Consultancy project I worked on during my time at Minsait for Enel Brasil.
I worked as a solo designer while in an agile squad.
This case study focuses on my practical experience, sharing the process, the challenges I faced, and the lessons I learned along the way.
1.
Context
Enel is a multinational energy company that promotes innovation and sustainability through initiatives like “Inspire Deu Certo”, a program that recognizes and values solutions developed by its employees.
The management of these programs was done via spreadsheets, which motivated the creation of a more organized, practical, and efficient platform.
To enable this transformation, Enel called upon its partner Minsait to assemble an agile team dedicated to developing the new platform.
2.
Challenges and Solutions
3.
Process
3.1
Empathy
The first phase of my process consisted of understanding who the end-users of the platform would be and what their needs were.
During this stage, I was able to interview some of these users to better understand each of their roles.
3.2
Definition
With the users well-defined, we moved on to writing User Stories.
I actively participated in refinement meetings and contributed to the definition of requirements.
Definition phase diagram.
3.3
Ideation
Before getting started on the screens, it was necessary to define a design standard.
I looked for references and created wireframes to establish the structure, which were reviewed and approved by the project PM and PO after a few iterations.
With the structure validated, I followed the brand guidelines to create high-fidelity mockups, which were soon evaluated and approved by the communication team.
That way, the platform's design standard was established.
Diagram of the design standard definition process.
3.3
Testing and Iterations
Due to a tight deadline, I didn't have time to create functional prototypes or test with end-users.
The only feedback I received came from stakeholders during Sprint Reviews or functional testing.
By the time the platform went into production and began receiving feedback, I was already leaving Minsait and could not follow the iterations based on that information.
Diagram of an iteration.
4.
Impact
One of the project's priorities was to ensure the platform complied with WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility guidelines.
Although I was already familiar with the basics of design accessibility (colors and fonts) I had never experienced a project where accessibility was a mandatory requirement.
Enel provided us with extensive documentation on accessibility guidelines and requirements. To make the process faster and more practical, I created an Accessibility Checklist within the project management tool we were using (Atlassian).
I used the checklist both during screen creation and the internal testing phase. It was soon noticed by the project PM and PO, who saw its utility and shared it with other areas of Enel.
Visual example of the accessibility checklist created and used in the project.
I understand that I did the best I could with the knowledge and resources available at the time.
However, with the experience I have gained since then, I see several opportunities for improvement.
5.
What would I do differently?
What would I do differently?
In 2021, this was my first job at a multinational. I didn't feel like I had enough of a voice to negotiate or defend certain needs.
Today, I would not hesitate to insist on conducting usability tests, after all, who better to validate a solution than the users themselves?
Create a minimum Design System foundation
I must confess it took me some time before I realized a Design System is an essential asset in digital projects.
Today, I would 100% prioritize creating a foundation, even a small one, to ensure more consistency and scalability for the product.
Document my experiences and learnings
It was very difficult to write this study using my memory as the only source.
For that reason, I know that in my future projects I want to keep brief records of my decisions, motivations, and difficulties, not just for my own learning, but also to support the team.