Starting Already Behind

T-Mobile was updating all digital customer service experiences to reflect the new design system and align with in-flight technical optimization projects.

My task was to update all screens within the Billing & Usage journey, which included statements, drill-down details, and CTAs to relevant areas of customer service and sales.

The work had been in progress for several months, but had stalled due to a vendor-led approach that was completely disconnected from T-Mobile’s internal guidelines and governance. At this point, the product team needed me to complete the work as quickly as possible.

Understanding Constraints

• Vendor limits: T-Mobile leveraged a third-party provider for billing and usage data. There were significant constraints in what data could be presented, when it could be presented, and how it could be presented.

• Multiple scenarios: The type and amount of information that could be shown to a customer depended on where the customer was in their billing cycle.

• Zero documentation: Information about user scenarios and business rules existed solely in the heads of the product team.

• Siloed approach: Each product team operated independently to drive click-through KPIs within the customer service journey, resulting in screens that contained conflicting CTAs, and did not reflect relevant end-user goals.

• Partial design system: The design system was nascent and did not include all the patterns and guidelines needed for Billing & Usage design solution.

Defining a Feasible Approach

Given these constraints and the near-emergency status of UX work, I came up with an approach that I lovingly labeled “Not quite UX, but progress.” I created and aligned the project team around contextual definition of “done” in this specific situation:

• Align with internal design system

• Create a consistent UI within the Billing & Usage experience

• Improve information architecture where possible

• Update copy to improve clarity and consistency

  Correct extreme heuristic violations

• Prioritize the mobile viewport

Setting the Stage for a Better UX Future

While I was technically only brought in to fix an urgent problem, I leveraged what I’d learned to help in-house UX leadership create a stronger foundation for future success:

• Reduced vendor role: Going forward, the vendor would not have any responsibility for UX/UI. This was mutually agreeable as the vendor acknowledged they did not have UX/UI capabilities; their expertise was solely in print statement design. This also reduced the cost of vendor design support by 50%.

• Better stakeholder collaboration: I used the in-flight work to build trust and goodwill with stakeholders and the product team. This gave me the opportunity to raise broader conceptual and structural experience opportunities.