Excerpt from solution document (PDF)

Problem

There were three converging factors that necessitated the re-launch of washingtonpost.com's Entertainment Guide:

• The existing product wasn't flexible enough to integrate new e-commerce tools.
• The Entertainment Guide staff had evolved the guide at a faster pace than the existing product would ever be able to match.
• The third party responsible for the technology that drove the guide was changing their platform.

Solution

I led washingtonpost.com's first user-centric product development project. The goal of the project was to completely rethink the Entertainment Guide and how it was structured:

• I interviewed Entertainment Guide staff, project stakeholders, and other washingtonpost.com staff.
• I reviewed existing user research.
• I created an exhaustive content inventory.
• I developed (and gained consensus for) a user-centric product strategy that was designed to more effectively satisfy the goals of the guide's primary users and to increase the value of the product for secondary users.
• I developed detailed wireframes based on the product strategy then oversaw the work of the designer assigned to the project. I supervised my staff in the creation, conducting, and analysis of usability testing before the launch of the product.