Background

My role at Johnson & Johnson is quite varied and dynamic. The division I am part of was previously a small start-up that was acquired by J&J and so there is a blend of start-up and corporate methodology and culture. As such, my role as Sr. Manager of UXUI Design encompasses a broad range of responsibilities, from direction and team management to individual contributor.

The primary products my team is responsible for are what make up the C-SATS platform. C-SATS is designed to help surgeons of all levels improve their proficiency through performance analytics, self-learning opportunities, and peer-to-peer interactions. This platform consisted of a SaaS web app, a mobile app, and an in-OR device.

The web app and OR device are products that originated in 2014, before my tenure. Since joining J&J I have been responsible for a redesign and designing for new features. With a small team, we were able to accomplish results most thought could only be done with a larger team and budget. This was possible because of the full spectrum set of skills and experiences I brought to the team, and the positive and cooperative team environment I was able to foster. Below is an exploration of highlights of this project from a process and systems perspective.

The Product Family

The three main products my design team is responsible for are a SaaS web app, a mobile app, and a device based in the OR to facilitate the recording and uploading of surgeries.

Working Together

Creating software is a collaborative endeavor. Software production for the C-SATS platform can be visualized as a three-legged stool, where each team, Product Management, Design, and Engineering, work closely together to support the development and support for the product. Each discipline's engagement is vital for assuring a quality product and positive user experience.

I worked closely with Product Management and Engineering to develop the following process for feature development. This process maintains our user-centered approach while accommodating real world requirements from the business and development stakeholders.

Demo / Prototype

At the core of our teams alignment on product vision is the C-SATS Demo. The fully functional demo is a design and interaction sample, a source of CSS and code for engineering, and a demo environment for the Commercial and Support teams. I created and maintain the demo by writing raw HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Its functionality far exceeds prototypes that can be created in tools such as Figma, XD, or Axure, and is less time and resource intensive.

The Demo is configurable to accurately emulate the experience for all user types and personas. It also is used to test out design solutions and act as an accurate and contextual platform for usability testing.

The C-SATS Demo is source of truth for the design team and our cross functional partners.

Design System

The design system I developed for C-SATS is more integrated and complete than you'll typically find. It lives in the C-SATS Demo which assures the design samples and system remain in-sync. It also has direct mapping to an npm (node package manager) that our software engineering team uses for development. This shared component model between the system ensures standardization across design and build.

Our design team also utilizes the Design System and references to keep patterns uniform and minimal. In our design specs, designers will name patterns using the shared component name used in the Design System and shared component library. This promotes consistency, reusability, and engineering efficiencies.

UX Team Artifacts

The UX team hands off two deliverables to Engineering: The Spec and the interaction, visual design, and code samples in the Demo. The UX spec (produced in Figma, or XD) writes out the interaction and display scenarios, contains all variations of language, and references shared components. Each of these artifacts references, and potentially creates references in, the Design System and Product requirements doc.

Keeping the User at the Center

My design team has many contacts with our end users at every stage of product and feature development. Our initial user research helps guide product management in deciding what to build. We then test solutions with representative users in a repetitive and cyclical process refining as we go, until we have high confidence in our solution. We also have multiple avenues of contact with our users once the feature is built to verify it works as expected.

My responsibility as head of the design group for Digital Solutions at J&J is to advocate for the user, illuminate their needs to the business, and find realistic and pragmatic ways to achieve both user and business satisfaction.

Summary

What I describe above is a process and system that was optimal for the C-SATS product suite. This solution and combination of processes is not necessarily the right fit for all product teams. My philosophy is to optimize for the situation and adapt appropriately and pragmatically so we make the best product possible within the given circumstances. For C-SATS, this described system is that.

The work my team and I did at FUJIFILM SonoSite has, in the truest and most tangible sense, direct impacts on the quality of life for people. We designed the device user experience for the market leader in Point of Care Ultrasound.

My role as Manger of User Experience is to lead the UX/UI design team in vision, direction, and day-to-day team management.

We apply User Centered Design and Design Thinking concepts to our work, making us rather unique in the medical device space. I can’t share specifics about the current projects we are working on, but I can share details around the process and methods my team employs.

Research | Empathise | Discover

Getting to know our users is incredibly important. We visit doctors (users) in their environment, as well as bring them into ours. We utilize methods such as interviews, surveys and design-thinking exercises to really get to the heart of what will make our users’ jobs easier to do. In this stage we might run them through exercises like, “design your perfect system”, “write a break-up letter to your current system”, and affinity mapping qualities they find important. Personas or updates to personas will be created at this time, to help encapsulate who we are designing for.

