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<!doctype html>
<html class="no-js" lang="en" style="height: 100%;">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge">
<title>David Yang</title>
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="apple-touch-icon.png">
<!-- Place favicon.ico in the root directory -->
<link href='https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Raleway:400,700|Merriweather:300,400,700' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/normalize.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/skeleton.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/main.css">
</head>
<body style="height: 100%;">
<section class="bauhaus-header">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h1>Project Bauhaus</h1>
Design Process - VMware
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="section-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h3 class="secondary-font section-title">The Problem</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
The gap between design and development was one of the biggest challenges faced by the VMware User Experience Team.
<br>
<br>
You could have perfect mockups and wireframes, but it was ultimately up to engineering to decide on implementation.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/theGap2.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
This gap was further exacerbated by the large datasets and information density that our UIs represented;
It was difficult to prove designs unless you could plug in real and dynamic data from large vSphere environments.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="section-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h3 class="secondary-font section-title">The Objective</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
My manager, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-murrell-21966" target="_blank">Kathryn Murrell</a>, realized that design-driven prototypes built on top of existing products could close this gap. She allocated resources to start this experimental prototyping studio.
<br>
<br>
I was a naïve new grad, so I happily jumped into this vague and open-ended project. I was shortly joined by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulocoelhoiam" target="_blank">Paulo Coelho</a> who would become my trusty partner in crime.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="railroad-excerpt">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two exercept">
If you want to build a railroad from San Francisco to New York, build the first 100 miles.
<br>
<br>
<br>
Then draw a vision of New York so beautiful that a team will be compelled to complete the remaining miles.
</div>
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two exercept-attribute">
paraphrased from <a href="https://vimeo.com/16527312" target="_blank">Aza Raskin</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="section-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h3 class="secondary-font section-title">The Process</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
At the very start, we set some basic ground rules:
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-three explanation-text groundrules">
<ol>
<li>Start with well-defined user problems</li>
<li>Work in time-constrained "sprints"</li>
<li>Build on top of existing VMware products & features</li>
<li>Involve stakeholders (PM & Engineering) early on</li>
<li>Use prototypes as a vehicle to "sell" design concepts</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
Initially, it was trial by fire. After a few runs, we internalized a process that leveraged our design skills and aligned with VMware's engineer-driven culture:
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="process-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font process-title">1. Identify the Problem</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
Despite the focus on code, our projects were driven by user pain points.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/performanceComplaint.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
We talked to customers to isolate addressable problems.
<br>
VMware has a very active user community. We scoured forums, blogs and the Twittersphere for insight.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/useCases.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
It was important to derive clearly defined use cases from these problems.
<br>
<br>
PMs and engineers came up to us with project ideas as our studio gained internal clout. This would accelerate and amplify our impact, but we were very careful to frame their proposal within a use case.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="process-title-section" ng-style="{'error':var}">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font process-title">2. Background Research</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
We emphasized a broad research phase that reflected the interdisciplinary nature of our work:
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="research-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point" style="margin-top:0;">
Contextual inquiries and on-site visits built user empathy.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/install1.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="six columns offset-by-three explanation-text explanation-text-cutout">
My most eye-opening experience was when I joined our field engineers to a on-site upgrade of a large customer.
<br>
<br>
It was a Heraculean 72-hour marathon that exposed usability shortcomings. I physically (from a lack sleep) felt our user's pain.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="research-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Talking with domain experts clarified technical challenges and allowed us to collaborate with engineers with a shared understanding.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/duncanEpping.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="six columns offset-by-three explanation-text explanation-text-cutout">
I would religiously follow VMware technologist Duncan Epping's blog.
<br>
<br>
Duncan introduced many best practices and "hacks" that helped users overcome the product's shortcomings. I tried to implement a lot of his ideas in our prototypes.
<br>
<br>
Eventually Duncan became a strong supporter of Bauhaus and would bring potential projects to us.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="research-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Looking at solutions in parallel or relatable problem spaces kickstarted our design process
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/webmd.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="six columns offset-by-three explanation-text explanation-text-cutout">
On a project related to VM troubleshooting, I realized that the VM troubleshooting workflow was similar to how doctors diagnose patients.
<br>
<br>
I used WebMD's <em>Symptom Checker</em> as inspiration for a UI that helped users pinpoint common performance issues.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="process-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font process-title">3. Design the Solution</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
The next step was to process all the raw research, refine the the ideal user journey and design a workflow that would address the use case.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Affinity diagrams were often useful to organize our thoughts.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/affinityDiagram.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Lo-fi paper sketches and storyboards allowed for quick ideation.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/sketches.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Rapid iteration allowed for quick feedback: show early, show often.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/sketches2.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
<br>
At this point we were not worried about visual aesthetics or page layouts; these issues would be tackled during development.
<br>
<br>
The spotlight was on making sure that we solved our users' problem in a technically feasible manner.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="process-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font process-title"> 4. Build it Out</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
The fun part of prototyping is the freedom to choose your own technology stack. At the time, we were quite ahead of VMware's UI stack, which relied heavily on Adobe Flex.
