SAFe Agile Lean UX Resource Prioritization for Fortune 500 Insurance Company
Overview
Fortune 500 Insurance Company working to allocate UX resources in one business unit within the organization. Working within the SAFe Agile Lean UX methodology to walk leadership through a prioritization exercise to align appropriate resources to high-priority projects within four verticals and understand resourcing needs for future budget allocations.
Problem Statement
Worked with leadership to understand current UX resources and alignment to high-priority projects coming out of PI planning. While looking ahead at budgeting and resource needs for the coming fiscal year.
UX Process
Once the initial prioritization workshop was conducted and three additional UX resources were brought into this space, I continued to work one-on-one with the Chief Information Officer and UX Manager to determine how best to utilize these resources. After a PI planning event, I set up a workshop with the CIO and UX Manager to discuss the UX Maturity and Hierarchy of Value within this portfolio. We then walked through the recent products prioritized during PI planning that aligned with the Goal Tree Mapping exercise recently completed in this portfolio.
I walked the CIO and UX Manager through an exercise of the overall roadmap set forth for 2022 and 2023, based on PI planning. We then narrowed in on the top products that had previously been prioritized and aligned resources collectively to each vertical and product.
Outcomes
We prioritized the high-priority projects to appropriate UX resources for the next PI. We identified the need for additional UX resources for future high-priority projects to budget for more resources for the upcoming fiscal year.
Roles and Responsibilities
As the UX Architect within this portfolio, I was tasked with helping the client identify where to place full-time employees and other consultants within the high-priority projects that were identified at PI planning. I worked directly with the CIO and UX Manager within the client to help them map resources and budget for the coming fiscal year.
UX Activities and Deliverables
• UX Resource Prioritization Workshop
• UX Roadmap aligned to PI planning roadmap
Teammate Feedback
"I cannot speak highly enough about my experience working with Beth. Some items that I would like to highlight:
From my perspective, Beth did an outstanding job working with stakeholders and tech leaders to explain and demonstrate the value of UX and ensure that UX was aligned with business priorities. The group can be somewhat difficult to work with, and she did an excellent job building relationships/partnerships with these folks.
Beth was an outstanding coach/mentor, and I benefitted greatly from her experience. She helped me identify appropriate user research techniques, I learned different ways of conducting various workshops, and her organizational skills are incredible. I learned from her on an almost daily basis.
Beth pushed for changes that will allow UX to work more effectively. She had been pushing for more Runway discussions between stakeholders, POs, tech, and UX, and these sessions are finally getting underway, which will allow UX to be more effective.
Beth’s communication skills are very strong, and she excelled at working with the other UX staff aligned to the area."