Case Studies
To provide value to businesses through design we must adapt to the problem-space, time, and balance going lean vs. deep. The following projects were delivered using > Service design
> Product management
> Agile
> Lean
> Human-Centred Design & UX research
Over the last 6 years I had the opportunity to engage with various clients.
Case study 1:
Digital Transformation of Bridge Housing
Business Problem
Bridge Housing provides affordable, long-term housing to 5,600+ residents in 3,500 properties in Sydney as a non-profit organisation. The staff struggled with legacy technology in the post-COVID world!
The technology severely hindered staff productivity during property visits, impacting essential functions like maintenance, repairs, and tenant support.
Time was of essence –the staff didn't have mobility in the existing solution. They had to prep before and after inspections and then manually uploaded information from their personal phones to a system only when they could log in from their home.
Bridge Housing needed help to
assess the need for upgrading legacy technology
determine the reasons behind the potential change
decide where to start first using a MVP approach because of their limitations with legacy system and financial constraints
My Role: Design Lead
Human-Centred Design and Product Thinking Coach
Supported, mentored and educated the client in applying human-centred design principles and agile methods to ways of working using Human-Centred Design, agile thinking and product thinking.
Project Management
Serving as the Scrum Master for Project Delivery using Kanban, I ensured the smooth execution of project activities, adhering to timelines and budget constraints.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
I led a team consisting of two design consultants and one data science consultant through a Human-Centred Design (HCD) process, fostering collaboration and creativity.
Planning and Stakeholder Engagement
Proactive planning of research activities and scheduling ensured efficient use of resources and timely delivery. I identified key stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) essential for project success and engaged them effectively throughout the process.
Project Direction and Responsibility
In my role as the Strategy and Service Design Lead, I was entrusted with authorising design and research directions to ensure alignment with project goals, statement-of-work and client expectations and ensuring delivery quality, presentations, and communications.
Stakeholders
Project Sponsor - CEO
Product Owner - Sarah Barclay
Executive team members X2
IT managers X2
Marketing X1
SME X5
Ground team members X12
I worked closely with these teams and engaged with 6 external vendors on the clients’ behalf.
Approach
Telstra Purple account manager, Principal Consultant and I provided a program of work to discover, define and design the future digital portal needed by using HCD research
To enable staff to work remotely i.e., complete tasks outside of the office.
Replicate functionalities of the existing solutions so existing functionalities don’t get lost
Build the foundation of a digital strategy that will help inform the next steps based upon insights throughout this engagement.
Due to Bridge Housings budget constraint we created a program of work that would show what's the best experience for employees who will use the system, what are the business goals and what saves effort and resources for the business by the executives, before checking how these needs will be met via existing or new tech.
The client had a preference for off-the-shelf as opposed to bespoke solutions due to financial constraints.
Process and sample outputs
Context mapping a bespoke workshop to gather key SME’s where I extracted as much knowledge possible for a great start, following the pre-sales conversation with this client.
Process mapping workshop
Note: details of these are better viewed as PDF and a written report for this client. Feel free to ask and I will provide a live demo.
Refined Service Design Blueprint x 2 Housing and Assets teams.
Note: details of these are better viewed as PDF and a written report for this client. Feel free to ask and I will provide a live demo.
Staff and Tenant Insight samples
Jobs-to-be-done stories
How the current-state integration works: assessment created with help of two developers on my team
We conducted 6 vendor interviews and these were the final 2 who best fit the jobs-to-be-done stories. Here I created a confidence matrix to compare the two vendors with consultation from the developers
Sample future-state depicted in basic wireframes
Outcomes
An MVP (minimum viable product) was defined representing the minimum number of features and functionality required to represent value to staff and replace the current tenant portal. This set of features was then prioritised against frequency vs. impact of solving from user and business point of view.
Next a prioritised user story backlog defining the features, functions and other elements needed to build the MVP as created. The features in the MVP were compared and analysed based on the knowledge from vendor product demos and a delivery approach and making an estimate was created. This helped the client to make further decisions on what the build looks like in terms of cost and what features and functionalities might be implemented differently in each of the platforms as these will influence and compromise the ideal experience.
A foundational digital strategy, defining the direction and ideal future-state for the customer was delivered. Once knowledge or data gaps are identified, the strategy will be finalised in a second program of work.
A report of all research conducted that would work as the evidence-base for Bridge Housing’s future decision making on various initiatives.
Client Quote
This story is featured on Telstra’s website. Read it.
“If tenants wanted to access non-rent statements in the past, that would have required a call to our office and for a manual print out or email to occur,” says Barclay. “So far, we’ve seen over 800 downloads through the tenant portal. That’s a lot of time saved for our office staff.”