<br>
<br>
By leveraging modern technologies, we were able to build bleeding edge UIs that excited engineering teams from a technical standpoint. This was another avenue to close the gap between design and development.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width" src="images/clientside.jpg">
</div>
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
<a href="https://angularjs.org/" target="_blank">Angular</a> was the primary UI framework. <a href="http://d3js.org/" target="_blank">D3</a> was used for heavy visualization work. We used <a href="http://expressjs.com/">Express</a>(Node) and <a href="http://flask.pocoo.org/">Flask</a>(Python) to build lightweight backends that would communicate with existing VMware products.
</div>
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/coding.jpg">
</div>
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
Project after project, we naturally ended up with a common development toolkit that made prototyping faster.
<br>
<br>
We had a common LESS library and a collection of useful Angular Directives. We even built a multi-threaded data-retriever that efficiently gathered metrics from live environments to power many of our prototypes.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="process-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font process-title">5. Tell the Story</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
I became a glorified salesperson immediately after completing each prototype.
<br>
<br>
I aimed to sell our concept and solution to potential stakeholders: engineers and PMs who could champion our cause and take the work to the feature or product level.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Narratives became powerful vehicles to propel our ideas forward:
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/carComparison.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="six columns offset-by-three explanation-text explanation-text-cutout">
One of my prototypes showcased the advantages of an outcome-based UI (versus entity-based). Desired outcomes are fairly static, and this would allow users to interact with consistent interfaces despite increasing underlying complexity.
<br>
<br>
I made a comparison to car interfaces to emphasize this idea. An Audi R8 is exponentially more complex than a Ford Model T, but the points of interaction are the same.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text research-point">
Communicating the problem was just as important as the solution.
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/movie.jpg">
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="six columns offset-by-three explanation-text explanation-text-cutout">
For Orbit, a visual troubleshooting and monitoring prototype, we wanted developers to understand the difficulty that admins face.
<br>
<br>
We shot a trailer that documented an admin's problems and concluded with our prototype as the solution.
<br>
<br>
This was a context-scenario that was could be easily consumed by the entire company.
The video spread virally in internal channels and brought light to both the problem and our work.
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="hive-excerpt">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two exercept">
Our beloved prototyping hive
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section class="section-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h3 class="secondary-font section-title">Outcomes</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
There were three possible results for a prototype sprint
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-three explanation-text groundrules">
<ol>
<li>Prototype fails to gain sustained internal traction</li>
<li>Concepts/solutions from prototype are integrated into features</li>
<li>Prototype gains support to be realized as a full product</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
Our prototypes were well received by engineering and project management. Working code was powerful within VMware, and it is better to show than tell.
<br>
<br>
However, it was common for this excitement and momentum to fizzle out; most development teams had large backlog of existing tasks to worry about.
<br>
<br>
Despite working against the typical bureaucratic friction of a large organization, we had a few breakthroughs where our prototypes either influenced new features or became fully realized products.
<br>
<br>
Here are two examples:
</div>
</div>
</div>
<a href="/orbit.html" style="color:black;">
<div class="container">
<div class="row product-preview dark">
<div class="six columns">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/vmwareOrbitThumbnail.jpg">
</div>
<div class="six columns">
<h5>Orbit</h5>
<em class="case-study-label">Case Study</em>
Datacenter monitoring visualization aimed to help VMware administrators easily troubleshoot large virtual environments.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</a>
<a href="/fling.html" style="color:black;">
<div class="container">
<div class="row product-preview dark">
<div class="six columns">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/vmwareFlingThumbnail.jpg">
</div>
<div class="six columns">
<h5>VM Resource and Availability Service</h5>
<em class="case-study-label">Case Study</em>
VMware's first SAAS fling designed to help IT admin's understand their datacenter resiliency through hardware failure simulations.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</a>
<section class="section-title-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h3 class="secondary-font section-title">Conclusion</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two explanation-text">
I was most proud of the fact that I ultimately instilled the prototyping design process within the User Experience team.
<br>
<br>
I held prototyping workshops and taught the full-stack methodology to my peers. I configured infrastructure and services within our own datacenter (always be dogfooding!) to facilitate this process.
<br>
<br>
At my exit interview, my manager confessed that she never expected Bauhaus to last more than one or two projects.
<br>
<br>
Four years after its inception, the prototyping tradition is alive and kicking at VMware.
<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<section class="additional-projects">
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="eight columns offset-by-two">
<h5 class="secondary-font section-title"> Next:</h5>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<a href="/orbit.html" style="color:black;">
<div class="container">
<div class="row product-preview">
<div class="six columns">
<img class="u-max-full-width card-shadow" src="images/vmwareOrbitThumbnail.jpg">
</div>
<div class="six columns">
<h5>Orbit</h5>
<em class="case-study-label">Case Study</em>
Datacenter monitoring visualization aimed to help VMware administrators easily troubleshoot large virtual environments.
</div>
</div>
</div>
</a>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="twelve columns home">
<a href="/index.html">home</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
</body>
</html>