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IBM Design Practice
COMPANY: IBM / ROLE: DESIGN DIRECTOR
In 2012, the business was facing major issues due to poor user experience across its SaaS solutions, as evidenced by customer & sales feedback. I was hired to build the Design practice from ground zero, establish Design principles, successfully integrate Design within cross-functional org, develop a strong Design Thinking culture, and drastically transform User Experience across IBM Smarter Workforce SaaS applications.
In my role, I established & built a successful global Design practice of 24 talented designers (UX, VD, FED). I dramatically transformed the user experience across multiple apps through an innovative, mobile-first Design strategy and Design Thinking. I created & developed an active user program with 50+ clients. I drive thought leadership & innovative cross-functional Design Thinking initiatives: client experience maps, roadmap program. etc.
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Design Mission
Across 6 client experiences
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Design Evolution
From design dark ages to design transformation at scale
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Design Scale
From no designers to solid design practice
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IBM Design Thinking
Leveraging Enterprise initiative at the local IBM Smarter Workforce org level
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3 Core Principles
Hills, Sponsor Users, and Playbacks
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IBM Design Language
Set of living guidelines
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Smarter Workforce Design Principles
Unique brand voice for our domain, employee engagement / workplace technology
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Smarter Workforce Brand Voice
Key differentiators
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Key Design Elements
Color, Typography, Grid, Iconography, etc.
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Playback Flow
Getting to playback 0 & go to market
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3-In-A-Box
PM, Design, & Engineering are part of the three-legged stool
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Agile Alignment Framework
Cross-team collaboration blending agile & design thinking on the road to market
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Design Pattern Library
Searchable library of design patterns across all Talent Suite apps - from atomic to modular
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Roadmap Initiative
Created & enabled roadmap government & template across all products
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Marketing Support
Support for go-to-market campaigns, events, decks, infographics, etc.
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Phil Gilbert, Design GM @ IBM
Talent + Practice + Spaces = Outcomes
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Design Tools
Mural.ly, Sketch, InVision, Axure, Release Blueprints, and much more
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Using Mural.ly
.. for pretty much everything!
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6 Client Experiences
Design is not UI.. ensuring great experiences across user / customer journeys
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6 Client Experiences
Explained
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Customer Journey Maps
Before…
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Customer Journey Maps
… and after
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Some Quotes
From customer, analysts, etc.