When I returned to Microsoft in August 2016, I joined as the Design Lead for the Azure Framework. Our team of 4 full-time designers, 2 researchers, and a content writer – along with our studio head, who worked closely with us – were responsible for improving the user experience of the entire Azure platform in two primary ways. Our first role was to work directly with developers on key features or controls. Our second role was a broader, less direct influence over the rest of the 70+ partner teams we could not work with directly.<\/p>\n
Upon joining, I immediately saw a great opportunity to improve our communication with those 70+ partners. Due to a massive shift in the underlying UX architecture for Azure over the preceding 12 months, almost all previously provided guidance was out of date. Partners were largely on their own. And on the horizon loomed an even bigger change: based on customer feedback, the Azure Framework had decided to eliminate the horizontal scrolling interaction from the UI, replacing it with a more traditional page-based model.<\/p>\n
Problem Statement<\/h2>\n
\n
In 6 weeks, assemble enough knowledge about Azure patterns to create an initial set of guidance about key framework patterns<\/li>\n
Validate patterns and guidance with our partners in Framework dev and program management<\/li>\n
Socialize this initial guidance by touring to key design groups and partners to share this guidance<\/li>\n
Incorporate all feedback into future revisions and expansions of the guidance<\/li>\n
Keep the guidance up to date by identifying key new patterns and documenting them at regular intervals<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I was solely responsible for these guidelines during the entirety of my time on the Azure design team. I worked with the other designers and researchers on my team to incorporate key patterns from their work, and worked closely with designers in other parts of the company to share, explain, and take feedback on the patterns contained within. These guidelines re-opened a critical communication pipeline with our partners that had withered somewhat due to the pace of change and turnover in the rapidly growing organization.<\/p>\n
Guidance Round 1: Full screen patterns<\/h2>\n
The timeline I set for this first round of guidance was very aggressive: go from functionally zero knowledge as a new team member to a wide release of the guidance 8 weeks later. Owing largely to Microsoft culture, I chose Powerpoint as the format for my first guidance, as it is a universally accessible program and also lent itself well to the inevitable socialization tour later on. It was also the fastest way for me to work on short notice.<\/p>\n
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