CloudworX is a cloud based suite of applications that are used by AV technicians that has gone live on October 2019 . A mission critical project at Harman Professional Solutions aims at unifying audio visual devices’ configuration, deployment & management.
Expected to create at least $19M revenue. Defined new design process for the team.
Situation:
Harman Professional Solutions was being restructured from a group of individual business units that specialized in speakers, amplifiers, DSP, mixing, etc. to an organizational structure that was based on vertical markets such as Entertainment (tour, cinema, music products) and Enterprise ( corporate, education, government – CEG, Large Venue and Hospitality). An embedded UX team was created for the first time in Harman , with this project.
The task at hand was to modernize the UX for Audio Architect software- a legacy PC based software that has been used by AV technicians, integrators and consultants for past 15 years or more.
I worked on a suite of applications that is used in audio-visual (AV) industry by advanced AV technicians. Historically, the product lacked a coherent UX. This project is a classic example of what embedded UX teams can do in an agile development process.
This project made me think of defining a new process of design thinking for enterprise projects for our studio. Enterprise projects need analytical thinking and tweaking of a regular design thinking process by ensuring that all touch points of the relevant system is taken into account.
Tasks:
Design thinking workshops were conducted with system architects, engineers and product owners to influence all decisions towards the product roadmap. It was important to ensure that the design is not limited to just the inner three circles that is -interaction , people , business goals and representation of things and symbols for the software. Enterprise design requires one to envision the scope in terms of other touch points , the various actors apart from users, service ecosystem and the architecture in a holistic way.
A context diagram was sketched out with key players and technology touch points. This was the reference for all phases of design and communication with product owners for feature prioritization and MVP approach.
The images of re-design of this software cannot be shown due to NDA with customer.
I am particularly proud of being able to push this delighter in the product despite initial obstacles. It is now being recognised as a game changer in the competitor’s landscape by top management and is in the process of being developed for MVP.
As the lead interaction designer, my role evolved as we approached the MVP release:
-connecting the dots between different work streams and strategically facilitates cross-org collaboration to push beyond the status quo
- articulating complex concepts to stakeholders and negotiate with project partners to prioritise pilots that create value and drive products forward
I matched complementary working styles to create strong partnerships, explore deep thinking, and maximize productivity.
An integral part of working as an embedded team is to enable knowledge sharing via various means - demo videos, workshops, training sessions and so on. I have enabled this for our team as and when required , especially since the product owners are not co-located.
Creating micro copies of real life use cases and quick prototyping have helped propel new ideas to implementation. The key is to keep exploring new tools and remove the ones that do not add value to the project deliverables.
I was the IxD lead for this project. I worked with a team of 5 designers out of Bangalore office and took care of all IxD deliverables including stakeholder management and collaborating/communicating with 3 designers who worked out of Dallas office. I worked towards streamlining processes between design team and development team, apart from working hands - on on one of the software applications.
In the second year of working on this project my aim was to establish the belief that everyone on the team (including developers and stakeholders) have a responsibility to produce useful, quality products and that can be brought in by design thinking.