Improving the Flow for Enhanced Seller Experience

Overview

During a critical transition within Q branch, I played a key role in leading the V2 redesign of Solution Workspace Resources' navigation and content templates, in collaboration with another designer. This project went beyond a simple facelift; it was a strategic overhaul to empower Solutions Engineers and prepare the platform for future growth. By fostering close collaboration between developers, a project manager, and various stakeholders, we ensured a successful launch that not only improved the user experience but also laid a robust foundation for upcoming developments and enhancements. My contributions were instrumental in driving alignment and ensuring the design met both immediate user needs and long-term strategic goals.

My Impact & Key Results

• Increased Resource Adoption: The redesigned navigation directly led to a measurable increase in resource adoption by Solutions Engineers. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the intuitive design in connecting users with the tools they need to succeed.

• Improved User Satisfaction: User feedback shifted from frustration with the previous system to high satisfaction with the new design. This was directly attributed to the user-centered design process I championed, which focused on addressing their specific pain points.

• Enhanced Workflow Efficiency: The streamlined navigation and improved content templates reduced the time Solutions Engineers spent searching for resources, leading to a demonstrable improvement in their daily workflow efficiency.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: I fostered a collaborative environment between designers and developers, resulting in a more user-focused and efficient development process. This approach broke down silos and improved overall team productivity.

Understanding the Challenge

Solution Workspace is an internal Salesforce tool that provides Solutions Engineers with the resources they need to win deals and enables solutions teams to manage and customize demos.

The core challenge was to identify and deliver high-value improvements for Solutions Engineers in Resource Space V2, while simultaneously aligning the redesign with the company's broader long-term vision for the platform. This required a deep understanding of user needs and the ability to translate those needs into actionable design solutions.

My Role in Defining the Solution

I took a proactive approach to understanding the challenges and defining the solution. I played a key role in:

• Designing and facilitating workshops with senior leaders to gather insights and identify pain points.

• Conducting user research, including interviews and surveys, to understand how Solutions Engineers used the platform and what their needs and wants were.

• Synthesizing research findings to inform design decisions and prioritize features.

Identifying User Needs:

To ensure the redesign effectively addressed user needs, I partnered with a teammate to develop user personas for the Solutions Workspace community feature. This involved:

• Conducting interviews with Solutions Engineers, leaders, and strategists using a variety of methods, including UserTesting.com, Google Meet, and FigJam.

• Analyzing data from asynchronous questionnaires and previous user research.

• Leading live interviews and user workshops to gather qualitative insights.

This comprehensive research allowed us to gain a deep understanding of users' daily jobs, challenges, needs, and how they utilized Solution Workspace.

Vision Setting Workshop

I co-facilitated a 2.5-hour in-person workshop in Dublin, Ireland, with ~15 participants, including developers and leaders, to define the future vision of the Solutions Workspace community. This workshop was crucial in:

• Driving collaboration and consensus among stakeholders with diverse perspectives.

• Encouraging participants, especially developers, to empathize with users and understand their needs.

• Guiding the creation of a product vision statement aligned with user needs and business goals.

The positive feedback from developers, who expressed excitement about being involved in user-centered design, highlighted the workshop's success in fostering a user-centric culture.

From Vision to Blueprint

Following the workshop, I played a key role in translating the vision into a concrete design plan. My contributions included:

• Collaborating with the pillar leader and project manager to refine the final vision statement in FigJam, incorporating insights from the workshop.

• Creating user flows to map out how users would navigate the redesigned Solution Workspace resources.

• Developing wireframes for each step of the user journey, incorporating user feedback and best practices to ensure an intuitive and user-friendly experience.

Iterative Design and Final Solution

The final design solution was the result of an iterative process focused on continuous improvement. Key features included:

• Contextual Resource Filtering: Dynamically displaying resources relevant to a user's selected opportunity, streamlining their workflow.

• Intuitive Navigation: Implementing clear categories and sub-categories, along with filter pills, to enable users to quickly find the resources they need.

• Enhanced Resource Pages: Providing updated metadata, guides, and support information, including a "Last Updated" notification to ensure resource relevance.

These design choices were directly informed by user research and feedback, and they significantly improved the usability and effectiveness of Solution Workspace.

Defining MVP and Technical Feasibility

I collaborated with developers and the other designer to define the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and assess technical feasibility. This process was critical in:

• Prioritizing core functionalities to focus development efforts and maximize impact.

• Ensuring that the proposed design solutions were technically feasible and could be implemented within project constraints.

• Streamlining the development process by deferring less critical features, such as help articles and demo guides.

Launch and Communication

The successful launch of the redesigned Solution Workspace Resources was the culmination of a long and collaborative effort. I contributed to this success by:

• Participating in quality assurance (QA) testing to ensure a smooth and bug-free release.

• Supporting the creation of a communication deck to inform stakeholders about the upcoming changes and their benefits.

Reflection and Future Iterations

In the project retrospective, I actively participated in analyzing what went well, what didn't, and what could be improved. This led to the creation of a prioritization matrix (facilitated by my colleague) to guide future development efforts. By prioritizing features based on user value and technical feasibility, we ensured that the platform would continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of Solutions Engineers.

Conclusion

This project was a significant undertaking that required a deep understanding of user needs, strong collaboration skills, and a commitment to delivering a high-quality user experience. I played a vital role in every stage of the project, from initial research and vision setting to design, development, and launch. The successful redesign of Solution Workspace Resources has had a lasting impact on how Solutions Engineers access and utilize critical resources, ultimately contributing to their success and the company's bottom line.