Rescuing a struggling project
MoveDocs engaged Cognizant to redesign and streamline an application that had evolved organically via multiple business acquisitions. After years of ultra-specific additions – sometimes to suit a single person’s needs – both the user experience and the codebase had become bloated and difficult to use.
Cognizant had been working with MoveDocs for 3 months before I was brought in to resolve internal problems with strategy, roadmapping, and product vision.
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The problem
A challenging client stakeholder team + an inexperienced internal delivery team = lack of strategy, missed deadlines, and blown budget.
My role
I was brought in to provide strategic support for both the product vision and the design team and to help the project get back on track.
The method
I conducted an audit of the research and delivery work that had been done and determined that in order to meet tight delivery deadlines and come in under budget, the team needed to create a robust design system and pivot from high-fidelity designs to wireframes. I also empowered the design team to lead discovery conversations in order to truly solve the clients’ problems.
The output
When I left the project, the design system was in place and working better than expected: high fidelity screens were actually quicker and more accurate to make than wireframes, and the design team was able to deliver and ideate on solutions up to two sprints in advance.
Design process diagram created to streamline communication between product, design, and engineering
The problem
The internal working team that had been staffed to this client was inexperienced and had not completed the necessary due diligence or proper procedure setup before starting production work. Because of this, the project lacked a roadmap and working agreements, and the internal team suffered from a lack of clear strategic direction and product leadership.
The details
Team makeup
While the original staffing included two junior product designers, on my recommendation the team was modified to add 2 senior-level designers who could move quickly and support a rapidly growing engineering team.
Timeline
The project is still ongoing, with version 1 release date scheduled for February 2024.
The process
When I joined the project, the design team was struggling. I diagnosed multiple key issues:
Lack of roadmap, project scope, or product vision caused inconsistent design patterns between features.
Without a design system or documentation, UI components were created adhoc, leading to inconsistent usage, duplicated effort, and confusion among developers.
A leadership vacuum led to the design team becoming order-takers rather than operating as collaborators and consultants.
Team morale was low, with infighting and finger-pointing as the client pressured the team to move faster and increase velocity.
Resolution
With my guidance, the team made several major adjustments to address these issues:
I worked with the project manager to define scope and draft working agreements and Definition of Ready/Done for design and engineering stories. I worked with the product manager to create a realistic roadmap that could be separated into achievable milestones.
Created a robust, WCAG-compliant design system to cut down on design inconsistencies, quickly build high-fidelity prototypes, and deliver developer-ready Figma files.
Flipped the script on client design and discovery meetings, empowering the design team to dig in to find the root of users’ problems. Created user journeys to validate assumptions with the client earlier in the process. Introduced rough wireframing as a means to quickly convey ideas and validate workflows.
Had a series of frank conversations with fellow team members as well as leadership within the Cognizant organization to help the team work better together. Advised junior team members on proper client consulting behavior. Additionally, on my recommendation the product team and engineering teams will be gathering to work together in person, strengthening morale even farther.
The results
“Sometimes when you’ve been in a crisis situation for so long it can be hard to recognize when the crisis is over. As an outsider I can tell you, it’s not a crisis anymore.”
As a result of my guidance and leadership, the design team is now working on features multiple sprints ahead of the development team, as opposed to days or hours ahead. The backlog is much more robust, the design team can focus on truly solving user problems, and overall morale has dramatically improved.