Define | Design

Using data gathered in the previous step, my team begins defining the product and applying tangible solutions to solve issues we discovered. We’ll create user stories and journey maps to illustrate the challenges and the goals of the user. We will check in often with internal SMEs and external users to verify our output.

Design | Ideate | Prototype | Test | Repeat

In this stage we are bringing it all together and testing and validating solutions to the challenges. In the earlier stages of product design, we will start with lower fidelity designs to quickly iterate ideas and “fail fast”. As we learn from those failures we incorporate finding and adjust accordingly. We’ll begin with sketches and wireframes early on and move toward higher fidelity when that is needed. We use internal and external resources to refine our designs and design our scenarios for testing.

The testing we do is with a user base that is a good representation of out actual users. We typically run them through scenario based testing where we present them with a prototype and ask them to try and accomplish tasks. We analyze results from the testing, make changes we think will help address issues, and test again. We repeat until we have a design that meets our users needs.

Design | Develop | Build and Deploy

This is the stage where we turn concepts and designs into reality. We create style guides and pattern libraries to standardize across features. We create style sheets, design specs, and graphic assets for Software to build the system and features we designed.

The SonoSite development teams utilize the Agile development methodology. My team uses a mix of Agile UX and Lean UX to synchronize and accommodate the development methodology. The diagram below illustrates our integration.

Learn | Measure

Once the product is released, we keep a close eye on customer feedback. It’s important to gather this data to plan for enhancements / improvements, as well as help inform the next product. A market is never static, so this input is an important metric to monitor.

The Challenge

Safeco / Liberty Mutual Insurance needed to migrate off an end-of-life back-end platform that was the backbone for all their enterprise and B2B applications. The organization charged the Safeco Online Experience team (my team) to redesign the entire suite of tools.

These tools accounted for a total of 15 billion dollars in annual revenue. Getting this right for both the Liberty Mutual captive agents, and the Safeco independent agents was imperative.

My Role and Responsibilities

Principal UX/UI Designer

• I directed and managed a team of FTE and contract UX designers (fluctuating between 7 and 14 people over 3.5 years)
• I helped guide and participated in user research
• I set the core design standards and designed the core UX and UI patterns used throughout the suite of tools.
• I created and maintained a toolkit of pattern samples and a full working prototype of the portal site that was used in requirements refinement and usability testing.
• I designed and participated in usability tests and evaluations.

The Approach

Discovery / Empathizing

We began with a large research project. We sent about twenty people (including myself) from the business group and IT, in groups of two, to visit with agents all around the country. We observed them work and interviewed them about their likes and dislikes in our current system.

Competitive Analysis

There are strict rules in the regulated insurance industry around accessing competitors' business systems. We could not ask directly about our competitors' solutions, but we did catalog general pain points and experiences that our users volunteered on their own. This data was included in our analysis.

We distilled all aquired data to suss-out high level themes with affinity mapping exercises.

Key Observations and Insights

• Users do lots of multi-tasking
• Too many active windows on screen
• Suite of tools are siloed and require separate logins and windows.
• Agents don’t want to learn new tools (don’t like change)
• Have learned workflow around current tools’ issues
• Think Safeco tools are best in class (“don’t change it”)
• Speed is crucial.
• After price, ease of use of the quoting and servicing tools is most important criteria for independent agents in selecting what insurance line to sell.

Synthesis

• Single window experience desired
• Make system customer-centric instead of policy-centric
• Reduce number of clicks to dive deep
• Tie multiple backends into one front end experience.

With this data I worked with our team to create personas to represent our end users.

Defining

To address our findings from research, we defined a new desired architecture that would help alleviate many of the pain points we discovered. Working closely with Software and Business, we defined the following new underlying framework architecture.

This new architecture was a portal type experience. In order to define a sitemap for the portal we utilized surveys, card sorting, and tree testing exercises with end users and internal SMEs.

Ideate, Prototype, Test

With this knowledge in hand we set about conceptualizing the new Agent Portal. We worked with internal SMEs to define key user needs and workflows. As soon as we felt we had a high-level structure in place for the portal, we began our first usability testing, initially using very basic wireframes.

As the testing and evaluations progressed, the prototypes advanced in complexity and detail. In addition to feature prototypes my team built in Axure, I constructed a holistic prototype of the entire portal. To learn more about this project, see the “Explore the Prototype” link below.

