Edward Jones
Project Overview
Project Name: Contact Planner
Client: Edward Jones
Duration: August 2023 - December 2023
Role: Senior UX Designer
Team: Worked collaboratively with a UX Researcher, Krys
Tools Used: Figma, Mural
Objective
The Contact Planner was envisioned as a groundbreaking tool designed to replace outdated and underutilized contact management systems at Edward Jones. The goal was to create a user-friendly platform enabling financial advisors to effectively plan and manage their client interactions, enhancing the overall client service experience.
Challenge
The project began amidst a transformative phase for Edward Jones, marked by an ongoing Salesforce integration which created significant uncertainty about the future housing of the tool. Initial freedom in design was soon overshadowed by indecisions related to the integration, with varying opinions on whether the tool should be part of Salesforce or remain within Edward Jones' existing Axiom system.
Process
Initial Research: Conducted to understand existing practices, leading to insights that shaped our approach. This phase involved:
Identifying key client categories based on assets, fit, and communication needs.
Recognizing the potential in emerging valuable clients, which reshaped our strategy.
Design Iterations: Involved sketching preliminary flows and adapting to ongoing corporate changes.
Technical and Organizational Challenges: Encountered due to lack of clear data integration plans and shifting project scopes.
Further Research: A second round of interviews helped refine our understanding of the data and systems in use, which was crucial for the tool's development strategy. We were able to create the following mental model showing that a client could be any combination of these three metrics.
MVP Concept
We used the findings to create our first MVP, this was aimed to create a customized ‘tier’ that would allow the advisor the ability to categorize a client based on the value (using Assets Under Care) + level of fit (by incorporating the existing acceleration code) and then assign customized frequency intervals. We set out to keep things as simple as possible for this initial concept and let our users give us feedback in the next round of testing.
Test Results
We received promising user feedback on the general direction of this concept. We learned that there was a desire to be able to essentially segment the acceleration codes. For instance having a group of ‘green’ clients that were highly profitable and then having a set of clients that might not have the assets today but are on the right path and easy to work with. That said we felt as if we were on the right path.
Our testing wrapped up around the end of November, and this is when things get a bit quiet at Edward Jones. So I had the time to increase the fidelity of the MVP and begin to design this in the Axiom frame work.
December Pivot
During the second week of December I received an email alerting us that we will be going through a reorg to start the year and we should package up what we were working on and halt any new work. I have been apart of reorgs before, they happen. So I began to notate my figma file and organize for the next person. Unfortunately the talks of a reorg shifted to rumors of layoffs and by the third week of January I was informed that all the UX Designer contractors last day was February 1st.
Reflections
This experience, although it did not result in the launch of the planned tool, provided valuable insights into managing projects amid uncertainty, the necessity of high level requirements, and the importance of advocating for user-centered design in complex corporate environments. In my opinion this project would have succeeded if the Salesforce integration was complete, and I wish the designer well who will get to work on this in the future.