DOD Client

Project Type: Product Design, Service Design 

Artifacts/Deliverable types: Future State Journey Map, Research Readout, Site Map + Component Site Map, wireflows, and high-fidelity wireframes

Timeframe: Project start 2016 My time on the project: July 2019 – December 2019

Fjord Design Team: 1 Digital Producer, 1 Service Design Lead, 1 Visual Designer, 4 Interaction Designers, 2 PEGA Developers, and 1 Service & Interaction Designer (me)

My Role: User Experience Manager, Service Designer

- To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted some content.-

Client Goals:

  • Collect processes to have one universal modern system

  • Promote interoperability between government agencies

  • Create efficiency to support user decision making

Overview:
Our DOD client recognized that their process was not inclusive of other agencies that relied upon their system and a key workflow that happened in other agencies was being neglected at DOD because of this oversight
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The high-level flow and service that needed to occur between different users and agencies was getting lost when the product owners wound up in the weeds of functionality and business rules at a page-by-page level
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Our small Design team was the global keepers of consistency and user experience for seven development teams that included individual product owners and independent priorities for each


Our Approach

This product development included the primary development workstream and a design research workstream. We were able to support the development through scrum meetings, high-fidelity page designs, a Style Guide and component library, and we kicked off a site map initiative to support this multi-team development stream. For the design research stream, we were able to get a head start on a new workstream through a multi-agency strategy including field-interviews, workshops, a journey map, and a research readout.

 Below are the ways I supported the product goals while at DOD:

 Research

  • Wrote interview guides

  • Led multi-agency field user interviews

  • Synthesized interview notes and product owner documentation

  • Worked with team to build Research Readout

Service Design

  • Table facilitated two multi-agency Visioning Workshops (1 day each)

  • Supported Lead Service Designer in planning activities for workshops

  • Supported UX designers with big picture thinking and future strategy throughout page design reviews and site map creation

User Experience

  • Art directed high-fidelity page design work for all the UX Designers

  • Created comprehensive Site Map for information architecture, user experience transition points, and components to improve site consistency and future features

 A few examples:

  • Managed the consistency of page designs and user experience between four UX designers

  • Supported user testing sessions with note-taking and providing feedback to UX designers

  • I was the high-level vision designer for the Site Map in regards to the overall goal and how to incorporate the multi-layered content.

 Aha Moment

The flow of work on this project is pretty linear but it’s brought back up by a different person at a later date and started from scratch all over again each and every time. And this is how it should be – we just needed to understand the why first.

Lessons LEarned

  • Find what your team members are interested in and then encourage that throughout the process

    (there’s always something to empower and encourage)

  • Complexity is not all built at once – it’s built in layers

    (don’t overthink it!)

  • Everyone is more on the same page than your client may think

    (get them to see that with their own eyes and ears in workshops)