When Operations ≠ UX with CX
- Oscar Munoz, November 9, 2017
"I think our customers need better service and better personalization today, that's what we are focusing on."
What I started, owned
In 2016, United Airlines hired me (Josh Nard) to establish, define and oversee the delivery of their first-ever global operations UX team that was agile. Until that point, United Airlines contracted designers, or worse - engineers to design their software tools in a waterfall practice that was experiencing significant cost overruns, delays and poor or unused agent experiences. I stood up a team with zero bench available and implemented the first-ever agile design team at United.
Within six months we shifted from being task takers (overbuilding products), to deploying a team of researchers/strategists in the field (airports/flight) to identify key problems with rapid workshops or systems assessments. My team released the first-ever mobile native app (iOS) for agents in the airline industry, converting legacy tools and “green screen” terminals into a fluid experience. We eliminated up to 21% of development cost overruns from ineffective product solutions that could be deferred to EX training, process improvements, or systems latency.
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Shifting from a waterfall design approach and priority 1 proliferation, I implemented United’s first ever agile design approach working in two week sprints and backlogs that used WSFJ methods of scoring urgency and risk. This allowed our on and offshore teams to also move off waterfall and into more efficient, rapid deployments.
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My global ops product design team continuously connected business with engineering teams on net new improvements or updates. We quickly realized that many of these requests came from airport teams with little context which created confusion in development.
Within weeks of proposing a product strategy/research team, I hired members to hop on daily flights for a day and meet with airport or inflight agents. I implemented rapid design thinking workshops with them to assess and define these “asks.” This either added clarity to a development need, or provided CX-EX (agent) recommendations on training, process, or systems improvements. Reducing development cost overruns between 12% to 43%.
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There was quarterly discussion on expanding our Design Ops team into United’s first “Innovation Lab” but space was consistently a challenge to allocate between staff growth and building policies. (Even unused massive “closets” were off limits) We shifted to identifying airport spaces instead.
The focus was always a human centric goal rather than a tech focus achievement. My team worked on RFID wristband prototypes for unaccompanied minors. We evaluated CPU-less workstations using Samsung’s tech that ran off a mobile device. We also evaluated early biometric gate (pass-less) boarding.
Applications I delivered and managed at United (13)
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Aero (Desktop)*
Aero was the core application with both Lobby and Gates management experience my team oversaw daily, replacing a legacy terminal. It evolved significantly in both feature set and mobile modular designs support.
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MAP: Mobile Agent Platform*
Mobile Agent was the first native mobile application launched in operations to compliment Aero. It moved from utility features to a fully developed ops tool for managing lobby and (gates) boarding management.
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In-the-Moment Care App (ItMC)*
Although originally tested and deployed in Aero, feature planning showed it needed it’s own app, introducing a better flow with selector scrolling that won awards and improved CX public relations for United.
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Inflight Food & Compensation App
Developed on IBM PaaS, we rapidly developed wireframes for inflight service with similar UX patterns for the IMC App. Beverage/food stock compensation with loyalty status miles and NFC card payment support were solutioned.
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Insights Ops (Airport & Baggage) App*
Delivered a 2.0 airport-wide app for agents from global research in flight management into design delivery of at-a-glance airport-wide management at every airport a multiple levels of flight, passenger, and baggage management.
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TOMC Aircraft Maintenance (Desktop)
The Global Network Operations Center asked to consolidate several tools into a single dashboard for rapid ops decisions on aircraft maintenance planning. Complex policies with scheduling were simplified for quicker decision-making.
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Bag Scanning App
A Zebra hand scanning tool running on Workcloud for baggage management including freight. Researched designs for new devices in extreme conditions. Poor lighting indicators tested with winter gloves, and goggles to reduce operational failures.
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CX Policy CMS Platform
We consolidated and improved a policy CMS experience for both call center and airport staff with new customer event handling recommendations. Workshop design thinking JTBD and urgency scenarios were applied.
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Curbside App
The outside curbside app is a utility used at airports for “curb” check-in and baggage payments. Requiring a mouse and keyboard, the new app could migrate touchpads. Readability and environmental extremities evaluated.
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Wheelchair Management Platform
With hundreds of “Jet Bridge Jesus” moments of people deboarding without la wheelchair, we evaluated a new planning tool to improve 3rd party staffing between flight capacity and scheduling to reduce operational delays and improve CX.
Travel Case Studies:
After releasing a real-time In-the-Moment-Care mobile compensation app in only four months, Forrester measured a 3-point CX lift within the next year.
$3.49 x 48M =
Incremental revenue/customer x average customers/airline
$168M
Total revenue from CX lift
87.7 MM
Is what the aviation industry provides in total jobs worldwide
The Network
Want to how my holistic design leadership experience?
Reach out on how I have created greater customer and employee experiences. I have several case studies covering multiple industries and design challenges available in PDF.