Big Data
The Problem
Product sales were crawling to a snail's pace. Executives from all departments blamed the UI (that's User Interface in case you're new to this space).
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My Directive was to fix the UI! Make it prettier! Make it modern looking! Make it easier to do things!
How I Fixed It
Identify the Problems and Goals
First, and always first, identify the true problem and fully understand it and get buy-in from ... everyone, well, at least the majority.​
After interviewing key individuals from various departments including software engineering, program management, sales, and professional services, it was clear that they did not agree on what the actual problem was.
So, I asked the customers. It became clear that the problem was split between a pure capability issue and a UI issue.
The UI issue was two-fold. Not only was the visual design outdated and, some argued, unappealing, but there were also major workflow, navigation, and usability issues.
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The goal was to design the product so that a casual user could easily open the product, navigate around and get his/her tasks done. It had to be intuitive!
Lay out the Plan
After identifying the problem the business was trying to solve AND the problem the customers were trying to solve, I created a plan to fix the UI.
The plan involved familiar tasks such as identifying the primary and secondary personas, researching how customers used the product and the issues they encountered, creating designs, testing and iterating the designs, then getting them properly handed over to the engineers.
The key element that was different from most other approaches was early and rapid prototyping.
To execute the plan, I knew I needed a team of at least 3 UX designers, a visual design lead, a graphics company to overhaul the icons and interactive elements, and a UX researcher. Unfortunately, the executives did not understand what was needed to re-design the product in such a short period of time. In the twelve years they had taken to build the product, they had never had a formal UX design process or team. Each engineer had done their own thing. There was no style guide or UI standards. The lead architects tried their best to set UI standards but did not have the proper authority to enforce them.
Create the Vision
In order to get buy-in from the executive team for my plan, I created a high fidelity prototype based on everything I had learned from key internal employees and from speaking with customers.
It worked! I used the prototype to demonstrate the workflow problem and usability problems that plagued customers and showed a glimpse of what the new visual design that would make it more modern and appealing.
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I created a video that highlighted customer's reactions to the early prototype. It had a huge impact on the executive team and helped bring everyone together.
Customer Reactions to the Emerging Design
Execute the Plan
Once the executive team bought into the plan and vision, it was now a matter of execution.
I led the process from requirements analysis to design to implementation of the design.
Using an evolving agile process, I ensured that UX designers collaborated with Product Managers and Engineers to streamline the project.
The key to success was understanding what problems the customers were trying to solve, creating efficient workflows that were prototyped and tested with end-users.
We also created a beta program that allowed us to test the emerging code with real customer's data in their own environment.
The Result
Customer's loved the end result and couldn't wait to see more.
Now the front end was build on modern technology, had a modern look and feel and best of all, had new improved workflows, navigation, and was easier to use.
Note: This was not the final visual design