ITicket - Admin portal

A desktop portal for administration, sales, channels, orders, and tickets for customers who have theme parks, day tours, or attractions in their business. Big customers include LEGO House, Liseberg, Strömma, Norway's Best, the ABBA Museum, and ICEHOTEL. To name a few.

The problem(s) you had to solve
The primary issue is the substantial debt incurred in terms of design and usability. It was built without a design from the start and is totally customizable. What I mean by that is the ability to set up a product in almost infinite ways. That itself is a usability nightmare.

Your specific role in the project and how you collaborated with others
My role is as a UX designer, to be the one who makes it usable for the most customers. To understand the pain point and drive the unification. It has been challenging to get backend developers to understand the front-end and the value of design. However, the collaboration and willingness to explain the technical aspects of the product have helped me understand its technical limitations. However, it also allowed me to explore difficult tasks and make them more understandable.

How you came to your proposed solution(s)

I usually propose solutions with clickable prototypes. I make videos or show the prototypes to developers to get an understanding of "Is this the right idea?" I'm a visual person, so it's easier for me to understand complex systems by drawing them out. After that, I write user stories and feature stories so that the team later on have something to discuss.

In challenging administrative setups, I also reach out to the customer success team and ask them about the biggest problems they encounter and the workarounds they use.

The solutions almost always come in collaboration with others if it's not a simple task, like we need a new icon here or something similar.

How did your proposed solution(s) solve the problem
I show the team during refigment sessions or smaller group sessions with the people responsible. This is a great way to get insights I wouldn't get in other ways.

Challenges you faced, including design concepts that were ultimately not pursued
I have enormous challenges when it comes to finding an understanding of what role design is in R&D. And the difficulties going from a develop first, think later perspective. Where design is an afterthought of development already done. It's not an optimal way of working, and it hinders the ability of design to make a real impact.

How the project affected the users and the business
It's clear that when design is included in the discovery phase, before development has begun. The user stories are clearer with defined issues we are solving. This results in faster development and more issues being solved.

One major win is also to include the Customer Success staff in feedback sessions on tasks to get the super user perspective. This makes them feel included and heard in the development.

I also know that the prototyping of solutions made customers pay more for certain solutions I had provided.

What I learned
I learned it's challenging to implement new ideas and workflows if you work in the wrong part of R&D. It's also tricky to change work patterns if the team don't have time to reflect on issues that are not directly part of their day-to-day work. I also realised the importance of self-learning and that I have to find meaningful tasks on the side of the main work if it's not enough.

You can make the best solution, but if the ability to implement isn't there, it's really hard to convert a function into reality.