Modernizing
Military Details

Problem

Collecting military details from a user should be straightforward… unless your entire eligibilty system depends on obnoxious specificity minute details. The objective was better data, and more frequent updates.

How

BLUF: Deliver a common progressive-disclosure experience for all service members, with an eye towards evolving ideas of what it means to serve.

• Conduct user behavior around adding and editing information via their member profile; 150 person unmoderated test series.
• Following an insight in the data, I explored the impact of terminology on service member mental models.
• Test theory with concepts and competing hierarchies surrounding the problem space.
• Iterate through prototypes, flirt just a little with "what if we just blew it all up?."
• Balance competing groups priorities (military affairs, legal, and business) through sometimes tense negotiations.

Lessons learned

• Stakeholders arent peers - I brought my business partners in TOO close, and overwhelmed them with the process. Do everything you can to understand their context, and then deliver a defensible solution.
• Center on objectives - The work was caught between strategic direction and my business partners immediate desire for implementation. Don't be afraid to escalate when suggestions contridict the data.
• You can't make everyone happy — Competing groups demanded different things of the application, and it was a tug-of-war at times over single words. I allowed my desire for cross-team harmony to dilute the user experience.

Shoutouts

Thanks to the 2F2C team for their constant support, feedback, and refinement of ideas, and Andie for always pushing me to fight for the user, especially in the midst of growing resistance to change.