Sarah Barclay, Director of Information Systems & Transformation, Bridge Housing
“This was drastically different from anything we’d done before. Previously we approached technology by implementing a new system to solve the problem without exploring the end user experience. Using a human centred design approach flipped everything on its head and really transformed our entire way of thinking. It was really powerful.”
Sarah Barclay, Director of Information Systems & Transformation, Bridge Housing
Case study 2:
HR Operations of Servco using digital Products and Services
Business Problem
Servco Australia works with Toyota to provide HR services to car dealerships that are part of Toyota. There biggest challenge was to create a cohesive service using digital technologies to address the needs of the diverse range of dealerships. The needs were different due to
Size of the dealership
Location – metro or regional
Types of issues they face – these are affected by external factors and the internal culture of the dealership
State-specific compliance, eg, NSW may have slightly different compliance than QLD
My Role: Design Lead
Project Direction and Responsibility
In my role as the Strategy and Service Design Lead, I was entrusted with authorising design and research directions to ensure alignment with project goals, statement-of-work and client expectations and ensuring delivery quality, presentations, and communications.
Project Management
Serving as the Scrum Master for Project Delivery using Kanban, I ensured the smooth execution of project activities, adhering to timelines and budget constraints.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
I led a team consisting of two design consultants and one data science consultant through a Human-Centred Design (HCD) process, fostering collaboration and creativity.
Planning and Stakeholder Engagement
Proactive planning of research activities and scheduling ensured efficient use of resources and timely delivery. I identified key stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) essential for project success and engaged them effectively throughout the process.
Adaptability and Flexibility
I remained agile in my approach, pivoting methods and activities as needed to address emerging challenges and capitalise on opportunities.
Stakeholders
Head of People & Culture (project sponsor)
Project Management Specialist
CFO
Lead of People & Culture
Assistant coach People & Culture
I liaised with a range of client stakeholders, including the Head of People & Culture (project sponsor), Project Management Specialist, CFO, Lead of People & Culture, and Assistant Coach People & Culture, ensuring alignment with project objectives and addressing any concerns promptly.
My Team
2 Designer
1 Data Scientist
Approach
Focused Research: Initiated with 6 stakeholder interviews at Servco, followed by 20 customer interviews at 4 diverse dealerships (Cairns, Dubbo, Tamworth, WA Melville) for comprehensive insights.
Strategic Synthesis: Extracted vital pain points from interviews, creating pivotal design artefacts through rigorous research.
Precise Personas: Crafted 6 refined personas, each representing distinct stakeholder perspectives.
Strategic Experience Mapping: Developed 4 site-specific experience maps, consolidated into a comprehensive national map for a panoramic understanding.
Insightful Reports: Produced 4 detailed site research reports, compiling local insights from various dealerships.
Strategic Pain Point Analysis: Systematically identified pain points, applying a priority schema for actionable opportunities.
Innovative Ideation: Cultivated an environment for brainstorming innovative solutions, driving transformation.
Future Excellence Blueprint: Outlined the ideal future state through curated experience maps.
Strategic MVP Concepts: Crafted 3 potent Minimum Viable Product (MVP) propositions, visualised via storyboards, diagrams, and wireframes, grounded in strategic planning.
Process and sample outputs
1:1 research sessions per site interviews + process mapping
Synthesis and insights
Personas X 6
Site-specific Current-state SDBP X 4
Consolidated Current-state SDBP
Opportunity Prioritisation - facilitated critical conversations to address competing priorities and supporting the decision making based on the research conducted and asking hard questions to stakeholders and aligning them through different priorities among them.
Solution ideation with SMEs
Implementation roadmap
MVP 1 Ticketing Service System
MVP 1 User Stories
Unlike products that can often be envisioned through wireframes, conveying strategy and services solely via wireframes posed challenges. So I led the team to create storyboards to present to the executive sponsors of Servco how these new strategies will be implemented, who will benefit them and from them and in what situations.
This approach not only facilitated a more comprehensive understanding of complex strategic concepts but also encouraged collaboration within Servco and they were so impressed they asked us for backlog of each MVPs which their internal team will implement.
Note, Servco has Design capability internally therefore my team’s work had to surpass and provide a strategic direction which the executives would then assign the internal team to act upon.
MVP 2 Wiki
MVP 2 User Stories
MVP 3 Ticketing Service System
MVP 3 User Stories
Outcomes
A digital service was developed to address dealership needs, co-designed for efficiency and integration:
MVP 1: Ticketing System: Simplified support requests for dealerships and aided Servco in managing them efficiently.
MVP 2: Intranet Page: Provided essential information to all dealerships, including frequently accessed resources.
