OTHER: DESIGN THINKING, STORYTELLING, ETC.
- I love interacting with people, and I go through the world always thinking about not only how I experience things, but observing others. It's always insightful to do user research, form hypotheses and then get to test and prove them out.
- I am an Enterprise Design Thinking Leader. I have led dozens of workshops within IBM to teach practitioners and consultants the value of understanding their users' wants and needs, creating a vision, and working collaboratively and iteratively with multi-disciplinary teams to achieve delightful outcomes. I have also had the pleasure of working with some great potential clients-- helping them understand how design thinking might fit into their culture, and guiding them through activities. That moment when they "get it" --and stop referring to "the user" and instead become champions of the personas they have come to truly know and empathize with ("Vikram would NEVER do that, he would be looking to..) is what makes it all worthwhile.
- Storytelling is a powerful thing. Experience Design really comes to life when told from the perspective of the humans who will use it, and I love to see how journeys resonate with my clients.
- The many ways one is able to communicate and interact with the world is one of the best parts of the human experience. Words, Vocalization, Gestures, Sketches, Wireframing and Prototyping- so many options to choose from, and each one with the potential to change the world. Experiences start with a vision, and that vision needs to be shared in order to become reality. I love all the tools at my disposal, and I love that working as a UX designer affords me the ability to play with all of them.
WFS Land MVP Workshop
The web portal for WFS Land preceded the work for Aviation. I immensely enjoyed getting to chat with users about a day in their life, brainstorming about what they want and need from the system. In a workshop, we talked through our findings and prototyped out the MVP. I then got intimate with the WFS Design Patterns and wireframed out the screens in more detail. WFS built out the MVP in house, and the pilot release has been a success.
Coke Ecommerce B2B
I kicked off the effort for a quick release of a CloudCraze based eCommerce solution for Coca-Cola that will be used as the core platform for many bottlers worldwide. As this was just a baseline, it was largely out of the box CloudCraze, but includes a few customized elements like Order Builder. Building platforms that others get to leverage and customize is extremely gratifying work.
UPS Workshop and Assessment
IBM conducted an assessment of one of UPS's content management tools to determine whether UPS should replace it, augment it, or stick with it. I led a workshop where we examined the tool from users' points of view, considering their pain points, wants and needs, and walking through their current experience and documented business priorities. We next looked at alternate solutions. Sometimes the answer is not what one would expect-- I love being part of a company that is willing to provide honest answers.
P&C Transformation POV
I helped to put together a deck communicating IBM's Point of View on digital transformation of the Insurance Industry for USAA. I used storytelling to better illustrate some of the ways a user's interaction with USAA might change through technology. The points we were making resonated with the client, and the team was able to more productively channel future discussions based on their feedback.
Interactive F&A Journeymap
IBM was challenged with how best to pitch a massive digital transformation proposal for F&A. Many initiatives and solutions were being discussed, but as separate pieces and parts, nobody could properly articulate what it would achieve as a whole, and how it would change peoples' lives for the better. I led a small team in creating this overarching view. For 4 different towers: Source to Pay, Account to Report, Cash and Collections, and Procurement, we walked through points in the process from the perspective of the user and explained how the technologies being proposed would improve their day to day experience. For 2 of the journeys, we created narrated, interactive stories that really brought the information to life.