My Role
During this time the team grew rapidly to it’s current size of 30+ technology members. I continued to lead the user experience work and collaborate closely with the team to get updates, and multiple new features ready for deployment. This project took place between September 2015 and January 2017.
The Challenge
New features needed to be developed for the platform to evolve campaign management for the end users. The business continued to grow, and new team members were added to support the upcoming roadmap. When this project started the objective was to develop new features, but it quickly turned into a combination of enhancements and updates to support industry changes. Every feature from this point on would focus on accelerating updates and delivery for clients. Ultimately, our focus needed to shift back to increased communication and delighting our users.
Delayed release of features led to mistrust in the platform, and eventually the team. Many factors contributed to this but I believe the main one was our change in communication with the users.
The Approach
Gather Inputs & Set Vision
Progress on feature development continued to happen at a quick pace. My understanding of user needs grew through extended research and observation. I conducted weekly sessions with them to discuss their needs and goals. This helped determine our roadmap and plan for future discussions. My user experience work for a number of new features was underway. I worked ahead of the team to understand their needs, along with the needs of an increased user base. Out of this I became the sponsor for a platform expansion project.
Create Objectives & Clarify User Goals
I began to explore more areas of the business and gather additional feedback to influence where we were going. The training I created previously evolved to include this wider audience. In the midst of this growth industry changes stunted our progress. Communication decreased while the business pivoted to stay ahead. Users continued to ask for missing features. The delayed release of these features led to mistrust in the platform, and eventually the team. Many factors contributed to this but I believe the main one was our change in communication with the users.
Identify & Validate Solutions
I conducted multiple proof of concepts due to my deep knowledge of the platform. This allowed the team to focus on other tasks while I proved what would work. My research eventually became the solution rolled out to the entire business. I met with all members of the technology team and got them up to speed on what I had found. I transferred knowledge as necessary, and assisted with architecture and design decisions throughout the development process. There was too much work for one person, so I mentored another user experience designer. I began to share my knowledge of the platform so we could tackle solutions as a team.
Construct Themes & Create Roadmap
Deliverables included proof of concepts, wireframes, working prototypes, documentation, and training materials. Structure was developed over time to help the team become more informed. User stories also became more robust to replace the need for understanding. This was a double-edged sword, it caused developers to rely on full documentation and lose trust in their own judgement. Communication within the team was stretched thin with the burden of the heavy workload.
The Discovery
I continued on my journey to improve the platform and deliver impactful solutions to our users. There was a lot of growth and change happening for the team at this time. As a result, developers became unsure of their decisions and were not willing to fail fast and learn from the experience. What was meant to be an agile approach turned into waterfall, and requirements continued to be added throughout the development process due to deficiencies in understanding. Architectural problems delayed progress and my role on the team expanded to encompass additional responsibilities. A perfect storm of unexpected changes affected the platform as a whole. Once again, anticipated features had to be put on hold to support industry changes. All off this created a cycle of miscommunication and dissatisfaction that is slowly being repaired now that the project has been delivered to the users.
The Design
- Expand solution for mass updates to support:
- Expanded text ads
- Ad scheduling
- Multiple campaigns
- Call tracking
- Bid adjustments
- Budget allocations
The Impact
A portion of this project deployed in January 2017. The expected impact is huge, users have been waiting for platform updates for over a year. Campaign management will be accelerated and the new features will make their increasing workload more manageable. My hope is that it will also gain back their trust. It is early on but I am already seeing signs we are headed in the right direction. On a personal note, the changes during this time impacted me considerably. My role on the team expanded and I stepped back to help others take on the work. Instead of doing, I learned to mentor these team members and grow my UX expertise.
Update: The platform is no longer being actively developed as of March 2017.