Case Studies
How an MNC’s flagship product needed an external design team to turn things around

Design Strategy • Interaction Design • Visual Design • Customer Relationship Management

A common perception of product design focuses on creativity and artistic flair. But what people mostly skip over is the need for in-depth industry knowledge and problem-solving ability.

Alongside creativity, industry expertise and problem-solving have been pivotal in all my endeavors. Let me walk you through a similar experience that became a career landmark.

Client's Background

Citrix is a pioneer in workspace transformations. A trusted partner of thousands of organizations worldwide, it's redefining how people work with the best use of state-of-art technology. Citrix Systems is truly a global

organization with 60 offices stretching across 40 countries and delivering customers in 35+ languages. Breaking the barriers of time, place, infrastructure, device, and network helps organizations innovate and stay agile and competitive.

The Problem, in General

The company operates with an array of applications, modules, and micro-services. Administrators have the complex job of monitoring all these applications, managing resource allocation, and quickly resolving issues.

Citrix designed a NetScaler Management & Analytics System (NSMAS), a tool to streamline app management and provide data-driven analytics to make informed decisions.

However, NSMAS delivered less than anticipated. The administrators continue to struggle to comprehend the application across the widely spread infrastructure.

The company decided to outsource the design of the solution to help their admins and collaborated with UXReactor.

As a UX Consultant, I took up the challenge and started with the initial investigation to better understand the project. I diced my research into three parts to gain a clearer perspective.

Understanding NSMAS

The team of developers at Citrix developed NSMAS as a combination of hardware and software to manage critical aspects of executing multiple applications across globally distributed infrastructure.

Typical features of the system were
- Load balancing
- Traffic

However, NSMAS delivered less than anticipated. The administrators continue to struggle to comprehend the application across the widely spread infrastructure.

Prima facie findings

The biggest issue with the system was its poor design. It was designed with an engineer's approach and was not intuitive. Something that was the primary requirement, given the infrastructural magnitude and complexity.

Code discovery was still a big challenge for admins. Different team users used the system, including application, network, and gateway admins among others. However, they all were operating in an island environment, with no collaboration.

Island operations further complicate understanding the execution and finding what went wrong and where in case of breakdowns.

My Responsibilities

After an initial conversation with the client, I tasked myself with the following responsibilities.

As the design head, I took charge of the entire project. My responsibility encompasses establishing effective communication with the client and the team, making crucial design decisions, and bringing everyone on board with the final product.

I also had to overcome both technical and behavioural challenges. It was crucial to build the journey from awareness to advocacy, where the users were satisfied and happy to recommend the product further.

The Investigation Process

After the opening discussion, I set out to investigate the problem at hand in detail. When looking for clarity, nothing serves better than face-to-face interaction.

Workshop for rationalization of the products key concepts

My first step was to fly to the company headquarters in Santa Clara, California. It helped me speak directly to the people using NSMAS and understand their pain points. Personal interaction was a great tool for unearthing ground reality and developing confidence.

After ice-breaking, I conducted discovery workshops to bring all end users into the same room. Different user groups, including the network team, application team, gateway team, and others, were working in their silos.

The idea behind the workshop was to bridge the gap. It allowed me to comprehend the product requirements from different perspectives based on their experience, work needs, and role in organizational goals.

I identified the critical use cases involving all the actors and their viewpoints about the application management and analytics solution. Being inside the organization facilitated identifying and mapping essential scenarios.

The personal interaction with the father of NSMAS helped to acquire his vision of the load-balancing and routing solution.

The investigation journey continued as I visited their office in Bengaluru. I presented my findings to the Bengaluru team and bagged their feedback.

I thoroughly scrutinized the NSMAS documentation. Combining that with users' testimony and feedback helped establish the proof of concept.

Problem Statement

Next, I had to lay down the precise problem statement. All the interactions with the end users, creators, and other system stakeholders uncovered pivotal information. It served as a solid foundation for the entire project.

The following pointers stood out as the fundamental problem.

I envisioned the solution as visualization dashboards for monitoring and management. It would do the following for admins.

