The Vision
As a UX Researcher at Discover Financial Services, my mission was to bridge the gap between corporate policy and practical application. I collaborated with engineers, product leads, designers, and corporate coaches to design a seamless experience that harmonizes best practices across the organization. My research and strategic insights culminated in a solution that unified these elements, enhancing both user engagement and compliance.
The Challenge
The biggest challenge in this project was navigating the conflicting feedback from major stakeholders, which included engineers, product leads, designers, and corporate coaches. Each group had its own priorities and requirements, making it difficult to align them under a unified vision. Moreover, there was a critical need to create a streamlined connection between high-level corporate policies, the specific departments they applied to, and existing best practices.
To address this, I had to conduct a thorough content audit to identify gaps in existing best practices and ensure that each policy was supported by clear, actionable guidance. The content was particularly challenging due to the necessity of creating a template that could accommodate everything from general policies without specific best practices to highly specialized, team-specific methodologies. The goal was to develop a seamless loop within the Discover Technology Academy platform, allowing users to easily reference policies and best practices in both directions, ensuring they found the correct information relevant to their role.
User Interviews
Stakeholder Debrief
Persona Development
Journey Mapping
Whiteboarding
Findings Delivery
The Task
Develop a content strategy and design that enables employees to seamlessly access relevant policies, identify corresponding best practices, and navigate between high-level guidelines and team-specific methodologies with ease.
The Personas
The Discover Technology Academy has just rolled out an updated cybersecurity policy that requires immediate implementation across all teams. Sarah Thompson, a Senior Software Engineer, and David Harris, an IT Infrastructure Manager, must collaborate to ensure that their teams are compliant with the new standards.
Sarah's Perspective: Sarah logs into the Discover Technology Academy platform after receiving a notification about the new cybersecurity policy. She quickly navigates to the policy section and notices that it includes detailed best practices tailored to software development. As she reviews the guidelines, she realizes that some of the recommended practices will require updates to her team’s.
David Harris, IT Infrastructure Manager | The Policy Consumer
Goals:
- Quickly access the most relevant and up-to-date policies that apply to his team’s infrastructure projects.
- Ensure his team follows the best practices associated with these policies to avoid compliance issues and enhance system security.
- Stay informed about any changes to existing policies or the introduction of new ones.
Challenges:
- The previous platform made it difficult for David to find specific policies related to IT infrastructure, often requiring him to sift through irrelevant information.
- The connection between high-level policies and the specific best practices needed by his team was unclear, leading to potential misinterpretations and implementation errors.
- David’s team often felt frustrated by the time it took to locate and apply the necessary guidelines to their work.
Linda Martinez, Corporate Policy Specialist | The Policy Contributor
Goals:
- Develop clear, concise, and accessible policies that can be easily understood and implemented by different teams across the organization.
- Ensure that each policy is linked to the relevant best practices, making it easy for users to apply them in their specific contexts.
- Regularly update policies based on feedback from users and changes in industry regulations.
Challenges:
- Gathering and reconciling feedback from multiple departments, each with its own specific needs and perspectives, can be time-consuming and complex.
- Ensuring that the policies she creates are not only compliant with industry standards but also adaptable to the unique workflows of different teams.
- Maintaining clear communication with policy consumers to understand their needs and incorporate their feedback into policy updates.
The Results
The recent overhaul of the Discover Technology Academy’s platform for accessing and applying policies and standards aimed to enhance usability and compliance. Led by UX Researcher Yinnette Olivo, the project focused on integrating a seamless navigation system between high-level policies and specific best practices across various departments.
Key Results:
Improved Accessibility and Usability – The redesigned platform features a more intuitive interface, allowing users to effortlessly locate relevant policies and associated best practices. User feedback highlighted a 40% decrease in the time required to find necessary information.
Increased Compliance and Engagement- Initial reports indicate a 25% increase in compliance with internal standards since the implementation of the new system. This is attributed to better visibility of policies and clearer guidelines on best practices.
Streamlined Policy Updates and Feedback Loop – The platform now supports real-time updates to policies, with changes being immediately reflected across all relevant sections. This ensures that all employees have access to the most current information.
Enhanced Training and Development – Customized training modules have been developed for different roles within the organization, ensuring that all employees understand how to navigate and utilize the platform effectively.
Cross-Departmental Collaboration – The platform fosters greater collaboration between departments by making it easier to share best practices and policy applications. This has led to more consistent practices across the organization and has reduced siloed information.
The Designs
