Background and initial state
When I joined Medius, a leading provider of spend management solutions, as a Senior UX Designer in December 2021, I saw immense potential for enhancing the user experience of our products. Within 14 months, I was promoted to UX Team Lead, facing the formidable task of elevating our UX practices in a rapidly evolving fintech landscape.
The challenge was clear: our UX maturity was low, the was not existing, and I needed to transform organization approach to design while keeping pace with the demanding speed of fintech product development. This case study outlines my journey from February to September 2023, during which we significantly improved our UX maturity and implemented changes that reshaped how Medius approaches user experience.
Strategic approach: building a foundation for UX excellence
Assessing UX maturity
My first step was to gauge our starting point.
In February 2023, I conducted a comprehensive UX maturity assessment, resulting in a score of 34 out of 100. This baseline gave us a clear target for improvement and helped us identify key areas for development.
The UX maturity score was calculated using a multi-faceted evaluation framework done by Matej Latin, considering various aspects of our UX processes, team structure, and integration within the company. It’s using a weighted scoring system across several key dimensions lik:
- UX Processes and Methodologies (30% of total score)
- User Research and Testing (25%)
- Design System and Consistency (20%)
- Cross-functional Collaboration (15%)
- UX Team Structure and Skills (10%)
Each dimension is rated on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the lowest (ad-hoc or non-existent) and 5 being the highest (optimized and integrated).
These observations highlighted critical areas for improvement and formed the foundation of our UX transformation strategy.
Building a UX team from scratch
My first task was to build a team capable of driving this transformation. I developed a comprehensive recruitment process that went beyond assessing technical skills. I was looking for individuals who could thrive in our fast-paced environment and contribute to our cultural growth.
Key steps in the recruitment process included:
- Portfolio review
- Initial screening with cultural fit assesment
- Technical task evaluation during in-depth interviews
By focusing on candidates with strong personalities that aligned with our company culture and prioritizing domain experts, I was able to build a team that could hit the ground running.
In addition, the process of setting up team included also preparing job descriptions and career paths for designers – and hopefully for the future – for researchers and writers. Document that was created served as a comprehensive guide for current and aspiring UX professionals within organization. It aimed to clarify the various career paths available within the field of User Experience, outline development plans for continuous growth, and provide a framework for skill assessment and advancement.
By mapping out clear career trajectories and expectations, I’ve been committed to fostering a culture of learning, development, and professional excellence.
Elevating UX maturity
With the team in place, I implemented a strategic plan to elevate our UX practices:
Established Regular UX Research: We transitioned from non-existent research to conducting occasional research, ensuring it’s done at the beginning of projects rather than at the end.
Enhanced Cross-Functional Collaboration: We improved how UX designers work with other roles, moving from alignment with departments to integration in ad-hoc project teams. A key change was integrating designers into daily standups and retrospectives, making them an integral part of product teams.
Strengthened Data Integration: We progressed from inconsistent data usage to consistent application in most UX decisions.
Formalized Design System: We advanced from a basic pattern library to a comprehensive system used by both designers and developers.
Implementing Medius Design System
A cornerstone of our UX transformation was the development and implementation of Medius Design System, our comprehensive design system. Medius Design System wasn’t just a collection of UI components; it was a paradigm shift in how we approached design at Medius.
Key aspects of Medius Design System included:
- Availability on Figma Community, fostering transparency and collaboration both internally and with the broader design community
- A focus on reusable components that maintained consistency across our complex financial interfaces
- The development of a sophisticated DataTable component, crucial for presenting the large datasets typical in fintech application.
Revolutionizing persona creation with ADEPT
As part of our UX maturity improvement, I introduced ADEPT (AI-Driven Efficient Persona Template), a framework I developed to create more actionable, data-driven personas. ADEPT addressed the challenges we faced with fragmented user personas across different departments.
