Challenge

I am a senior level User Experience Designer in a software company committed to delivering bespoke software for clients

with complex and vast requirements. As my primary objective is to provide flawless and easy experience to innovative

products that have never been created in the market, every project is a challenge as there is only limited data available to

create the product. The majority of our projects centers on creating custom progressive web applications for government

and diplomatic clients where confidentiality is key. With limited resource on deck of around 15-20 technicians to be

delivered in tight time frames, resource for information gathering and user testing is scarce. Apart from the resource

limitations, executing a well-designed process for creating the product where the target users are varied based on roles

demands us to empathize with their emotions. From young technology friendly users to a aged demographic using our

product, our projects frequently depends on a variety of tools to provide a holistic idea of what the product should be.

Selection

Our company has always been on the forefront in accepting the best procedure in delivering the best results to clients

thanks to the leaders who have been patrons of innovation. Our philosophy centers on the clients’ perspective - they are

the king we aim to serve. We begin with a story. While creating something grand, we start with the question of what, why

and who. Wearing the shoes of the user, attempting to address these answers gives us the broad picture. The tools of

Storytelling is effective when briefing the journey the user takes. As we are limited access to data as our projects are

mostly of a confidential nature, we also rely in employing the tool of visualization to gather insight.

Application

Taking the requirement and scope documents as our foundation, we planned to address the issue with utmost care. As a

team we had agreed upon delivering the best possible product within the project deadline - we follow an Agile method

with scrum meetings as a platform to share their updates and views. Even though I am responsible for providing a flawless

experience, I invited the team to share their insights and ideas about the project - how would they want this to work if

they were the client. We had intense brainstorming sessions as priority in the earlier stages of the projects which was

accommodated as part of the process. This opened a wider perspective.

Using storytelling as the primary tool, we were able to share a clear and common idea of the

project and it was a good start. To improve upon the existing understanding, graphical visualizations were a key part of our

process; creating personas, sitemaps, wireframes and card sorting contributes better insights to the existing scope and

requirement documents and adds additional value to the project opening a whole area of opportunity. Our products are

designed around the concept of Object Oriented User Experience (OOUX) were each element is considered as its own

independent entity. While designing an application it is certain there would be a lot of common elements around, creating

a mind map helped us to unify and simplify the common elements and make our process easy.

Insight and Approach

Our learnings from the preliminary exercise where quite eye-opening. With limited access to client data or even a proper

opportunity for user testing with a sample target audience, our product resonated well with the client at our primary client

review. Designing a product from a client centric perspective and exploring the additional learnings from our internal

visualizations and mind mapping opened the client’s eyes to unexplored add-on features they never explored. This opened

an opportunity between us and clients for an open dialog about the product and how it could be improved to suit their

requirements. As feedbacks are key indicator to denote room for evolution, this was a guide to move to the right direction.

I believe design thinking can be an awesome way to manage and execute challenging projects. The projects which

I work (custom applications performing complex actions) completely justifies using the design thinking method as it is

challenging and there is only limited access to data. Thinking creatively is the only way to overcome these scenarios as

regular cookie-cutter solutions and old formulas cannot be used. Innovations may be unconventional, but modern

problems require creative solutions and I believe design thinking is an innovation here to stay

Example Reflection


Challenge I am a senior level User Experience Designer in a software company committed to delivering bespoke software for clients with complex and vast requirements . As my primary objective is to provide flawless and easy experience to innovative products that have never been created in the market , every project is a challenge as there is only limited data available to create the product . The majority of our projects centers on creating custom progressive web applications for government and diplomatic clients where confidentiality is key . With limited resource on deck of around 15 - 20 technicians to be delivered in tight time frames , resource for information gathering and user testing is scarce . Apart from the resource limitations , executing a well - designed process for creating the product where the target users are varied based on roles demands us to empathize with their emotions . From young technology friendly users to a aged demographic using our product , our projects frequently depends on a variety of tools to provide a holistic idea of what the product should be . Selection Our company has always been on the forefront in accepting the best procedure in delivering the best results to clients thanks to the leaders who have been patrons of innovation . Our philosophy centers on the clients ’ perspective - they are the king we aim to serve . We begin with a story . While creating something grand , we start with the question of what , why and who . Wearing the shoes of the user , attempting to address these answers gives us the broad picture . The tools of Storytelling is effective when briefing the journey the user takes . As we are limited access to data as our projects are mostly of a confidential nature , we also rely in employing the tool of visualization to gather insight . Application Taking the requirement and scope documents as our foundation , we planned to address the issue with utmost care . As a team we had agreed upon delivering the best possible product within the project deadline - we follow an Agile method with scrum meetings as a platform to share their updates and views . Even though I am responsible for providing a flawless experience , I invited the team to share their insights and ideas about the project - how would they want this to work if they were the client . We had intense brainstorming sessions as priority in the earlier stages of the projects which was accommodated as part of the process . This opened a wider perspective . Using storytelling as the primary tool , we were able to share a clear and common idea of the project and it was a good start . To improve upon the existing understanding , graphical visualizations were a key part of our process ; creating personas , sitemaps , wireframes and card sorting contributes better insights to the existing scope and requirement documents and adds additional value to the project opening a whole area of opportunity . Our products are designed around the concept of Object Oriented User Experience ( OOUX ) were each element is considered as its own independent entity . While designing an application it is certain there would be a lot of common elements around , creating a mind map helped us to unify and simplify the common elements and make our process easy . Insight and Approach Our learnings from the preliminary exercise where quite eye - opening . With limited access to client data or even a proper opportunity for user testing with a sample target audience , our product resonated well with the client at our primary client review . Designing a product from a client centric perspective and exploring the additional learnings from our internal visualizations and mind mapping opened the client ’s eyes to unexplored add - on features they never explored . This opened an opportunity between us and clients for an open dialog about the product and how it could be improved to suit their requirements . As feedbacks are key indicator to denote room for evolution , this was a guide to move to the right direction . I believe design thinking can be an awesome way to manage and execute challenging projects . The projects which I work ( custom applications performing complex actions ) completely justifies using the design thinking method as it is challenging and there is only limited access to data . Thinking creatively is the only way to overcome these scenarios as regular cookie - cutter solutions and old formulas can not be used . Innovations may be unconventional , but modern problems require creative solutions and I believe design thinking is an innovation here to stay Example Reflection