February 2024 - October 2024

Total Experience Team Lead

1 Delivery Lead, and 2 Designers

Digital Transformation Consulting, Project Strategy, and Platform Evaluation

In February 2024, I led a six-month initiative to enhance the Department of State’s internal operations by guiding the selection of an advanced employee portal platform. This portal aimed to streamline human resources and administrative tasks, and improve access to various organizational software. Key outcomes included:

• Informed Decision-Making: Our comprehensive analysis of 15 potential platforms, narrowed down to two top recommendations, provided the client with clear options aligned with their scope and budget.

• Enhanced Efficiency: By understanding divisional needs and pain points, we ensured the selected platform would address specific challenges, leading to improved operational workflows.

The Department of State aimed to consolidate internal HR services, administrative workflows, and deliverables into a cohesive Total Experience Platform. On paper, the goal was clear. In practice, the path was anything but—characterized by shifting leadership, unclear direction, and increased urgency due to election-cycle pressure.

Widespread internal skepticism further complicated matters. Some departments were concerned our UX research would expose inefficiencies or fuel unwanted restructuring. Navigating these political dynamics while delivering insight required careful facilitation, trust-building, and transparency.

Strategic Workshops to Build Alignment

We began with two foundational workshops:

• Workshop 1 uncovered historical failures, exposed departmental concerns, and clarified stakeholder priorities across quarters.

• Workshop 2 realigned expectations around UX research—not as a performance audit, but as a discovery process meant to support department goals.

This strategic repositioning helped lower resistance and granted access to departments willing to engage.

Dual-Track Strategy: Discovery + Platform Evaluation

We launched a two-pronged approach:

1. Departmental UX Discovery
We conducted in-depth interviews, mapped existing workflows, identified cross-functional dependencies, and clarified role-specific friction points. This helped define human-centered requirements beyond surface-level features.

2. Platform Evaluation & Vendor Comparison
In parallel, we developed a framework to evaluate 15–20 potential platforms. After capturing business and experience requirements through workshops and stakeholder interviews, we:

• Prioritized functionality by “need-to-have” vs. “nice-to-have”
• Interviewed platform vendors, SMEs, and FedRAMP specialists
• Created a Platform Comparison Matrix to guide internal decision-making

Private Stakeholder Sessions

Beyond group facilitation, I conducted a series of one-on-one sessions with key stakeholders. These private conversations created space for concerns not raised in larger groups and surfaced hidden constraints, political sensitivities, and institutional bottlenecks that shaped both our discovery and recommendation strategy.

While leading UX strategy, I also mentored two designers on executive-level communication. I coached them on developing succinct, bullet-pointed briefings, elevator-pitch style summaries, and high-level visual presentations tailored for leadership audiences. After each client interaction, we held post-mortems to refine our communication. Over time, both our delivery lead and senior stakeholders noted significant improvement—calling out our team’s clarity, focus, and ability to guide conversations at the executive level.

Following months of research and analysis, we presented two vetted platform recommendations based on FedRAMP status and prioritized features. Direct stakeholders expressed full confidence in the findings:

“This is exactly the level of clarity we needed to move the conversation forward. We now have everything we need to make an informed decision.”

However, once escalated to executive leadership, the initiative stalled due to budget uncertainty and lack of consensus. While the platform transition was paused, our frameworks and research continued to deliver value:
• The Platform Comparison Matrix became a reusable evaluation template.
• Our workshop methodology and discovery structure were adopted by internal teams.
• The Platform Experience Team at Accenture continues to use our redacted matrix as a foundation for future Total Experience projects.

(This engagement ran from February to October 2024.)

This project reminded me that trust is often the most valuable deliverable. By leading with empathy and diplomacy, we turned a politically sensitive initiative into a collaborative effort—one where UX wasn’t just tolerated, it was sought out. Even without a final launch, we helped shape a more informed, aligned future for the organization.

• Matrix template now used internally by Platform Experience Team
• Customer confirmed research will guide future platform decisions
• Facilitated cultural shift around how UX research is received across departments

Note: All visuals use simulated data to protect confidentiality.

Linkedin.com/in/John-Mariano/

Designing Through Ambiguity