Keeping It Simple

How we helped Cisco’s GSV team streamline internal stakeholder communications

Platforms
MS Sharepoint
Desktop

Deliverables
Figma Prototype

Timeline
3 months

*Important Note: Some visuals are intentionally made ambiguous or blurry to honor our NDA.

BACKGROUND

An Opportunity

From March to June 2021, I had the amazing chance to design a department guide for Cisco’s Global Subscriptions & Validations (GSV) Team with 10 other consultants at Gaucho Creative, UC Santa Barbara’s creative strategy agency.

MY ROLE

What I Worked On

As the lead design consultant & along with my partner Devanshi, we scoped out briefings with our clients at Cisco, instructed and mentored our 8 consultants and 2 designers, and oversaw the quality and delivery of the project.

THE REQUEST

How might we make the GSV Team’s Department Guide more scannable for other teams at Cisco?

GATHERING CONTEXT

"What is the Global Subscription & Validations (GSV) Team at Cisco? "

Unfortunately I cannot go into detail about what exactly the GSV Team does, but ultimately they do a lot of niche, finance-y things that require collaboration with other finance teams.

"What is the GSV Team Department Guide?"

Usually attached in emails, the GSV Department Guide is an internal resource that clarifies to these other finance teams which jobs the GSV Team are in charge of. With over 83,000 employees provides IT products and services across five major technology areas, it is a must for complex processes to be iterated and explained as succinctly as possible to prevent internal communication bottlenecks. 

"Why did it need a redesign?"

The old Department Guide was comprised of a super dense 6-slide presentation and unstructured 6-page document, making it hard to understand.

"Why did you redesign the new guide with desktop and Microsoft Sharepoint?"

Microsoft Sharepoint is a drag and drop intranet site builder that Cisco already uses to distribute company-wide materials internally. They mainly use desktop in their day-to-day work.

EXAMPLES OF SHAREPOINT SITES

ORGANIZATION

We Didn't Forget Project Management! 

My partner, Devanshi, and I took advantage of Notion to plan out tasks for the rest of the consultants. We included:

• Important links: Stored Google Docs, Figma files, and client documents
• Team information: Contained contact details, headshots, fun facts
• Client hub: Provided easy access to deadlines and deliverables, UI/UX resources
• Project timeline: Visualized day-to-day tasks to keep everyone on track

CONSTRAINTS

Obstacles are Inevitable

Right off the bat, our team ran into several hurdles, including but not limited to: 1) scheduling conflicts with our clients, 2) denied clearance to Sharepoint, 3) our own nerves, and 4) boat-loads of vocabulary to study.

ASYNCHRONOUS TESTING

Professionals are Busy! 

In spite of our many obstacles, we did our best to narrow down what information mattered the most to our clients and their partners:

• In lieu of live testing, our consultants prepared asynchronous tests like card sorting and tree-testing.
• Our designers watched Youtube videos and compiled examples to familiarize themselves with Sharepoint capabilities.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

Listening to Our Clients

While we were preparing our first iterations, our contacts at Cisco were quick to agree that they shared too much information on the old Department Guide. After realizing this, they pinpointed which content should be removed, thus creating a more streamlined experience.

CLIENT COMMENTS (ABRIDGED)

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Final Deliverable

After doing our final revisions, we presented this version of the new Department Guide:

Home (Pg. 1)

Contains only relevant information for other teams (hooray!). Only key contacts and resources are listed. No more cognitive overload.

Additional Support (Pg. 2)

Contains all FAQ for easy access and sharing.

RESULT

Great News!

After our final presentation to our clients at Cisco, we received an amazing testimonial from our clients.

"Working with the team from Gaucho Creative was a great experience. They communicated clearly and precisely all the way through our project and the final project was even better than we anticipated!"

WHAT I LEARNED

Reflection

Being creative with problem solving - Even though we weren't able to access Cisco's native Sharepoint infrastructure, looking up Youtube and online examples helped to circumvent an otherwise dire situation.