Announcement Date: June 1, 2014
Business Challenge
At the beginning of my engagement at Intel, I was focused on designing the UX for an in-house Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. (Think Salesforce on steroids).
After the redesigned system was released, the business shifted directions, choosing to use Salesforce itself. The business’s perceived need for UX assistance was significantly reduced.
In the same time period, our IT unit re-organized, replacing my entire management chain. The incoming individuals were completely unfamiliar with the team’s prior work, its charter and its value.
The business had a choice: divest in UX or make a strategic investment in developing the team further.
Result
By June, 2015, I had:
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grown the team by 50%,
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secured a new design studio
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shifted the team’s attention to a broad range of experience challenges
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established the UX team as the first choice for our internal customers to consider before hiring an outside agency
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established a funding model permitting us to expand our hiring to meet our business partners’ needs
Process
I began by crafting a strategy statement.
We proceeded by designing a comprehensive “menu of deliverables” to simplify our “intake” process. The menu acted as marketing collateral, broadening our stakeholders’ understanding of our potential services (not just wireframes and comps).
We began insinuating ourselves in any conversation in which an external agency might have been considered
We won a “lighthouse customer:” an initial customer who was pleased with results and acted as a reference account.
My Contribution
I was responsible for the entire effort:
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Crafting, refining, revising and socializing the strategy
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Creating and executing on the deliverables worksheet
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Making “sales calls:” influencing portfolio owners and service managers to allocate headcount for UX team members