary tasks, making it difficult to maintain deep work sessions.
Visual Taskbar Clutter
Flashing icons and notification badges created persistent visual distractions, particularly from Teams messages that demanded immediate attention.
Recovery Difficulty
Once distracted, users struggled to return to their original focus state, losing valuable time and mental energy in context switching.
The Clock app's focus sessions feature had recently launched and received excellent user feedback. It leveraged research-backed methods for timeboxing focus periods, included regular breaks, integrated with Microsoft To Do for task management, and offered calming audio from Spotify.
However, different teams across Microsoft had developed isolated solutions to help customers focus, but these weren't working together cohesively across endpoints. This fragmentation created inconsistent user experiences.
Windows Clock App
Our Goals
Create a cohesive focus experience on Windows centered around the user
Reduce visual distractions from the system
Make notification management easier and reduce cognitive load
The Process and Research
We conducted comprehensive user research to understand focus challenges and design inclusive solutions.
Discovery
Design sprints to envision a calmer Windows experience.
User Studies
We conducted multiple phases of in-depth user studies. Methods included interviews, usability tests, focus groups, co-design sessions and diary studies with knowledge workers and neurodiverse users.
Personas
I developed detailed personas, with a particular emphasis on understanding the needs and challenges of neurodiverse users, especially those with ADHD. These personas became central to our product direction, ensuring that our design solutions were inclusive to all. This led to a focus on highly customizable and predictable focus tools.
Prototyping
Working closely with design leads, we rapidly created and refined prototypes. These prototypes underwent continuous user testing, incorporating feedback. This iterative cycle allowed us to validate concepts, identify usability issues early, and ensure that our solutions effectively addressed the core problems.
A consistent and overwhelming insight emerged from our user research: notifications were identified as the single largest source of distraction and cognitive load across all user groups.
This finding led to a deep and ongoing collaboration with the Windows notifications team.
The Solution: Separating Focus and Do Not Disturb
1
Old Focus Assist
Confusing tri-state toggle buried in quick settings
2
Two Clear Concepts
Do Not Disturb for notifications + Focus for productivity
Based on user input, we decided to separate the old Focus Assist into two distinct, understandable concepts: Do Not Disturb and Focus. My design counterpart worked with the notifications designer to relocate Do Not Disturb to the notification center, placing it alongside actual notifications rather than in quick settings where it felt disconnected.
Do Not Disturb
Simple on/off toggle for managing interruptions, located in notification center for intuitive access
Focus Experience
Integrated Clock app timer into the OS, calmed taskbar visuals (new taskbar settings), automatically activated Do Not Disturb and focus music
User Feedback & Iterative Improvements
After our initial release, I closely monitored user feedback and collaborated with design to implement updates that significantly increased feature adoption and usability.
Enhanced Onboarding Language
Updated first-run experience to clearly describe what Focus does and made it easy to learn about the feature even if users initially skipped the introduction.
“I have no idea what focus did or why there was a time box. I clicked on it by accident but a help or why button would be useful”- User feedback
Spotify Auto-Play Setting
Created a setting to automatically play focus music during focus sessions, responding to users who needed audio cues to signal their brain to enter focus mode.
"I really need noticeable cue that I am in focus to adjust my mindset and get in the zone. My music is usually a good way of signaling my brain." - User feedback
Precise Timer Toggle
Added option to turn off precise countdown and use a more visually appealing plant that grows as you focus.
“The focus timer that appears by default is a confusing circle that does not show me my focus progress.”
“The constant countdown of the timer really stresses me out and creates more distractions. I like a timer on screen, but this is too much”
-User Feedback
Media Recognition & Industry Impact
Windows Insider Blog
Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557
Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 to the Dev Channel. TL;DR   	Windows Insiders will notice that the name of the branch we are releasing builds fro
CNN
Virtual meetings are here to stay. Microsoft wants to make them better | CNN Business
Microsoft is unveiling new Windows features in an attempt to improve the experience of virtual meetings and make sure the needs of people with disabilities are supported in a new era of hybrid work.
Feature Adoption & User Satisfaction
40%
Initial Stickiness
User retention rate
1M+
Users Reached
Users actively engaging with focus features
80%
NSAT Score
Net Satisfaction score indicating positive user sentiment
While our initial release showed promising user satisfaction scores, the 40% stickiness rate revealed opportunities for further improvement in feature discoverability and onboarding. The positive NSAT score of 80% indicated that users who discovered and used the features found significant value, validating our approach while highlighting the need for better feature promotion.
Long-term Vision: We laid the groundwork for a comprehensive focus experience on Windows that not only helps people get things done but also fosters healthier digital habits. While team shifts led to some features being deprioritized, the foundation we built created lasting impact.

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