Defect Analysis
Human-Centered Design Brings A Legacy Product Back to Life.
Timeline: 5 months Role: User research, Product design, Prototyping
Role
UX Lead DESIGNER
(Project Member)
Team
Veryon Product Design Team
Duration
July 2019
(1 Year. total)
Impact
~30% increase in lead capture rate, equivalent to ~$223k in added annualized revenue
The Process
— 1
Discovery
— 2
Ideation
— 3
Design
— 4
Test
Project kickoff workshops are a great way to establish situational awareness, so I invited senior Sales, Support, Engineering, and Product Management colleagues to the group's first-ever cross-functional design workshop. B2B software adoption problems tend to arise from trust (bad data, instability, etc.) and/or fit (usefulness, access, etc.). I facilitated a user journey mapping exercise to capture what the team collectively knew about how and when the tool was used in typical customer workflows. Misalignment about the user journey made it easy to convince the group to finally engage in user research.
User Interview & Onsite Discovery
The Director Of Product Management and I formed a close partnership and quickly dispelled a belief that access to end-users would be impossible. Customers were happy to see our product team visit them, and in one case, we secured badges providing virtually unrestricted access to airline technicians as they worked in hangars. The team interviewed, shadowed, and conducted onsite usability testing with dozens of maintenance technicians across the entire customer base in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Link to SpotLight Research Visit
TOP INSIGHTS:
PERSONA + JOURNEY MAPPING
Empathizing With Our User
After onsite research at UPS and American Airlines, we observed firsthand the challenges technicians and maintenance controllers face—disconnected tools, slow workflows, and high-pressure decision-making. To improve their experience, solutions must prioritize usability, real-time collaboration, and seamless access to critical data.
Theme
HEURISTIC EVALUATION
🚧 Problem Areas Identified
Performed a heuristic evaluation with severity ratings across 10 UX principles
Poor system feedback
Overloaded screens
Icons with no labels
Low visibility of progress
Inconsistent task flows
Example
“Did that action go through?”
Competing buttons, poor hierarchy
Unclear functionality
Long delays with no system status
Troubleshooting steps felt disconnected
🧠 Design Strategy
Real workflows. Not walkthroughs.
Rather than walking stakeholders through screens, I reframed our design presentations as story-based task flows to keep the focus on the user's world:
“As a maintenance controller responding to a 100-hour inspection discrepancy, I need to find a solution fast, confirm it’s accurate, and communicate it clearly—all without jumping between tools.”
💡 Solutions Implemented
✅ Created clear visual hierarchy and simplified layout
✅ Added progress indicators and confirmation messages
✅ Introduced undo and safeguard features for risky actions
✅ Reorganized flows to reflect technician priorities
✅ Optimized for performance and speed
REFLECTION
📈 Outcomes
By using "just enough" research, the Design team showed a skeptical business unit how human-centered design can take a product from good to great. We helped maintenance technicians level up by introducing artificial intelligence into their work, and stalled sales revenues began to move in the right direction again.
🚀 +103% NPS improvement for Diagnostic
🙌 Increased trust and usage among techs and service desk teams
🧩 Foundation laid for a consistent design system across the platform
📚Learnings
Standing your ground and advocate for research backed designs. As the sole product designer for this project , getting my voice heard by c-level executives and upper management posed a challenge but with an emphasis on data-driven design I was able to reinforce and build creditability for design proposals. My data-driven approach has allowed me to create designs that are grounded in real user data and insights, resulting in a product that meets the specific needs of our target audience.
I have constantly asked questions like "What would a inspector expect to see on at this stage?" to ensure that the product is designed with the end-user in mind. This approach has allowed me to create designs that are not only visually appealing but also functional and relevant to our target audience. I am excited to see the launch of this product and am confident that it will be well received.