Led the Activities and Packages CX teams to evangelize and shape our product development processes, ensuring a customer-driven approach to our work. This resulted in a strong cross-functional partnership.

Led the Activities and Packages CX teams to evangelize and shape our product development processes, ensuring a customer-driven approach to our work. This resulted in a strong cross-functional partnership.

In December 2020, the Activities and Packages UX teams became part of my design org. The Senior Directors for Product Management and Engineering (my cross-functional peers), wanted to know how their teams could work better with my teams.

The ask from partners

1. Can you provide clarity on the different roles within the CX team and how we can best collaborate?​
2. How does CX partner across domains to drive a shared understanding and progress?

Leadership huddle

I gathered the two Senior UX Managers who managed the Activities and Packages UX teams directly (and who reported to me) to prepare a response to the prompt. It was important to build this new cross-functional relationship right.

We phrased our response as, "How CX, Product, and Engineering can work together to create amazing customer experiences."

Evangelizing the Double Diamond design process

Our approach was to create case studies that illustrated how CX (including Content Strategy, User Research, and UX Design) follow the Double Diamond design process from concept to developer handoff.

In December 2020, the Activities and Packages UX teams became part of my design org. The Senior Directors for Product Management and Engineering (my cross-functional peers), wanted to know how their teams could work better with my teams.

The ask from partners

1. Can you provide clarity on the different roles within the CX team and how we can best collaborate?​
2. How does CX partner across domains to drive a shared understanding and progress?

Leadership huddle

I gathered the two Senior UX Managers who managed the Activities and Packages UX teams directly (and who reported to me) to prepare a response to the prompt. It was important to build this new cross-functional relationship right.

We phrased our response as, "How CX, Product, and Engineering can work together to create amazing customer experiences."

Evangelizing the double diamond process

Our approach was to create case studies that illustrated how CX (including Content Strategy, User Research, and UX Design) follow the Double Diamond design process from concept to developer handoff.

We included case studies that showed how different types of problems required different interpretations of the Double Diamond design process. We showed general examples from Activities and Packages, and some specific examples where it was important for content strategy and user research (and not necessarily UX design) to lead the Double Diamond design process. I'll provide an example of one of the case studies:

Packages 2.0 case study

Packages 2.0 was a re-invention of the existing Packages line of business. This required that the Discover phase of the Double Diamond design process was particularly strong.

For the Discover phase of the Double Diamond design process, we conducted extensive foundational user research (both quantitative and qualitative) over the course of several months, and combined it with analysis from the strategy and analytics leads in order to catalyze design thinking workshops that were attended by cross-functional leads.

We included case studies that showed how different types of problems required different interpretations of the Double Diamond design process. We showed general examples from Activities and Packages, and some specific examples where it was important for content strategy and user research (and not necessarily UX design) to lead the Double Diamond design process. I'll provide an example of one of the case studies:

Packages 2.0 case study

Packages 2.0 was a re-invention of the existing Packages line of business. This required that the Discover phase of the Double Diamond design process was particularly strong.

For the Discover phase of the Double Diamond design process, we conducted extensive foundational user research (both quantitative and qualitative) over the course of several months, and combined it with analysis from the strategy and analytics leads in order to catalyze design thinking workshops that were attended by cross-functional leads.

It was important for us to understand traveler needs and how users interact with our packages products, so that we could map traveler needs to business opportunities, and prioritize which features to work on:

Prioritization

It was important for us to understand traveler needs and how users interact with our packages products, so that we could map traveler needs to business opportunities, and prioritize which features to work on:

Findings across Discover/Inspiration and Shopping phases

Findings across Discover/Inspiration and Shopping phases

Product focus areas​

We mapped product capabilities to opportunities and risks, which allowed us to identify and address early gaps in team thinking. This allowed us to build themes that de-risked future product and engineering investment.

Product focus areas​

We mapped product capabilities to opportunities and risks, which allowed us to identify and address early gaps in team thinking. This allowed us to build themes that de-risked future product and engineering investment.

5 key focus areas: Smart recommendations, customization, flexibility, value, and discovery

5 key focus areas: Smart recommendations, customization, flexibility, value, and discovery

After the design thinking workshops, we were able to move on to the Define and Develop phases of the Double Diamond design process:

After the design thinking workshops, we were able to move on to the Define and Develop phases of the Double Diamond design process:

Within Define and Develop, the team's tasks were to identify the problem focus, define the work plan and roadmap, create solution explorations, and conduct validation research​.

Co-creating the roadmap

The cross-functional team built the initial scope and roadmap together​ so they could develop a clear understanding of which problem areas to pursue solutions in first.

Within Define and Develop, the team's tasks were to identify the problem focus, define the work plan and roadmap, create solution explorations, and conduct validation research​.

Co-creating the roadmap

The cross-functional team built the initial scope and roadmap together​ so they could develop a clear understanding of which problem areas to pursue solutions in first.

Each area of scope was broken down further into areas to execute on

Each area of scope was broken down further into areas to execute on

Breaking the work down into tasks

It was important to identify what work was absolutely foundational and high priority to work on first, and the team used Trello to break down each focus area into tasks:

Breaking the work down into tasks

It was important to identify what work was absolutely foundational and high priority to work on first, and the team used Trello to break down each focus area into tasks:

Each track is broken down into tactical steps, for further exploration or direct solutioning

Each track is broken down into tactical steps, for further exploration or direct solutioning

End-to-end thinking

The design team made flowcharts to map the ideas out end-to-end across the traveler journey: 

End-to-end thinking

The design team made flowcharts to map the ideas out end-to-end across the traveler journey: 

This low fidelity experience planning allowed teams to get ideas out quickly, and enable cross-functional partners to chime in early on potential solutions.

This low fidelity experience planning allowed teams to get ideas out quickly, and enable cross-functional partners to chime in early on potential solutions.

This allowed implied interactions or content structures to be examined with low investment.

This allowed implied interactions or content structures to be examined with low investment.

Now that Discover, Define, and Develop were completed, it was now time for the Deliver phase which included detailed execution & ongoing support:

Now that Discover, Define, and Develop were completed, it was now time for the Deliver phase which included detailed execution & ongoing support:

Going high-fidelity

Polished designs bring the ideas to life. Detailed executions allow designers to specify how the system looks and behaves:

Going hi-fidelity

Polished designs bring the ideas to life. Detailed executions allow designers to specify how the system looks and behaves:

Qualitative research

Design prototypes were then created, and the user researcher validated the approach to the packages modules with qualitative user research. Once the designs are further refined based on input from user research, the team is ready to handoff the designs to engineering to build.

Qualitative research

Design prototypes were then created, and the user researcher validated the approach to the packages modules with qualitative user research. Once the designs are further refined based on input from user research, the team is ready to handoff the designs to engineering to build.

Accessibility checklist

We also make sure designs go through an accessibility handoff checklist which includes:

1. Providing accessibility bluelines (annotations), is a helpful way to ensure that critical behaviors and content are not lost during handoff.
2. Convey the expected flow by using content structure, keyboard/focus order, screen reader, and notes​
3. Design with existing EGDS component/patterns​
4. Audit whether a component needs additional annotations

Accessibility checklist

We also make sure designs go through an Accessibility handoff checklist which includes:

1. Providing accessibility bluelines (annotations), is a helpful way to ensure that critical behaviors and content are not lost during handoff.
2. Convey the expected flow by using content structure, keyboard/focus order, screen reader, and notes​
3. Design with existing EGDS components and patterns​
4. Audit whether a component needs additional annotations

CX seat at the table

CX seat at the table

Partners happy

Cross-functional partners happy