Google · Cloud Connect
Internal Chrome Extension Design & AI Development
The App Launcher — a Chrome extension that gives Cloud account teams one smooth handoff between every tool they rely on, instead of a dozen disconnected tabs.
The problem
There was no standardized handoff between apps — just frustrating "swivel chair" workflows.
Account teams — sellers, customer engineers, technical account managers, and more — worked across a sprawling ecosystem of Cloud tools every day. None of it was connected. Despite the long-term vision of Cloud Connect as a central hub, the immediate reality was coexisting with a dozen other apps in a fragmented experience: too many tools, no single source of truth, and users left to stitch the story together themselves.
The opportunity
A global, personalized app launcher
One way to address this: build a launcher that lives inside the browser and provides a smooth handoff between Cloud and every other tool an account team relies on — contextual to whatever page they're already on.
The process
From research to a shipped product
Research
Mapped account-team personas and surfaced a recurring theme: users need an integrated ecosystem, a single source of truth, and experiences that guide rather than add complexity.
Competitive Analysis
Studied how Google Search, Apple Watch, and Salesforce each handle app-switching and grid vs. list navigation, to inform the launcher's own UX direction.
Design Sprint
Ran a 3-day cross-functional sprint with five designers, PMs, and engineers, each exploring a distinct direction — from AI-first search to a focused nav panel. I contributed the App Launcher V1 concept.
MVP Design
Converged the sprint's best ideas into one scope: contextual, deep-linked recommendations grouped by job-to-be-done, tool-agnostic, with defined loading and empty states.
Library Contribution
Generalized and published the launcher as a reusable design pattern in the GCBP library, so any team across Cloud could configure and reuse it.
Launch
Shipped the Cloud Connect App Launcher to the Chrome Web Store as a working extension, used daily by account teams.
Selected moments
A closer look
Learning from how others solved it
Before sketching anything new, I audited how Google Search's waffle menu, Apple Watch's app grid, and Salesforce's top nav each handled switching between tools — and where each one broke down.
Five directions in three days
Each sprint participant sketched a different bet — an AI-first search bar, a "next stepper" with type-ahead, a focused side panel. My concept, App Launcher V1, proposed an interchangeable top-three app section with deep-linked dropdowns.
From sketch to shippable
The MVP resolved into a right-hand sidebar: recommended links grouped by job-to-be-done, deep-linked to the exact page a user needs — not just a tool's homepage.
Built once, reused everywhere
Rather than let the launcher live as a one-off, I documented and published it as a scalable pattern in the GCBP library — complete with every state — so other teams could configure and reuse it without redesigning from scratch.
Future vision
Beyond the MVP
The launcher's sidebar was designed to grow. Two directions I scoped for what's next: a Tool Lookup search that jumps straight to a specific link, and an AI Chat that lets users ask questions across every Cloud Googler tool — turning the launcher from a list of shortcuts into an assistant.
Impact
What started as a 3-day design sprint shipped as a real Chrome extension — turning a fragmented, swivel-chair workflow into one smooth handoff between every tool an account team relies on.
Shipped
Live on the Chrome Web Store
The Cloud Connect App Launcher officially launched as a published Chrome extension — not a prototype, a real tool account teams install and use.
