A little bit of context
Onclusive recently merged with 5 other companies, forming a new entity with 5 distinct cultures, products, and UX approaches. Each company had its unique methods for design and development, ranging from a UI-focused approach to iterative user-centred and Double Diamond methodologies.
The goal was to establish a unified UX process that would leverage the strengths of each while aligning with the company’s mission for a cohesive product experience.
I collaborated with the CEO, VP of Product, VP of Engineering and we included other stakeholders to get more insights of how can we make the process better.
The challenges we came across
- Divergent Design Approaches: The 5 companies had varied UX practices, ranging from no formal research to structured, research-driven designs. Bridging these gaps required careful consideration.
- Differing Levels of UX Maturity: Teams had different experiences and comfort levels with UX processes, making it essential to provide clear guidance and support.
- Organisational Buy-In: Shifting from separate processes to a unified one meant aligning cross-functional teams, including product managers, developers, and stakeholders.
- Resource Constraints: Balancing thorough UX practices with limited resources, including time and budget, was a priority.
Existing Processes of the 5 Companies: ( Due NDA rules I’m not allowed to mention the companies name )
- Company A: Followed a UI-focused approach where designs were driven by product manager and designer discussions with minimal research or iteration.
- Company B & C: Utilised a Double Diamond approach, incorporating research, defining problems, ideation, and prototyping, with some level of user testing and iteration.
- Company D: Employed a user-centred design process, placing heavy emphasis on user research, personas, and iterative design, albeit inconsistently.
- Company E: A lean, agile approach with quick design sprints but limited structured feedback loops, relying on stakeholder input over user insights.
Goals of the New UX Process
- Consistency: Establish a consistent UX process that aligns all product teams.
- Scalability and Collaboration: Design a process that can be scaled across various teams and projects.
- User-Centric Focus: Ensure all teams prioritise user needs, insights, and data in the design process.
- Flexibility: Maintain flexibility to adapt the process based on project needs and team resources.
The Unified UX Process Design
- Establish a Cross-Functional UX Task Force
- Created a cross-functional team of representatives from each original company’s design, product, and development teams.
- The task force's purpose was to evaluate the strengths of each approach and design a process that incorporates them.
- Research and Analysis Phase
- User Research: Conducted workshops and interviews with representatives from each team to understand existing pain points and preferred elements of their UX processes.
- Competitor Analysis: Analysed competitors with strong, unified UX processes to identify best practices.
- Stakeholder Buy-In: Organised sessions with executives and other key stakeholders to align on UX as a strategic priority.
- Define the Core UX Process Framework
- Developed a hybrid approach integrating the Double Diamond and User-Centred Design approaches. Moreover, this would grant designers the flexibility to incorporate their own methods within the suggested framework. This way, they would have more autonomy and wouldn’t feel compelled to follow specific approaches. For example, the team/designer could collaborate to determine how to conduct research, rather than adhering to a set research process, with these key phases:
- Discovery: User research and requirement gathering to define clear user needs.
- Define: Problem framing, ideation, and development of user personas and user journeys.
- Design: Collaborative design sprints involving prototyping and testing, encouraging iterative feedback.
- Validate: Rigorous usability testing and iterations before handoff to development.
- Developed a hybrid approach integrating the Double Diamond and User-Centred Design approaches. Moreover, this would grant designers the flexibility to incorporate their own methods within the suggested framework. This way, they would have more autonomy and wouldn’t feel compelled to follow specific approaches. For example, the team/designer could collaborate to determine how to conduct research, rather than adhering to a set research process, with these key phases:
- Pilot and Iterate
- Rolled out the new UX process as a pilot with one cross-functional product team. This pilot phase included:
- Weekly retrospectives to address any issues or areas of confusion.
- Detailed feedback collection from team members, focusing on efficiency, clarity, and usability of the new process.
- Iterated on the process based on feedback to ensure that it met the needs of all departments and aligned with agile development practices.
- Rolled out the new UX process as a pilot with one cross-functional product team. This pilot phase included:
- Training and Support
- Hosted a series of workshops and training sessions to familiarise all teams with the new UX process.
- Introduced documentation and support resources, including process guidelines, research templates, and prototyping toolkits.
- Full Rollout and Continuous Improvement
- Rolled out the unified UX process across the entire organisation, starting with products in the most need of alignment.
- Established a continuous feedback loop to ensure that the process could evolve based on new learnings and team feedback.
Results and Outcomes
- Increased User-Centricity: User research and usability testing became foundational across teams, improving product relevance and engagement.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Teams reported improved collaboration and clarity, with all members understanding their roles within the UX process.
- Faster Iteration Cycles: By implementing structured sprints and testing sessions, the teams could iterate quickly while maintaining design quality.
- Scalable Process: The new UX framework provided enough flexibility to adapt to project sizes and resource constraints, which allowed the company to scale the process effectively.
This unified UX approach offered a balanced process that integrated the strengths of each company’s design methods, with a strong focus on user needs and efficiency. We piloted this process with teams from Company A and Company D, where it was especially needed due to their previous inconsistencies and lack of results.
Thanks to iterative improvements, the new process delivered impressive outcomes:
- It reduced design time by 39%, enhanced collaboration among designers, developers, and product managers, and significantly boosted user engagement and usability by 34% and 47%, respectively.
- These improvements contributed to the essential sales growth Onclusive was aiming for at the time.
Key Learnings
- Balanced Rigour and Flexibility: While structure is necessary, maintaining adaptability in the process helps address team-specific constraints.
- Training and Reinforcement are Key: Ensuring all team members, including non-designers, understood and valued the UX process was crucial for smooth adoption.
- Continuous Feedback Loops: Regularly evaluating the process helped align it with evolving needs and ensure it remains relevant to users and stakeholders.