Context

My lead approached me about a project in the fall of 2019. Insurance agents needed a product to let them access the 4 core applications the sales group uses. This product allowed them to do things like enroll members, create quotes, manage agents, and other quick tasks on the move.

Of course, I was completely on board to work on a project like this because previously, I had only really had the opportunity to do feature work. Building an application from scratch sounded awesome! So I met with my VP and his product manager and learned all about the project. We started by doing a whiteboarding session to understand brainstorming requirements.

We found out quite early there was no budget so that all work would be a concept. The goal was to make a clickable prototype to show business to get buy-in for the full project in 2020. MVP would be a basic application that allowed members to copy and create quotes, make enrollment transactions, do research on leads, and see daily KPIs.

Discovery involved speaking to current agents and asking what they would want most out of a mobile application. What do they wish they could do away from their desk? I worked closely with my product manager on a basic data layout of what was needed to ship the MVP—this involved research, quoting, enrollment, and agent management.

After getting enough information from personas, user journeys, and data maps, I used our current design system to design and prototype everything quickly. We met with our VP and showed him everything I made. We got feedback and had another whiteboard session discussing what we still needed.

After a bit of iteration, we finished our MVP. We showed business, and it was approved. Over the next three months, I would make everything for v2 and worked closely with engineering to get it ready for the app store. It shipped in January 2020.