We conducted these first few tests within our lab in the office. We invited agents in to try some basic tasks. As we progressed, our ability to get participants to come in person became more challenging. Although not as ideal, we moved to a remote testing model to help accommodate our busy participants work schedules. We initially used Lync and it’s screen sharing/control feature, and later moved to GotoMeeting.

In total we conducted over 30 formal usability studies of user workflows using new designs of the portal and individual features. Each study consisted of between 10 and 12 end users.

The insights gained were invaluable. The cycle of integrating findings and retesting resulted in a robust, intuitive and extensible solution.

The Solution

The one window portal solution combined all content with servicing tools in one window.

The initial release of the new portal required the servicing apps to live in a separate window. This was a software framework limitation that was discovered late in the project. Adaptations were made to make this and the future migration to the target one window UI as seamless as possible. The examples below show the solution for customer servicing tools living in a child window of the parent Safeco Now portal.

The quoting tools are the “cash register” of the business. This tool is a tool our users will use several times day. It needed to be easy to master quickly but also efficient for the power user.

The screen below represents the design solution for a popular user request. Agents wanted to see all autos in a policy side-by-side. This design accommodates that request in a responsive and fluid layout. Results from testing were very positive.

All statuses of the quote are kept in the right gutter. This allows for detailed messaging without distracting the flow of operation.

Helper characters for selling advice had been used on the previous system. User research found they were well received and desired.

Measuring Results

The new software was put through UAT (User Acceptance Testing) prior to release. Some issues around performance were found that needed a front-end solution to mitigate the impact. We made rapid iterative changes during the UAT process to address the situation until it passed acceptance.

We also did workflow/task analysis between the current system and this new one. We measured time to completion and satisfaction. Despite having experience with the current system, for most workflows users were able to complete tasks quicker on the new system and with higher satisfaction than our current offering.

After passing UAT, the new platform began its nation wide rollout. This was planned as a gradual state-by-state rollout over the course of three years.

Want to Learn More?

Explore the Prototype (POC) Explore the Interaction and Visual Design Philosophy Explore My Role as Manager/Director

Background

The R&D group within J&J MedTech, in coordination with our internal clinical team, were working with our extensive set of our recorded surgeries to explore and discover what insights could be derived utilizing machine learning. This was an exploration to find both what could be revealed, and what would be valuable to our end user surgeons and medical professionals. Several ML models had been created and were at various stages of maturity. These were basically proofs of concept to evaluate what could be done.

The Challenge

My team was tasked to help guide where R&D resources should be prioritized. Developing these ML models would be a large investment of resources, so this research was seen as vitaly important to determine the right direction to move forward in.

These new models would be surfaced in our C-SATS SaaS app, so user-facing solutions would need to be contextualized inside of that experience. Finding the right balance of what data is interesting, valuable, and grokable for our very scientifically minded users would be crucial. They are not the type of user that would be impressed by data unless it had demonstrated value. Displaying data that was not backed up by demonstrated value would damage our reputation and their confidence in our product.

My Role and Responsibilities

• Lead Designer
• Study Designer
• Study Facilitator
• Stimuli Creator
• Prototype Builder

The Approach

As I evaluated the request from R&D, I realized that there were really two connected evaluations we needed to make with users. One was whether the data in general would be useful, and the other was what display of data made sense. We would need to have a variation of display solutions and contexts to get relevant feedback.

The additional design challenge was to take the best performing designs and find a way of integrating those solutions into the existing UX/UI of the site in way that was efficient and contextualize appropriately.

Discovery / Empathizing

When I first engaged with the team for this project, I was given a list and samples of the areas that R&D and clinical had identified as ML models of value and feasibility. My first order of business was to deep dive into the models to get a deeper understanding of how they worked, and what they were comprised of. I also needed to interview our clinical specialists to understand their reasoning for flagging these areas as potentially valuable for our users.

My high-level inputs an outputs for this project looked like this:

From my interviews with Clinical and Engineering, I uncovered the following findings

• Some data had potential value only on individual cases
• Some data had potential value only on a collection of cases
• Some data had potential value on both individual cases and collections
• Some data only made sense when contexualized in a timeframe inside a case
• Some data had higher confidence rates than others
• Some data might have higher value when combined with others

Utilizing data collected from my internal SMEs, I took a first pass at designing some visualizations, patterns, and interactions for the data. Many had multiple variations of display and integration into the platform.