MVP 3: Intelligent Data Toolkit: Facilitated informed decision-making through data analysis, outlining applications and basics.
Strategic Roadmap: Charted Servco's journey towards its HR vision, providing a clear path to success.
MVP User Story Backlog: Provided detailed descriptions of user experiences and features for each MVP, guiding development.
Data and Gap Analysis Map: Visualised data sources, gaps, and potential insights for informed decision-making.
Success Metrics: Measured progress and business impact, rooted in thorough research.
Engagement Report: Provided an overview of project activities, findings, and narratives supporting MVP options for potential funding.
Case study 3:
Innovation & transformation for an equipment hire company – Client X
Business Problem
Client X is an equipment hire business in Australia and New Zealand, with over 185+ branches and sites and more than 1,800 team members. (Under NDA of client X)
During COVID like many other organisations they thought of :
refreshing their existing ideas and strategies from different locations in Australia and NZ
ideas arising from their IT department, shops, customer centres and sales approaches different context, different challenges, different ideas caused a challenge that couldn't be grasped
My Role: Strategy and Service Design Lead
Project Direction and Responsibility
In my role as the Strategy and Service Design Lead, I was entrusted with authorising design and research directions to ensure alignment with project goals, statement-of-work and client expectations and ensuring delivery quality, presentations, and communications.
Project Management
Serving as the Scrum Master for Project Delivery using Kanban, I ensured the smooth execution of project activities, adhering to timelines and budget constraints.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
I led a team consisting of two design consultants and one data science consultant through a Human-Centred Design (HCD) process, fostering collaboration and creativity.
Planning and Stakeholder Engagement
Proactive planning of research activities and scheduling ensured efficient use of resources and timely delivery. I identified key stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs) essential for project success and engaged them effectively throughout the process.
Stakeholders
Head of Digital Asia Pacific (project sponsor)
CFO
Head of Tech Strategy
Head of Projects
Head of operations X6 from Marketing, Emerging Tech, Products, IoT, Retail, etc.
I liaised with a range of client stakeholders, including the Head of People & Culture (project sponsor), Project Management Specialist, CFO, Lead of People & Culture, and Assistant Coach People & Culture, ensuring alignment with project objectives and addressing any concerns promptly.
My Team
1 Designer
Approach
Used a bespoke Human-Centred Design approach to understand people, the process, the system/tools and the culture and ways of working. With this approach the work endeavoured –
To better understand the impact – negative or positive – of the various channels and interactions, define an “ideal future state” experience, and strategy to achieve that future
Understand the customer journey and create customer journey maps for two key personas of two key customer segments
Overlay their service delivery onto the journey maps – processes, procedures, systems/tools, and culture (compliance, safety, security etc.)
Define the ideal future-state experience for both personas and the corresponding service Client X would provide to deliver this experience
Identify solutions Client X can deliver to achieve the future-state experience
Create a strategy roadmap defining how Client X can deliver these solutions
Current-state Service Design Blueprint X2
Zoomed in opportunities per stage
Opportunity Prioritisation
facilitated critical conversations to address competing priorities and supporting the decision making based on the research conducted and asking hard questions to stakeholders and aligning them through different priorities among them
Co-Designed Solutions
Created via stakeholder knowledge, ideation sessions with customers, stakeholders and validated by project sponsors. These solutions are not only ideas but fleshed out concepts created with 8 key stakeholders via individual and group sessions.
Roadmap based on suggestions and stakeholder consensus
Solution Prioritisation
Outcomes
The client’s business ecosystem was highly complex, as there were two key types of customer personas with very different needs and very different budgets. The branches in various states of Australia and spread towards New Zealand. Branch managers’ ideas and experience brought a lot of innovative solutions, while technology trend capability leads, like IoT leads, had other types of solutions. This caused a lot of inertia in the movement of which idea to implement and if that is helping the customers.
The service design work helped client X in the following way:
This project delivered the strategy to enhance overall customer satisfaction for Client X by closely aligning services with customer needs and preferences, mapping customer journeys and developing service blueprints.
Through the discovery phase, Client X gained insights into existing processes, paving the way for improved efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery while navigating complex corporate ecosystems and addressing multifaceted business challenges and why and how they could differentiate themselves.
Found ideas on how to bring and set their product teams which products to work on first and how to put a long-term digital strategy in place with confidence to act on it. This influenced their effort investment, product team building and distribution of talents.
Client X was convinced that the service design initiative would inform their business growth and keep them ahead of evolving market trends.
Throughout the service design process, Client X commented that I was able to help them understand their differences and help them align, which would contribute to implementing service improvements outlined in a phased roadmap, ensuring a smooth and successful execution plan.