WEBEX COMPONENTIZATION
Description
When I joined WebEx, it was at the beginning of a transformation for online collaboration. The flagship products were far too robust, and the majority of the customers were overserved. Additionally, inefficiencies occurred due to multiple code bases, and the aesthetic, per one memorable review, was reminiscent of "Soviet Era" design (being made entirely of Active X controls).
My Role
The first step was a complete ground-up visual redesign. We collaborated with a brand designer and gave the products a new, more modern look.
But that was only the first step; to truly meet our users' needs, we redesigned them using a component architecture. This allowed us to break the products up into a suite of less complicated, more goal-oriented applications:
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Meeting Center
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Training Center
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Event Center
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Support Center
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and Sales Center
We divided the work of defining the app's components among the four designers. Each was responsible for one or more of the products (as an SME) and several of the components.
As the designer responsible for the "Getting Started Guide" (above), palette management, the participant list (right), and the visual design system, I worked closely with other designers, product managers, and customers to ensure that each framework or component could be configured to meet the individual product needs while maintaining a consistent look and feel across the suite of products.
An example of a feature made solely for an individual product was the "Breakout Session" feature used in Training Center.
As the designer responsible for the participant list component (but not Training Center itself), I worked closely with the PMs and designers from the product to ensure that it addressed their particular needs while also fitting into the participant list's architecture.
Impact
The release was a huge success in terms of ease of use and brand, resulting in PC Magazine's 2004 Editors' Choice Award - WebEx Meeting Center.
We also improved our ability to deliver solutions quickly by leveraging the component architecture. Those features not slated for product differentiation would be immediately available to all products if they chose to flag the feature. This, in turn, allowed us to move from waterfall to a more agile means of developing products.
An example of this cross-product feature adoption was the "Attention Indicator." This was a feature I originally designed for Sales Center, which informed the meeting host when the WebEx client was not in focus on the participants' computer (implying their attention was diverted).
When the PMs for Training Center realized how valuable this feature could be in the context of their product, they integrated it in one release with almost no additional work.
