I was the UX lead and partner to my product owner on a specific workstream. I did the research and conceptual design, and oversaw the output of a team of visual designers. Because the scope of our engagement included helping my client build and hire an in-house design team, I also served as the interim UX director until an permanent hire was found.

Designers can sometimes overpromise and underdeliver during a sprint when they agree to do the HOME page, for example, without the details on what needs to be included and why. I put in place a series of activities and ceremonies to ensure enough work is consistently ready to keep the development team busy. Specifically, I instituted a design story sizing exercise on day two of our two-week sprints that ensure promise made would be promises kept.

Continuous user feedback is an important component of the Agile Manifesto. The trick is in figuring out how to turn it on and off at a moment’s notice, given the pace of agile development. Instead of attempting to recruit fresh participants for biweekly usability testing, we built a cohort of seven local suppliers who did business with myclient. In exchange for the chance to help shape how the web app works, these suppliers agreed to let us come to their office and watch them work or review early concepts whenever needed.

To reduce the pricing errors than happen when transposing data from a spreadsheet into a web form field, we designed a workflow where the supplier could upload their existing spreadsheet. This suggestion met with some initial resistance internal stakeholders who believed Excel was part of the problem. We were able to provide evidence from our user cohort that Excel was, in fact, part of the solution.

The system checks for any data and logic errors, such as a price increase greater than 50%, and includes a step for the user to fix them prior to final submission. Previously, it took weeks to identify the kinds of errors that held up approval – to the frustration of suppliers and employees alike.