The new mobility with SmartWay
Our project vision:
With the intermodal SmartWay app, we combine all means of transport in one app. It only takes a single login and all mobility is at your disposal. Thanks to location sharing, the app learns about your travel behavior and looks ahead for you. Like this you run never again for a train that's late anyway. And if you do have a problem on your trip, you will receive a plan B tailored to your needs so that you can still reach your destination.
The SmartWay app was implemented in a development partnership. This means that two companies with different cultures worked together as partners. The team was organized around scaled agility, similar to SAFe.
My achievements in the role Lead UX (during two years)
Designed, implemented and continuously improved the user centred design processes that our team followed (integrating Lean UX and Design Thinking aspects)
Designed and executed our user research strategy to ensure we were "doing the right thing" especially, as everybody in the team seems to be an expert in the subject of transport
Implemented a bi-monthly user testing format where real users came to our office to challenge our latest ideas and we can learn fast
Organized and facilitatet design sprints to work collaboratively and focused on our key design challenges
Represented the user needs in PO Sync, PI Planning and other strategic meetings so we could find the balance between user needs an business goals
Provided specialist leadership to several external user experience experts (servant leader)
Designed user flows and detailed functional concepts to solve users needs (scribbles, wireframes and low fi designs) and also supported the others to make sure we follow the CI/CD guidelines
Impressions of our user tests with market stands
How I work:
In this project, I have aligned all processes according to user centred design (UCD). In order to achieve this, I did active stakeholder management and used practical trainings like prototyping workshops to give the other employees an understanding of the added value of a user-centred approach. I have created structures that enable regular user research and testing. With my strong social skills, I not only successfully led my team through the remote time, but also brought the two cultures of Axon (the partner company) and SBB closer together.
User Research:
Mobility is not an easy topic because everyone thinks they know and understand everything. Especially when it comes to the mobility of the future, it is extremely important to recognize the actual underlying needs of the users. We want to satisfy these needs in a new, better way and thus create innovations. With my social science background, user research is particularly important to me. From the start, I've been committed to making sure we invest enough budget and time to listen carefully to our customers. For example, I had carried out an extensive jobs-to-be-done study together with an agency.
Diary study, focus groups, interviews, questionnaires
Jobs to be done
Personas, customer journeys, scenarios
Concept
From ideation sessions with scribbles to simpler visualizations with Balsamiq to clickable prototypes with Figma, I have turned the insights I have gathered into solutions. On the one hand, I was making sure we create a divers set of variants in the beginning, but then on the other hand also made sure that the new ideas fit into the overall solution. Whenever possible, I also involved people from development or POs, because I am convinced of the added value of collaborative work with different disciplines. For a consistant and positive user experience, I have also created some guidelines for the language and have written all texts in German (ux writing).
Scribbling (e.g. Design Studio)
Information architecture
Wireframing, User Flows (Miro)
Prototyping (click prototypes with Figma, Balsamiq, InVision)
UX Writing
Testing/Evaluation
Thanks to my continuous stakeholder management and the orientation of the processes towards a user-centred mindset, I was able to get the POs to ask “if we had already tested the concept and if they could be there to see the tests”. I have also established a user testing format with market stands, to which we invite around seven test persons every three months and challenged our latest ideas with them. Every 15 minutes the test users switched to a new prototype. In this way, we were able to validate or reject our hypotheses within a very short time. In addition, I also regularly carried out normal usability tests.
Implementation of structures for user testing (e.g. market stands)
Carry out user tests (Hallway tests, usability walkthrough, usability tests), card sorting
Design
As a representative of the SBB UX team, it was my job to negotiate with the stakeholders how far we can move away from the SBB design system without a bad impact on our branding. Since the app is also intended to be used as a white label, it cannot be fully implemented in the SBB CI/CD. My colleagues were responsible for developing the specific designs. I challenged them and approved the final designs.
Ensure consistency and compliance with SBB Guidelines where necessary
Enabling/sharpen the vision:
I also lived my role in terms of enabling. I supported my team and especially the product manager with my methodological skills. For example, I designed and conducted a three-day Iteration Zero workshop or did various workshops on the development of value propositions and vision or a "Next App" workshop on the synthesis of the next big features. I have supported others in visualizing their ideas and thus achieving a common picture of the idea.
Conception and moderation of workshops (Iteration Zero, Next App Workshops, etc.)
Design sprints