A small sampling of the individual data visualization patterns:

After validating our understanding of the data, and initial analysis of the validity and value of the designs with SMEs, I went about designing the user evaluation series to be conducted with actual users of the platform.

User Interviews

The UX research method I chose was user interviews with stimulus reaction. To fully understand our users reaction to the stimulus being presented, I asked each user to rate each sample on both the value of the data represented, and then on the comprehensibility of the visualization. In addition I asked them to explain the rating, so as to capture more granular reasons for their reaction.

The stimulus was comprised of both static shots of visualizations in isolation, as well as some in context of the UI.

The Results

Key Observations and Insights

The design and methods of this study proved to be quite successful in revealing important information regarding what users found useful, how they wanted to visualize it, and what additionally they wanted to know about their cases. Some key general findings were:

• Some data valuable to early career surgeons, but not valuable at all to later career surgeons
• More advanced surgeons increasingly valued a combination of metrics and context over standalone metrics
• Visualizations which reveal patterns and orders in practice were valued for standardizing personal processes or teaching trainees.
• Almost everyone found value in relating metrics data to specific points in the video of the procedure, and in combination with other metrics
• Some metrics were only valuable for certain specialties and not for others

As reflected in the samples below, Displaying high-level info with the ability to drill in was a much desired display, to prevent an overwhelming amount of data, while still capturing main themes.

The video timeline design I created was the most appreciated and desired design solution in the study. The solution elegantly displays a very complex set of data in a quickly digestible visual display. The collapsed version suffices for the majority of the time, but gives enough indication if there is additional valuable data upon expansion.

Study Recommendations

Some general recommendations we made after analyzing the study data were:

• Use progressive disclosure of metrics data to allow user to grasp high-level info and drill in at their discretion.
• Show metrics in context with others that are relevant (e.g. Idle time in relation to Op time)
• Link metrics together to reveal correlations between actions, choices, and results (connect the dots for users – why does it matter?)
• Support optimization and/or customization of comparisons and visualizations (e.g. who is a peer, expert selection, and overall or deltas)

Debreif

There were definitely some surprises for our product and engineering teams coming out of this study. Some models that were thought to be very valuable to our end user surgeons just weren’t that impressive to them after all. What was a revelation was that stitching these models together and identifying trends on the combination of models was the desired state for most.

Coming out of this design and research phase, the cross functional teams together identified several roadmap items for product enhancements, and re-prioritization R&D projects in the Machine Learning work. We also approached the phased implementation UX strategy with clarity on what would constitute an MVP release for each phase.

Personal Reflection

I am very proud of what I accomplished in this project, the impact it had, and the appreciation I received. To be able to bridge a connection and solution between three very complex disciplines (machine Learning engineers and researchers, medical clinical experts, and surgeons), and successfully design UX solutions to the satisfaction of all parties involved is an achievement I won't forget, and one that I take the lessons learned forward with me.

Moving Forward

Post study, I was involved in many cross-functional discussions on prioritizing the work going forward. With solid data in hand, I was able to negotiate an acceptable path forward, from the perspective of our users.

The first feature to be released following the study was the Stapling ML model. This was an initial pared down version of what we tested, and what was put on the roadmap. Scope was reduced for technical and timing reasons, but we were confident in this MVP's value, because of the extensive study that was performed.

For the past 25 years, Bullhorn has dedicated itself to building industry-leading, cloud-based software for the staffing and recruitment industry. Through partnerships with 10,000 customers globally, Bullhorn has built a vast knowledge base of recruitment best practices and deep domain expertise to help firms scale their businesses. Founder-led and headquartered in Boston, Bullhorn employs 1,600 people across 14 countries focused on delivering an incredible customer experience – its core mission.

My Role

As UX Manager at Bullhorn, I manage a team of eight UX designers and am reponsible for the UX across all Bullhorn products, with the exception of our Salesforce solution. Bullhorn's product portfolio is a large offering of solutions, both home grown and obtained by acquisition.

I am reponsible for the UX on the following products:

Some Product/Project Highlights

Bullhorn Analytics

Bullhorn Analytics makes powerful, easy-to-understand, real-time reporting and actionable insights accessible to users at every level in a recruitment agency. The highly-configurable automated reporting platform gives a unique pairing of front, middle, and back-office depth, combined with flexibility and speed.

