An overview of my role in Accela

I came onboard the Accela User Experience team as its second member and spent the last three years evangelizing and fostering user centered design practices in the company. In addition to evaluating and improving existing products based on interaction and interface design principles and heuristics, I also played a substantial part in the design of multiple products and features – right from ideation to implementation.

Responsibilites

• Worked closely with customers and product managers to gather requirements and use cases
• Directly responsible for delivering all aspects of design, from concepts and prototypes to visual design to UI specifications.
• Created user interaction models, workflows, information architecture, schematics, and interface guidelines/specifications
• Documented and communicated design concepts and specifications to development managers, business analysts and off-shore developers
• Helped create and maintain a pattern library.
• Conducted user research, including developing and moderating usability tests and quantitative analysis of the gathered data
• Provided QA feedback to Engineering and PM teams prior to launch and ensured that pages match design specifications
• Maintained awareness of latest web and mobile design trends and best practices
• Developed and advocated a long-term conceptual product vision, which served to inform future product requirements
• Defined and enhanced user experience and usability processes

About Accela

Accela develops government enterprise software solutions that provide agencies with the ability to automate workflow, track information, and manage data from a centralized database. Their core product is Accela Automation – a web-based enterprise application that manages and automates complex processes such as permit and inspection activities, issuing and managing business licenses, keeping inventory of assets, tracking work orders and service requests.

Additionally, there are several add-ons that expand and enhance the functionality of Accela Automation:

• Accela Citizen Access – a public facing portal that delivers services and information via the web and mobile phone
• Accela GIS – a dynamic and interactive map based view of applications, inspections and other records
• Accela Mobile Office – a touch enabled client application designed specifically for field use on ruggedized tablet PCs