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My career successes have often come from bridging gaps between users, organizations, products and practices. These select use cases demonstrate that theme.
USAA Digital Innovation Award
USAA Digital Innovation Award
Summary: Solved a $12 million 3-year PTI opportunity and resolved a 15-year-old enterprise-wide data governance problem for an industry-leading financial services firm (USAA).
Summary: Solved a $12 million 3-year PTI opportunity and resolved a 15-year-old enterprise-wide data governance problem for an industry-leading financial services firm (USAA).
Problem: Our poorly organized customer data prevented consistent, seamless experiences during critical moments of our customers' lives that we called "life events" (marriage, job change, having a child, etc.), when over 70% of financial product decisions are made. Our failure to be relevant at these moments not only prevented our efforts to deepen our customer relationships, but was also a huge miss for our mission to "facilitate the financial security" of our customers ("members"). This problem had plagued USAA for at least 15 years.
Details: I led a 10-person cross-functional project team - consisting of partners in data governance, information architecture, IT, digital, operations, marketing, product management and our various customer engagement channels - to detangle conflicting interests and confounding business rules, and establish an enterprise approach centered on member needs vice solely business objectives. We then completely reorganized our customer data structure and associated controls to reflect our new orientation. Tools used included various research methods, empathy maps, mental models and high-level sentiment maps, stakeholder engagement, storytelling, from/to analyses, and business case development.
I then led the design and delivery of digital capabilities that enabled smooth and easy capture of member life event dates, and led the design and delivery of tailored, omni-channel life event journeys with our members, providing key financial advice and support to help them navigate these challenging moments with greater success. Each life event was a feature-to-epic-level effort, wherein I employed experience flows, journey maps, storytelling, cross-channel coordination, business rules and digital code development across channels, and continuous stakeholder engagement. I ensured our 4 commercial lines of business and our multiple channels of experience delivery, including common digital platforms and in-person channels, were consuming accurate data about member life events as members were proceeding through their respective journeys.
Results: Personalized customer experiences seamlessly delivered across channels that increased response rates 2-5X enterprise average, and incremental product acquisition rates 10-45X enterprise average.
Wells Fargo Team Effectiveness Program
Wells Fargo Team Effectiveness Program
Summary: Led a team of 16 to enhance the Enterprise Team Effectiveness program for a 225,000-person global organization whose company expectations included building and maintaining high performing teams.
Summary: Led a team of 16 to enhance the Enterprise Team Effectiveness program for a 225,000-person global organization whose company expectations included building and maintaining high performing teams.
Problem: Wells Fargo's Team Effectiveness program had been barely utilized for the 5 years it had been in-place when I was tasked with enhancing its scale and usage. Our teams across the organization needed to better understand their roles and goals and how they could depend upon each other for Wells Fargo to achieve its objectives. Our frontline leaders also needed a simple, effective way to improve the dynamics on their teams.
Details: I first benchmarked the program against the industry to understand its offerings. I then captured user sentiment from program facilitators as well as leaders of teams where portions of the program had been utilized. Synthesizing user input identified a consistent theme around program complexity and vague relevance. I then prototyped a simplified program re-design positioned against commonly experienced use cases where team dynamics commonly trigger. I drove collaboration with front-line leaders, HR business partners & HR centers of excellence to determine the use cases (e.g., a new team leader, a high rate of team member turnover, etc.). I ran usability sessions wherein my team - a collection of practitioners across the organization who had been exposed to the program - validated the content of the use-case-based approach, and the tailored packaging of select program content around those use-cases. I then brokered roles and responsibilities across stakeholder groups to establish a scalable operating model that included digital interfaces anchored in the use cases.
Results: An end-user needs-based operating model that reduced ramp-up time for engagements by 50%, and enabled team-oriented culture maturation at scale.
USAA Service Design
USAA Service Design
Methodology Definition
Methodology Definition
Summary: Applied human-centered design practices to derive a service design practice target state from voice of business partners, and align practitioner methods with business requirements to connect needs with capabilities and drive effectiveness.
Summary: Applied human-centered design practices to derive a service design practice target state from voice of business partners, and align practitioner methods with business requirements to connect needs with capabilities and drive effectiveness.
Problem: USAA's service design practice, which we called Experience Architecture (XA), was new and sparsely defined when I joined the team. The team members had their own individual interpretation of good methods, but no standard against which to align. Additionally, we did not have a clear and consistent understanding of our business partners' needs.
Details: I viewed our business partners as users of a product or service, and elected to interview select representatives of their community across our 4 commercial lines of business to capture their needs so I could understand how to position our practice. I also interviewed practitioners in our chief design office to better understand practitioner needs associated with our service design program. After synthesizing the observations I had collected, I determined we needed to better organize our practice so that we could more consistently portray our brand and our competence. I then ran design prototyping sessions with a small portion of our team to build an inventory of tools mapped against typical engagement phases that illustrated: 1) the jobs to be done, 2) the artifacts most likely to produce, 3) the value to deliver, and 4) the project phase in which to do these things - replacing ambiguity with structure built upon synthesizing user needs.
Results: A more coherent and consistently communicated service design operating model, more confident and inspired practitioners, and more responsive business clients. Less organizational friction and more design thinking.
Fomo Products Inc.
Fomo Products Inc.
Joint-development Offering
Joint-development Offering
Summary: Leveraged user needs analyses to adjust business processes and dramatically grow strategic product innovation.
Summary: Leveraged user needs analyses to adjust business processes and dramatically grow strategic product innovation.
Problem: Fomo Products Inc. produced polyurethane spray foam in low pressure delivery systems for residential, commercial and industrial applications. Their patented MagnumTM heated-hose delivery system provided a range of delivery control not available with other systems. In theory, pairing this system with other, lower cost insulation materials like fiberglass could produce an economic best of both worlds: an air seal from the foam and an inexpensive insulation material for code-compliance and thermal effectiveness. However, this hybrid installation method had not been formally validated by installers on real-world job sites under the pressure of time commitments, material cost controls and construction specifications.
Details: I spearheaded the blueprinting and solutions delivery for several "back-stage" business processes that needed refinement to enhance the installer's experience and make the hybrid concept viable. I first partnered with our sales team, product R&D and leaders of key distribution partners to arrange numerous in-field discovery sessions with installers on live job sites to run time-motion studies and user needs analyses. My objective was to determine whether the MagnumTM system was fit-for-purpose for a hybrid installation and the installers' needs. Key questions that needed to be answered: 1) Could installers easily dispense the spray foam to code specifications? 2) Could the installation be completed quickly enough to support a typical day's schedule of multiple installs, maintaining or even improving daily operating cost/profitability models? 3) What knowledge, awareness, training or other enablements did installers need (if any) for our product to support this hybrid concept?
The sessions confirmed viability, but also identified several ergonomic adjustments that would considerably improve the installer's experience, and the need for a quick-reference guide summarizing key aspects of working with the MagnumTM system to prevent failure modes and ensure profitable installs. I worked with our R&D and tech support teams to address those two major take-aways. We also identified a handful of organizational adjustments needed to deliver the necessary holistic installer experience, including material rental agreement policies, refillable product return procedures, technical support & customer service scripts and procedures, and distributor & agency agreements terms.
Results: An end-user needs-driven operating model that enabled a joint-development product innovation to triple revenues in two years.
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