Bullhorn Analytics includes the following features:

• Individualized Dashboards
• Performance Management Analytics
• Real-time Self-serve Reporting
• Jobs Pipeline Management
• Visualise Trends
• Gamify Recruitment
• Bullhorn Partner Analytics
• Data Configuration & Quality Monitoring

Analytics Slice & Dice

The Slice & Dice feature is particularly helpful when it comes to tracking and analyzing customer relationships and identifying the most promising opportunities. By focusing on existing and promising clients, companies can improve their business development efforts and job fill rates efficiently.

Reports built in Slice & Dice can be customized for more granular insights, including specific teams and additional activities. With these insights, you can quickly visualize trends, like clients with high placements, to identify cross-selling opportunities and analyze customer relationships in order to maximize business potential.

Individual Analytics

A recruiter on a team has their own view into their performance, based on performance goals set up by their org. The OneView page gives them an at a glance, and deeper-dive look at their current metrics and performance. The organization can also use Bullhorn Analytics game-ified leaderboard feature to make a competitive atmosphere, to bring up the performance of the team. The metrics and states used to determine rankings are customizable by the organization.

Manager Dashboard

The Manager Dashboard is where manager can see at a glance, the performance of their recruiting team. The Dashboard supports editing and customizing to fully optimize for the needs of individual companies and managers. These dashboard views can also be shared, so multiple customized dashboards can be utilized in an organization.

Analytics Metric Editing

An exciting new feature being released in July 2024, is the Metric Editing feature. This allows end users to edit their metrics themselves, without the need for customization work from Bullhorn engineering, as was previously the case. This feature puts a user-friendly UX/UI on a complex backend data operation. The solution which visually displays the logic and boolean operators that go into editing metrics, performed very well in user testing, and is a highly anticipated feature for Bullhorn Analytics customers.

Bullhorn Integrating new AI features

Bullhorn Copilot, the suite of AI recruiter capabilities in development at Bullhorn, is designed to embed the power of artificial intelligence into recruiter workflows.

Recently released capabilities of Copilot are:

• Quickly summarize profiles
• Generate email and SMS messages
• Pitch your candidate for a job
• Analyze if a candidate is a good fit for a job
• Create screening questions
• Adjust and improve messages
• Automatically find the best candidates for a particular job

These features are designed to integrate seamlessly into the existing UX/UI as extensions to current workflows requiring little acclimation and cognitive load for current users, while providing powerful enhancements.

This feature is a result of extensive user research and testing to assure that these features provide real value where users want it. Bullhorn customers are very enthusiastic about these features which were announced at Bullhorn's Engage Conference 2023, and began rolling out in 2024.

Future additions to Bullhorn Copilot will incorporate source & match and directive AI:

• Sourcing AI - Help find the best talent and jobs
• Directive AI - Help with what I need to do next or focus on

User research on these next features continues in 2024, with rollout into product expected in 2025.

Supporting and Mentoring My Team

As the leader of UX designers and the UX practice at Bullhorn, I oversee daily assignments and make sure everyone is clear on their tasks and deadlines. I mentor the team in various aspects of UX/UI, helping them grow in user research, interaction design, and visual design. I focus on fostering collaboration and open communication, which helps build a strong and productive team. By creating a supportive environment, I encourage my team to deliver great user experiences that contribute to our projects' success.

This commitment to these values, put into practice, can be seen in some of the work I have produced in my tenure.

Career Progression Documentation

One of the first projects I did as the UX Manager at Bullhorn was to create a career progression document. A career progression document offers clear expectations for advancement, motivating and engaging employees. It provides a structured framework for skill development and ensures fairness in promotions. This transparency improves retention, aids in talent management, and aligns individual growth with organizational goals.

Creating Resources and Standards

As the manager of the UX team, I am responsible for the performance of the individuals and the team collectively. Each team member comes to Bullhorn with different levels of experience and skills, and different mixes of those attributes. To level up the team, and to assure consistency in how we operate, I created resources and platforms to achieve these goals.

I have produced documentation on topics like Research Facilitation, Findings Reports, CSS Basics, etc. I also created templates for documents we share internally and externally.

The BHUX Academy

To promote continued learning and to make sure the team is in alignment on certain topics, I created an Academy to house the documentation, and to assess the teams comprehension of the subjects. The Academy is a platform I developed to be an educational and fun place as well. It has valuable content and quizzes, but is presented in a humorous and game-ified way to promote friendly competition and a more memorable experience. I developed six interaction patterns to vary the quiz content and promote engagement.

The standards documentation and Academy have been very well received on the UX team. It has also been very valuable in building the reputation of the UX team in the rest of the Bullhorn org, as it promotes transparency and helps communicate UX's function and value.