"Design thinking is the mindset that aims to improve the situation of people through the experiences they have." Herbert Simon
My experience design process is fundamentally rooted in this belief.
Each project and initiative requires the wisdom of experience to determine which user experience methodologies and tools are best to utilize – whether it is a short-term project or a long-term initiative that shifts us into a more marketable position – if our products improve our customers' lives, they will improve our bottom line.
The fundamentals include the following:
DISCOVER
Discovery is ongoing. It never stops. It is a continuous cycle of understanding the customer, their needs and their desires. We (the Enterprise) constantly ask ourselves - are our products and services meeting current and potential customer needs and desires? If not, what can we do? If yes, what can we do better? We look at what the numbers say. We find out what our customers say. We make sure we have clearly stated value propositions that we actively measure and adjust as the market changes. This is a highly collaborative process which could include input from a variety of teams across the Enterprise.
DECIDE
As we discover problems or gaps in our products and services we decide which should be prioritized into our design workflow. We diverge and converge on what potential solutions can solve the problem. Customer feedback and user experience best practices are at the forefront of discussions. This is a highly collaborative process from a variety of teams across the Enterprise.
DESIGN
Once a solution has been decided, prototypes are created utilizing our design system and tested with the customer. Designing and testing may be repeated to ensure any issues are resolved.
DEVELOP
In an agile environment, the problem, the solution, usable code, and all necessary documentation are provided to scrum team and developers are quickly able to develop the solution and test for usability and quality.
DEPLOY
Solutions are deployed easily without risk as each step has been validated with customers and vetted across the enterprise.
DATA
User data has been benchmarked and measured upon each release as discovery is ongoing.