UX CASE STUDY
Revamping the SDLC
CHARM
CASE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS
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ORG & SECTOR: Fulton Bank, Information Technology
MY ROLE: UX Strategy, Research & Design; Brand Identity; Product Design.
TEAM: Business Services Director & me
SDLC: Systems Development Life Cycle Standard
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Time! As I was getting extremely popular, and there was only one UX person (me!)
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I researched best practices, competitor’s publicized SDLC policies, and the original intent behind the existing SDLC in place.
I facilitated an engaging workshop between key managers, leads, and directors — all stakeholders invested in the process and proper representation of duties.
I consolidated all inputs and wrote simplified but clear content supporting iterative working, newer disciplines in IT, and helpful references.
I created all visualizations supporting ideal flows & concepts.
I coordinated and handled all revisions until we had a final product.
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Newer disciplines finally felt seen, heard, and represented.
Regulatory Risk & Compliance, and senior IT management finally had a realistic representation of the way they worked, terminology used, and standards to uphold.
The final SDLC was trimmed down to 9 informative pages — down from 29 pages.
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User testing
Collaboration & Inclusion
Feedback of content
Usage, Findability, Practicality
Agile support
KEY TAKEAWAY
If standards are outdated or never defined, how do you expect others to exceed expectations?
Make the time and space for a design thinking environment.
People love when they get a chance to share the amazing things they do — and how they think bigger and better in their specialities. People wither when they don’t feel engaged, valuable, heard, or when they feel they don’t belong. Guess which group of people work better together and support happier customers?
I support a design thinking environment for the betterment of everyone I work with. This often takes substantial creative planning and preparation, multiple backup plans, along with plenty of design tools & tactics. But, it is always worth the investment! And I love it :~)
Being well-versed in the subject helps when you’re actively invested in the overall success of what you create together, so I always do my research in advance. But that’s the beauty of human-centric design — it always improves and becomes clearer with focus and time.
Inclusion = Personal investment in what becomes
In the previous SDLC, 5 entire disciplines were completely missing (UX was one of these), and 6 disciplines were not correctly represented. With 11 out of 18 defined roles missing or misrepresented, over 60% of the organization’s SDLC was not accurate.
Not to mention that the previous SDLC was 29 pages long. Imagine the frustration of being newer in an IT organization, being told you’re a valuable part of the team, and reviewing the SDLC to see where your duties fit in the overall success — but after reading through almost 30 pages — you still have no real idea.
Well, with the SDLC revamp, we resolved to fix that situation. Those disciplines that were missing finally had a voice and used it loud and clear. I set the stage for each phase and then each representative filled in all of the things they would typically do within that phase.
Not only did this result in a rainbow of stickies, but a clearer picture of how much value each person was bringing or could bring if better utilized in the project efforts.
“Do not let process get in the way of progress — process should enable progress.”
— Zach L., IT Business Services Management Director
And the designer thus said, “Let there be color!”
When something is better communicated through a visual, CREATE A VISUAL. This became the one main visual that made it to the final SDLC, and it stood as a composite of all the smaller individual phases. And, yes, these made beautiful posters.
Individually, they told the story of wiser, iterative, and innovative ways of considering a work effort within the larger framework.
The Wheel of Maintenance is a visual I’m particularly proud of, as it holds a ton of insights and seems to be highly relevant in every organizational enterprise.