Vanguard

About Vanguard:

Vanguard (www.vanguard.com) is one of the world's largest investment management companies. Vanguard offers investment products and services to personal investors, institutional investors, and financial advisors.

Roles:

During my first two years at Vanguard, I was a member of the Technology Leadership Program in which I completed three 8 month rotations in Vanguard's User Experience Group. I completed rotations in Business Strategy, Information Architecture, and Usability Engineering. Following the Technology Leadership Program, I moved into a role as an Information Architect for Vanguard's Institutional Retirement Plan Services group.

Accomplishments:

Wireframing

  • As an Information Architect for the Personal Investors team, I was primarily responsible for wireframing key areas of the public side of Vanguard.com.
  • As an Information Architect for the Institutional Investors team, I was responsible for wireframing a long term and short term vision for an internal desktop application.
  • Through my work at Vanguard, I developed expert-level knowledge in using Visio for wireframing, as well as lower-fidelity techniques such as paper prototyping, sketching, and the creation of storyboards.
  • I have led group generative design exercises that focused on quick iteration of ideas that then led to the creation of more detailed wireframes

User Testing and Research

  • I completed an 8 month leadership rotation as a Usability Engineer, where my role was to provide insight into the users' behavior, needs, and wants, and to provide feedback from users to aid in the design process.
  • I completed an analysis of the range of usability tools and techniques available to Vanguard's design teams, with a focus on when using each tool or technique is most appropriate.
  • During my Usability Engineering rotation, I created, launched, and analyzed results of a remote usability test for Vanguard.com.
  • I have conducted in-house lab usability tests with both internal and external clients, including creating the test script and test report.

Web Analytics

  • I created a baseline web analytics report for the Corporate intranet team, focusing on identifying current user activities and points of pain.
  • As an Information Architect on the Personal Investors team, I completed significant current-state data analysis that helped my team focus on creating data-driven designs.
  • I have advanced knowledge of how to interpret raw web analytics data to create insights that serve as inputs to support design decisions.

Design Strategy

  • I led efforts to create a design strategy to unify the tools used by Institutional Relationship Managers into a unified portal.
  • I presented the strategic vision to stakeholders, prepared an implementation plan balancing user and business needs with technical feasibility, and created wireframes illustrating the vision.

Agile Experience

  • I was as an Agile "Product Owner" for the Corporate intranet team, serving as the liaison between our business partners and the design and development teams.
  • As Product Owner, I prioritized capabilities and managed the product backlog.
  • As a member of the Agile design team for Vanguard's Personal Investors website, I gained experience in integrating user centered design processes within Agile sprints.
  • As both a Product Owner and member of an Agile design team, I have experience with Agile story and task writing, as well as the processes around daily scrums and mutli-week sprints.

Other UX Experience

  • As a Usability Engineer, I conducted and analyzed results of a card sort and focus group that aided in the optimization of the Corporate intranet homepage.
  • Through a research initiative, I have familiarity with A/B testing and multivariate testing as it relates to optimizing design solutions.
  • I have worked on the creation of both personas and scenarios across business lines and projects.
  • I have created mental model diagrams depicting current-state needs of internal users.