It should be an intuitive workspace with easy-to-comprehend visualizations. It should delegate a hawk-eyed view and analytics capabilities for the administrators to facilitate code discovery.

It should empower admins with valuable insights for proactive actions. The solution should provide a transparent view of resource utilization and fuel data-driven decisions.

Some metrics on the dashboard that will drive the insights include:

Number of running applications Number of modules and micro-services per application Where the applications are running Data exchange and exchange frequency between applications and modules

Current application status with all essential attributes Traffic status describing the traffic inflow and outflow for all the applications and on each server

Functions that lead to peak traffic, their frequency, and duration. Lastly, the solution must be scalable. The design must accommodate rising traffic and server loads as the number of applications increases.

Challenges to Overcome

Designing this solution for Citrix was a massive project for me. I played a dual role of a design head and project lead. It was a great opportunity accompanied by some challenges that I had to surmount. Following were some of the critical challenges that tested and grew my potential.

The following pointers stood out as the fundamental problem.

Blurring physical boundaries

Citrix is a global company. I had to juggle between its headquarters in the valley and the local office in Bengaluru and having my team in Hyderabad, I had to do substantial traveling to stay connected.

Designing products that meet all requirements

Our dashboard solution targeted multiple user segments. Each user segment had specific requirements that it must fulfill. It was a challenge to identify all the users and use cases and map all scenarios to the final design.

Keeping everyone in the loop

Lack of communication can quickly become miscommunication. I had to collaborate with the clients constantly. Sharing updates and taking their feedback played a crucial role in keeping the project on the right track. It also helped in convincing the customers about the capabilities of our design.

Getting support from key stakeholders

Citrix already had an army of seasoned designers & developers. They developed NSMAS, which needed help to deliver. The resistance or reluctance for our product was natural. Bringing everyone together and getting approvals was critical for the project's success. Navigating through a large company was a task in itself.

Designing and Building the Solution

With all the research and brainstorming done, it was time to start building the design. I began with a small team of four, including some graphics and interaction designers. We rigorously worked around the design and carried out the following steps.

Jotting down the users' persona and enlisting their specific requirements

Making crucial decisions related to tech and product design choices

Drawing a complete blueprint for the design and our approach to creating

Execution using Progressive rationalization.

  • Progressive rationalization is my technique that allows the creation of multiple variations of the same design - envisioning different paths to the same goal.

  • The method weighs each variation's pros and cons and improves it in the next iteration until we reach a satisfactory outcome (I also have had the privilege of training young talent about this technique).

  • Using progressive rationalization, we created wireframes and workflows of each to highlight what users will interact with and how.

  • I presented each design variation to the client and discussed the pros and cons. It allowed me to navigate them in the right direction to make mindful decisions.

We repeated these steps until we reached a satisfactory design.

Branch location detail page Visual Design

“This design will put our product back in the race. I’m deeply moved by Anurag’s commitment to drive the engagement at such high speeds with an amazing attention to detail. The UXReactor team has made the difference we needed all along”

Rajiv Sinha, SVP Engineering, Citrix

Project Outcomes

Citrix found the required solution in just six months. Something that its team could not achieve in a year. The dashboard solution consolidates information and provides quick insights enabled to the admins.

It improved the understandability of NSMAS and increased its usefulness.

The company could deliver a better experience to its customers and improve retention.

Personally, delivering the required design in just six months was an accomplishment. I coordinated with geographically scattered teams and met all deadlines for such a high-stake project.

Overcoming the behavioural challenges, I brought all the users and stakeholders on board. Getting appreciation from the creator of NSMAS was the cherry on the top of the cake.

Landing page Visual design showing all the networks, applications and gateway status at a glance. This visualization changed the product completely for the better

Overall Experience and Personal Highlights

This project was a pivotal milestone in my professional journey. It was my first chance to work with a company of that size and scale. To successfully convince and influence the decisions of people with much higher experience was satisfying.

  • Reaching a practical design from a rudimentary barebone product was a big win.

  • It affirms my ability to work with global companies on high-stake projects.

  • It perfectly demonstrates my leadership skills, decision-making, and domain expertise.