GEISERMAN

Phase 1 - Planning

Mar 2020

With no existing UX research on the current self-service portal, a comprehensive UX research plan was critical to the success of the redesign. As the subject matter expert on UX, I created an entire UX research plan and reviewed it with my team, including in-depth descriptions and justification of each element of the proposed plan since the team had never had exposure to a UX research plan prior to this. The team unanimously approved the plan to be put into action and carried out over 2 sprints, lasting 4 weeks total.

Results
A comprehensive UX research plan centered around determining new features and improvements on existing functionality for the redesigned self-service portal which was presented to and approved by the team.

Phase 2 - UX Research

Mar 2020 - Apr 2020

A heuristic evaluation on the existing self-service portal was done using Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics was completed to determine areas of improvement to target. Next, a semi-guided interview protocol was created and a dozen different users were selected for interviews, specifically picked to cover different skillsets, locations, and departments. I coached two of my coworkers on how to conduct these interviews to help them grow their skills and to help further the understanding of UX across my team. I helped each of them complete three interviews and then performed the remaining six interviews myself.

Once the interviews were completed, the team members who worked on them analyzed the results to determine common breakdowns and frustrations with the current solution, as well as new functionality users were interested in. These results were then distilled into Jira stories for the design and development phases.

Lastly, 15 key stakeholders completed a card sorting exercise using Optimal Sort to determine how to best organize the proposed new functionalities within the new portal.

Results
A dozen semi-guided interviews as well as a heuristic evaluation on the existing Service Portal and a card sorting exercise performed by 15 key stakeholders to determine the main categories to be displayed in the new portal.

Phase 3 - Design

Apr 2020

Low-fidelity wireframes were created using Balsamiq to determine initial layout for the core elements of the new portal. These wireframes were presented to the development team and Product Owner and iterated on until an agreement on the basic layout and core elements was reached.

Next, Sketch was used to create a high-fidelity prototype to map out several key user journeys and give management a more concrete understanding of how the new portal would work. Once again, the prototype was iterated on with the development team and PO until there was an agreement on the design and user flow.

Results
Low-fidelity wireframes created using Balsamiq and a high-fidelity prototype created using Sketch.

Phase 4 - Development

May 2020 - Oct 2020

Lastly, the development team set to work creating 38 new pages within the self-service portal, including 15 new features for users. The new pages and added features were all based off the feedback and analysis that resulted from the UX research phase.

With a background in full-stack development, I developed 4 of the reusable components featured across the new portal as well as 8 of the new pages. Additionally, I created all the graphics and assets used throughout the portal and assisted the development team with any design or UX-specific questions they may have.

Results
A new Service Portal with 38 functional pages and a completely redesigned user experience founded in research and feedback from stakeholders.