Review
“They took the time to understand both what we wanted and how our culture and processes would play into that process.”
Project Highlights
- Developed a UX Center of Excellence
- Trained up critical skillsets
- Hired UX designers
- Integrated human-centered design (HCD) into their existing product management and engineering processes
- Contributed to key products to demonstrate HCD value
- Conducted employee experience research
- Awarded $3M+ annually in customer funded UX work
Project Details
Syracuse, NY
1k+ employees
5+ year partnership
Project Cost
$500,000+/yr
Challenge
"We are trying to address human-centered design and UX in our products and services."
Solution
"In the project they are currently working on for us, their team is developing a roadmap for our company to follow over the next four years to embed UX as a discipline within our design and development functions. The final deliverables include everything from training doctrine and procedures to a complete turnkey guide for approaching any of the development taking place at our company."
Results
"For the first year of the project, we had several milestones that included defining our internal maturity level in terms of UX, holding internal trainings to help people understand what human-centered design is all about, and conducting an awareness campaign that featured a newsletter and an ‘ask me anything’ town hall to help raise awareness among our employees.
Their team was able to deliver on all of those elements perfectly, so we have been extremely satisfied with the level of work they have delivered so far. They have hit all of our deadlines and helped us to stay on track for each milestone, and we expect to complete the final piece of this stage on time at the end of September."
"What I consider to be the cornerstone of good project management are timely updates on the status of progress toward each deliverable, as well as the use of the budget to that point. They were able to embed those in the flow of our day-to-day activities to the point where it felt like we were working on one team together. Besides email, they made use of SharePoint and Teams to maintain constant communication."
Reflection
"For us, what stood out the most was their willingness to really find a roadmap that fit our company. They didn’t come in with a one-size-fits-all approach that they tried to shoehorn our company into. Instead, they took the time to understand both what we wanted and how our culture and processes would play into that process.
Really listen to their advice, because they are the experts when it comes to what they do. Oftentimes it can be hard to have somebody come in from the outside and tell you what you’re doing wrong, but they will really put your best interests at heart and recommend what they honestly believe is the best course of action for you."
"I honestly do not have anything negative to say about the experience. I’ve worked with a lot of consultants and vendors over my years in the industry, and they are one of the most intelligent and understanding companies I’ve ever seen."