When creating a software platform, there are a variety of teams that work together in order to create the product that reaches the market. Each team has a unique role that is crucial to the final product. The team whose work is perhaps the most initially visible aspect of any piece of software is the User Experience team. This visually inclined team, does more than choose colors and shapes—the UX team’s work can make or break a product. If the user can’t understand the user interface, they’ll never reach the features that the dev team painstakingly created. UX encompasses the visual experience and navigation of how use cases are articulated in a customer-friendly interface. I spoke with Kerry_Harrison, Miguel Rivera, and Seonwan_Myung, the UX team for the DevTest solutions, to understand how they work towards this goal and specifically focusing on the most recent user interface work done in the 8.0 release.
Q: Why did CA decide to work on a new UI design?
UI Design and User Experience is an essential part of product development today. With the former LISA solution, UX was built up from 10 years of development and quickly became a tool with a ton of functionality but one that wasn’t very easy to use for the newer user. After seeking and reviewing customer feedback on the user experience, our team decided to do a study to understand the areas of the product that needed to be streamlined. The results of the study helped frame the user interface design and experience that we wanted to achieve with the product and the rest is “DevTest Portal” history.
Kerry: We started out in a larger group tasked with developing the UI for a variety of newly acquired products. We needed to bring these different looking products together, so a customer could recognize them as a CA Product.
Miguel: We needed to transform LISA into a web-based, user friendly product. The field of DevOps was new, and the product needed a look, feel, and navigation that reflected the demands of the market.
Q: What process did you go through to design the new user interface?
Miguel: We had several meetings over a week or two to lay out our plan. We had to develop user stories, collaborate with product managers, decide on a design direction, and begin testing it.
Seonwan: Change isn’t easy. UX can’t be created through a complete standard, we have to create something that is unique and tailored to the product we are working with. We are constantly moving forward.
Miguel: Our team needed to take a complex application, and make it simple—a task that is not simple. To aid in this process, we developed our own design library.
Q: But it’s not just colors and shapes – it’s a full user experience, right?
Kerry: A successful UI incorporates consistent functionality. The interface should follow how the customer will utilize the product.
Seonwan: Our job is to create a correspondence between function and appearance.
Q: How do you handle customer feedback throughout the process?
Kerry: Product Managers meet with customers, and show them the designs and features we’ve been working on. Based on their input, we know what should change or stay the same.
Miguel: Part of the process was to change the culture. Agile has been added only in the last several years, and we needed to change the UX team dynamic to fit into the agile process.
Kerry: We design pieces, and then adjust them to create a holistic user experience. We iterate.
Q: What is the most difficult part of your job and how do you overcome this?
Miguel: Our job requires us to keep many things in mind; we design for users not ourselves. The design should work for different types of people, while making the product consistent.
Q: What are some of the fun aspects of your job?
Seonwan: We often work remotely, so when we all come together in person, it’s great. We lead the design, and that autonomy really allows to create something we are proud of. Coming together reminds of us of that.
Miguel: The design process is being altered, so that the designer is put first. We aren’t forcing the UX onto a previously built product. We are working holistically, to create the experience as it’s truly intended. People are happier with what we’ve made since this change has happened.
Kerry: Hearing from the Product Managers that the user is happy with the product is the most fulfilling.
After reading this Q&A, what insights about UX do you have? What interactions do you have with UX, or your UX team? What's your favorite aspect of the DevTest Portal? Sound off in the comments!
If you're interested in learning more about the CA DevTest Portal, you can join our customer validation program by following the instructions here: Customer Validation Program for DevTest Solutions.