Skye Sant led the design of a new Risk Register feature for their company. The goal was to create a tool that was at least as functional and visually pleasing as competitors, while accommodating workflow and being coherent with the existing user interface. Sant conducted user research including stakeholder interviews and competitive reviews. They then designed visual and interaction prototypes, working with product owners and developers to refine it. After launching, Sant evaluated the feature based on usability and metrics to identify opportunities to extend and iterate on the design.

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Case Study: New Feature
Risk Register | Increasing Business Capability
Skye Sant | Lead Product Design

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New Feature: Risk Register
Individual Contributor + Informal Leader
Skye Sant

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‣At least as functional and visually pleasing as
competitors (+’modern’)
‣Accommodates workflow
‣Coherent with existing UI
Risk Register
Create a Risk module featuring a Risk Register* (paid add-on to current offering) that’s
‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
‣ DISCOVER
‣ SME interviews +
Competitive Review
‣ DESIGN
‣ Visual + Interaction
Design
‣ Interactive Prototype
‣ Completing the Mockup
‣ Working with PO & Dev
‣ In Production
‣ EVALUATE
‣ Validate
‣ Extend + Iterate
+ COMMUNICATION & CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
PROCESS
Purpose
GOALS
* Risk Register: a tool for documenting risks (potential issues that can derail intended outcomes) and actions to manage each risk.
OVERVIEW
Legacy: Risk spreadsheets

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Sole Individual Contributor (IC)
Collaborating IC
Contribution by Others
Full autonomy & responsibility
Shared work & responsibility
Information or work provided by others
[Role] Leader
‣ Leader
Informal Influencer
Formal management responsibilities
Shared vision/strategy & guidance
Support, persuasion & Influence
CONTRIBUTION:
LEADERSHIP:
‣ User Research
‣ Visual/Interaction Design
‣ User Testing
‣ Project management/ organization
‣ Vision + Strategy
‣ Communication + Presentation
‣ PM + SMEs: background info (research)
‣ PO + devs: User Stories + Technical Discussions
OVERVIEW
A remote friendly company
I was located in the Denver global
headquarters
Risk Register

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SME (subject matter expert) Interviews + Competitive Review
Risk Register
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
‣ Workflow
‣ Personas + journey maps
‣ Minimum content and
functionality
‣ Relative importance of
components (priorities)
FINDINGS
Key insight: Risk - Control = Residual Risk
SME notes + sketches
Risk Register
Competitor attempts at visual interest
Goal: At least as functional as our competitors + modern (=incorporate best practices)
Interviews + content audits->
Workflow
Not pictured:
Personas
User Journey maps
Vision/ strategy decks
Meetings with Execs
DISCOVER

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Visual + Interaction Design
Risk Register
‣ Use master-detail pattern:
table + sidepanel
‣ Include ‘dashboard’
functionality on the sidepanel
DECISIONS
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
Goal: Coherent with existing UI + usable
Research + hallway tests ->
Table-dashboard | vertical tabs | horizontal tabs | expand/collapse panels
Parallel panels
A table is well suited to
list | filter | sort
functionality
Existing UI (table + sidepanel)
Not pictured:
Feedback from research
participants via Adobe XD
interactive prototype online
User stories
DESIGN

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Interactive Prototype
Risk Register
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
‣ Extendable sidepanel
‣ Prioritized functionality over
ecosystem visibility
‣ Bonus: accessable color
palette
DECISIONS
Technical opportunities + ‘Wizard of Oz’ user tests ->
Goal: Visually pleasing + modern (= white space + movement)
Not pictured:
Change management efforts
with Sales/Marketing, to bring
them up to speed
Plan for user testing
DESIGN
Sidepanel

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Completing the Mockups (1/2)
Risk Register DESIGN
Risk Register v26 2
1
Complete the sidepanel
tabs
Complete the actions
+ workflow CTA on the
sidepanel header
Complete the
actions +
workflow CTA
(when a table
item is
selected)
Complete the main
CTA + more actions +
column selector on the
table header
(unselected)

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Risk Register DESIGN
Sidepanel
2
1
Completing the Mockups (2/2)
Risk Register v26
Sidepanel: Details tab Sidepanel: Risk tab
A
A
B
B
C
D
C
D

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Working with PO + Devs (1/3): From UX
Risk Register DESIGN
Notes re: state changes
1 2 3
Adaptive/responsive dashboard design
Color palette (colorblind safe)

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Working with PO + Devs (2/3): Working with teams
Risk Register DESIGN
User Stories Process: story/feature creation
Good communication means keeping track of dev teams, roles,
and time zones
1 2 3
UX Acceptance Criteria (on each user story) to assist QA

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Working with PO + Devs (3/3): Organizational efficiency
Risk Register DESIGN
Sidepanel
UX Standards (in TargetProcess)
UX Dept kanban
(in TargetProcess)
UX Dept cadence (2 week sprints)
2 3
1

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MVP in Production
Risk Register
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI

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Quantitative + qualitative measurements:
Qualitative:
At least as functional and
visually pleasing as
competitors
Qualitative: Most SMEs +
beta users rate as ‘cool’*
“Cool!” 88%
Quantitative:
Accommodates workflow +
coherent with existing UI
Quantitative: users can
accomplish top 3 tasks in 2
minutes or less**
* 5/6 SMEs + 4/6 Beta users said ‘This is cool!’ (or ‘clean’ or ‘neat’ or ‘slick’) when asked “So what do you think of this?’
** 88% Tasks done in <2 minutes (14/16)
Validate
Risk Register EVALUATE
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI

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Validate
Risk Register
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
Goals:
OUTCOMES
Usability testing + survey ->
Designed, developed and in production; new functionality released in 4 months
This is a video of a user clicking through to a risk, changing settings, and adding a control in 30 seconds
EVALUATE
At least as functional and
visually pleasing as
competitors
Accommodates workflow
Coherent with existing UI

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Extend + Iterate
Risk Register
Create a Risk Register that’s ‘modern & usable’ while being coherent with existing UI
‣ More dashboard widgets
‣ More Settings pages
‣ Ecosystem visibility: pages for
component parts added
(controls, vulnerabilities)
‣ Connect Risks etc (clone,
relationships)
EXTEND
Workflow
Risk Settings Page: Scale tab
Risk dashboard
Existing platform + Risk Register ->
Not pictured:
Updates to Pattern Library
UX Standards
EVALUATE

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New Feature: Risk Register
Individual Contributor + Informal Leader
Q&A

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Thank you
Work with people
doing their best work,
striving toward the
user-centered goal of
creating meaningful
and useful products
for customers and
colleagues
THE DREAM:

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Q & A
Website: www.SkyeSant.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/skyesant/
Twitter: twitter.com/Skye_sant

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Appendix

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Appendix
Creating Digital Tools
UX Design (processes and questions answered)
UX Sprint Schedule
Teaching and Speaking
Table of Contents

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Creating Digital Tools
Discover
Design & Build
Evaluate
+ Extend & Iterate
Communication
Change Management
+
‣ ROLE: A trusted user-centered design lead who evangelizes and applies UX best
practices to the 3 core aspects of product design (system design, process design,
and interface design) in order to make usable, enjoyable digital products

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UX Design Process

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UX Sprint Schedule
START 2 wk dev sprint
UX processes for each sprint
n+2 ahead (2-6 weeks
ahead)
Initial comps due to the PO/
PM for sprint n+2 ahead (4
weeks ahead)
Grooming +
Story Time
Planning 2 WEEK SPRINT Demo + Retro
Assist PM/ business with
research activities n+4 sprints
ahead (6+ weeks ahead)

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Teaching and Speaking
DigitalSummit (guide, speaker) Denver UX Bookclub
Design Leaders meetup
Speaking: Creative Mornings (NYC)
Speaking: UX Meetup (Boulder) Speaking: SheSays (women’s leadership meetup)

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