Key features of ADEPT:
- Focused on real user data and behaviors rather than fictional details
- Utilized AI-powered analysis of user interviews, surveys, and interaction data
- Provided actionable insights directly applicable to design decisions
The implementation of ADEPT resulted in:
- Improved alignment between user needs and product features
- Unified persona framework across all departments
- More efficient design process with reduced time spent on persona creation
Building and leading a high-performance UX team
Transforming UX at Medius wasn’t just about tools and processes; it was about people. I led a team of three designers, working in close collaboration with two developers from the design team. Our focus was on fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation.
To get more guidance how to make collaboration with my team easier, I used survey. It was crucial in understanding how our team’s efforts in collaboration, communication, and response time are perceived within company.
7.2/10
The average satisfaction score for UX Team Collaboration stands at 7.2/10, reflecting a positive impact on product teams.
20 NPS
The quality of our communication was rated positively, with a higher number of passives indicating room for further improvement to convert them into promoters.
40 NPS
The timeliness of team responses is rated generally satisfactory, suggesting reliable and efficient communication.
Outcomes and insights
By September 2023, just seven months into our transformation journey, we saw remarkable progress across several key performance indicators:
59%
increase in organization UX Maturity Score
Our UX maturity score rose from 34 to 54 out of 100, a significant improvement that reflected our enhanced processes and output quality. This leap demonstrated our team’s ability to rapidly evolve and adapt to best practices in UX design and research.
70%
user satisfaction with design system reliability
The adoption of our design system was met with enthusiasm across the company. Survey responses showed high satisfaction rates, with scores ranging from 7 to 10 out of 10. Notably, 70% of users reported high satisfaction with Medius Design System’s technical reliability, indicating its robust and dependable nature.
85%
positive impact oncross-functional projects
Cross-functional surveys revealed a marked improvement in how other departments perceived and worked with the UX team. We were consistently praised for our responsiveness, expertise, and collaborative spirit. In fact, 85% of respondents rated the UX team’s impact on their projects as either “Positive” or “Very Positive.”
These outcomes not only validated my approach but also demonstrated the tangible value of UX investment in a fintech environment. By focusing on key metrics and continuously measuring our progress, I was able to drive significant improvements across all aspects of our UX practice, from internal processes to end-user satisfaction.
Key Learnings
This transformation journey provided valuable insights that continue to shape my approach to UX leadership:
Strategic recruitment is crucial
Focusing on cultural fit and domain expertise when building a team can significantly reduce onboarding time and improve team effectiveness.
Early UX integration pays off
Including designers at the beginning of the software development process reduces time to market and friction in requirement refinement.
Balancing speed and quality
Prioritizing UX efforts based on feature impact allows for maintaining rapid development while ensuring high-quality user experiences where it matters most.
Data-driven design is non-negotiable
Implementing regular feedback loops and user research significantly improved our design outcomes and helped us justify our decisions to stakeholders.
Collaboration is the Heart of Good UX
The close cooperation between designers, developers, and other stakeholders was crucial to our success. Breaking down silos and fostering a culture of open communication paid dividends in product quality and team morale.
Continuous improvement is key
Our regular assessments and willingness to iterate on our UX practices led to substantial improvements in a relatively short time frame. This agile mindset was crucial in our fast-paced environment.
Looking ahead: The future of UX in fintech
As we continue to evolve our UX practices at Medius, I’m excited about the potential for further innovation. The fintech space is ripe for UX breakthroughs, particularly in areas like data visualization, AI-assisted interfaces, and personalized user experiences.
Our journey at Medius has shown that with the right approach, it’s possible to significantly elevate UX practices even in complex, fast-moving industries. The improvements we achieved – from increasing our UX maturity score by 20 points to reducing user-reported issues by 30% – demonstrate the powerful impact of strategic UX leadership.
As UX leaders, our role is to continuously push the boundaries, always keeping the user at the center of our efforts while aligning with business goals. The transformation we achieved at Medius was just the beginning. I’m eager to tackle new challenges and continue driving UX innovation that creates meaningful impact for users and businesses alike in the dynamic world of fintech and beyond.