Context

A government client's CIO sought to enable Business Users with easy-to-use analytics so the Business Users could rely less on the few available Analysts. Also, Analysts could focus on their strategic work items instead of handling one-off requests from Business Users.

After engaging with IBM Research for months, the CIO was ready to see UX designs when our Development team became involved. I could access 40 pages of Research interviews but could not conduct additional interviews.

My role

I was tasked with designing a configurable analytics framework after understanding the shared and unique analytic tasks of personas and their departments in the ecosystem.

I carefully parsed the 40 pages of existing user research. I organized it into use cases by the nature of the analytic task. I distilled that into a 1-page model that I validated with the client. I then was able to design a flexible user experience that addressed the varying needs, including report scheduling and report templates capturing Analyst wisdom.

Results

The CIO praised me for "anticipating the needs" of a variety of Business Users, to whom I now was granted access. I engaged them in Design Thinking workshops to co-create designs for additional use cases.

Context

A client CIO eagerly awaited IBM's dashboard design. Internally, our team agreed that the existing Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) status dashboard was outdated and ugly. The IOC Engineering Director was fond of a traditional-looking dashboard shown to him by an outside creative agency, while the IOC Design Director's motto was to "break it and remake it," so he was reluctant to use a typical design.

My role

I drafted a dashboard design based on client needs, but neither director liked the dashboard. I invited a few designers from other teams to a 3-day "Blitz." (Our theme song was "Ballroom Blitz" by The Sweet). After reviewing the user research, each of us designed a dashboard, including an unusual "concept car" design.

I held a meeting with the designers, directors, and the client to review the dashboard options. I asked everyone to say what they liked and disliked about each design instead of advocating for a favorite. Based on the eye-opening results, we designers collaborated to draft a coherent dashboard experience with the best aspects of each option.

Results

The client CIO felt a sense of co-creation and therefore was more supportive of the end result. The Engineering Director demonstrated increased confidence in our designers.