CA Technologies • Clarity PPM portfolio mgmt software
Revitalizing a franchise with design thinking
CHALLENGE
Sales of flagship platform Clarity PPM were declining, and customer feedback told us that its outdated, 'clicky' user experience was a major source of discontent.
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GOALS
Increase sales and renewals
Improve customer satisfaction & retention
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MY ROLES
Designer, Co-Researcher, Workshop Co-Facilitator
Platform redesign: before and after
Our ambitious plan to revitalize the franchise
Grounded in ethnographic research (ie, site visits to observe real-world product usage), the plan aimed to help us:
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Discover user goals and work processes
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Understand the impact of organizational (ecosystem) variations
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Inform a platform redesign grounded in users' goals
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Demo an updated product POC at our annual user conference
Broad research objectives that guided our journey
From design thinking student...to practitioner & teacher
Our GM had previously worked with Cooper Interaction Design, so we attended in-person training at their San Francisco headquarters to learn their style of design thinking first-hand.
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Subsequently, our 3-person team was tasked with applying the Cooper methodology to this project while also leading workshops with cross-functional leaders to educate, inform, and build buy-in.
Co-leading design thinking workshops for cross-functional leaders
Looking beyond users to ecosystems and work processes
A UX researcher and I met with over 130 users at 17 customer sites, observing day-to-day work. Beyond that, we also examined organizational styles and systems of work, looking for differences and similarities.
Examining systems of work revealed hidden opportunities (click to view fullscreen)
Opportunities uncovered during design exploration
Nicole, our Project Manager persona, became the focus of our redesign effort.
Our research told us that she was underserved by our current platform and would benefit greatly from a purpose-built experience.
Narrowing focus by mapping Nicole's pain points by frequency and level of severity
Designing for Nicole, together
Guided by our personas and research insights, we held collaborative design workshops with stakeholders from Development, Product, Marketing, and Sales.
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Our earlier cross-functional design thinking workshops built the trust we needed to achieve a shared vision for Nicole.
Exploring ideas for project templates
Rapid prototyping and refinement
I quickly translated the concepts and ideas from our collaborative workshops into mockups.
My mockups formed the foundation of an entirely new product focused on better serving Nicole and her particular needs.
Mockups and prototypes
A new product for Nicole
Since I was the only designer on staff, a third party design agency was hired to transform my mockups into detailed comps.
The comps were primarily used for marketing and driving internal support for the new product.
Design comps of the new product
Impact
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Our work led to a new product for our Project Manager persona, Nicole and it became the new face of the Clarity brand.
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This initiative demonstrated the value of Design Thinking to other business units, who used our approach as a model.
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This was a dream project for me personally — I learned how to apply and teach design thinking, got to design a new product, and learned new ways to synthesize research data into actionable insights.
This promotional video for the new product uses key phrases and concepts directly from our research: