Backstory
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is an American integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 100,000 employees, 40 hospitals with more than 8,000 licensed beds, 800 clinical locations including outpatient sites and doctors' offices, a 3.8 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and international ventures and is closely affiliated with its academic partner, the University of Pittsburgh.
It is considered a leading American health care provider, as its flagship facilities have ranked in U.S. News & World Report "Honor Roll" of the approximately 15 to 20 best hospitals in America for over 15 years (Wikipedia).
The Challenge
A major challenge facing UPMC was the UXVD team was undermanned and overutilized. Most members of the team found themselves on multiple Agile teams, bouncing around from meeting to meeting while being inundated with tasks. This happened sprint after sprint.
I initially joined a team called The Survivors (and was later added to Data and Metrics team) and quickly found myself learning the ins and outs of healthcare systems, databases, Azure DevOps, SaFe, Axure RP, and much more!
Upgrading to Angular + Launching Admin Panels
The UPMC internal team is resilient and hard working. They overcome long hours, multiple workloads, and must contend with new laws and policies at a moments notice.
Another challenge they had to overcome was working with an outdated legacy system. This is where our team was able to step in and make an impact. The impact and transformation I brought through UX leadership was immediately appreciated by the Technical Leads, Business Owners, Product Owners, Developers, and Visual Designers.
Setbacks and Challenges
Feedback and Success Metrics
So we brought a solution to the users, but did we know it worked and met their needs? Luckily, SaFe allowed us to hold monthly meetings with Business Owners and users who reported back that we consistently met, or exceeded, Business Value (BV) metrics through our designs and development for multiple user groups and personas.
Ensuring the Future
Upgrading an outdated system didn't seem like "sexy" work at first, but I've come to truly appreciate the positive impact I've had across multiple areas of UPMC's systems!
Followup
After a year of working closely with several Product Owners, Designers, and Developers, the Admin upgrade and Panels Admin were launched into the world! Feedback was overwhelmingly positive and BV was estimated to be a 10.
Jamie, a PO that I'd collaborated closely with over the course of the projects, was kind enough to run a report for me. She noted that I was personally responsible for 163 design tasks over the course of five Planning Intervals (8-12 week periods).
She went on to say that there were 3 previous UX Designers on her team that abruptly left the team when they couldn't handle the demand of the project which further solidified the positive impact of my efforts.
What a rewarding experience!
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