B2B • Enterprise • UX Strategy
Liberty Mutual
Process Design for Innovation
As Lead UI/UX Consultant within Liberty Mutual's innovation organization, I designed a staged investment and approval pipeline for ideas moving from early research through funded development, guiding research quality, question design, prototype fidelity, and synthesis across a 10-person innovation group. The model gained buy-in from VP stakeholders responsible for approving further investment.
Overview
As Lead UI/UX Consultant within Liberty Mutual's innovation organization, I designed a staged investment and approval pipeline for ideas moving from early research through funded development. I also guided research quality, question design, prototype fidelity, and synthesis across a 10-person innovation group, serving as the central design and research review point. The model gained buy-in from VP stakeholders responsible for approving further investment.
Abilities Demonstrated
- Served as the sole Lead UI/UX Consultant for the Innovation Labs
- Designed a multi-tier innovation process with clear milestones and funding gates
- Created user research tests for the ideation process
- Developed website designs and prototypes for innovation concepts
- Guided UX thinking across the innovation team
Stakeholder Research
Liberty Mutual's fledgling innovation team was still in its learning and growing stages. There were no standards around the creative process, which limited (and at times even halted) the development of new products because success criteria and next steps were unclear. After initial pitches to key stakeholders, it became apparent that the confusion extended to what criteria needed to be met for an idea to progress to the next level of funding.
Priority Matrix Workshop
Information Architecture
User Personas
The Innovation Roadmap
My first step was to speak with every team involved in an idea's journey to better understand the issues plaguing their existing process and their goals for a more transparent process going forward. These meetings resulted in a list of expectations and requirements that each idea had to meet to advance to the next funding tier. From those requirements, I put together a roadmap for the entire journey; following one idea with clear, defined expectations from conception to the eventual creation of a brand new company.
- Developed a multi-tier funding roadmap with clear milestone markers at each level
- Defined what fidelity of designs was required at each stage
- Specified what kinds of tests needed to be conducted and what metrics they must hit
- Created clear criteria for stakeholders to evaluate idea progression
- Designed a visual representation of the entire innovation journey
Innovation Concepts
Examples of projects delivered through the new innovation process:
Developer Portal
DriveCertain App
Homeology App
- Website designs and development for innovation concepts
- Individual user research tests for the ideation process
- Persona development and user journey mapping
- Prototype creation for innovation pitches
Results & Impact
The new process replaced ambiguity with a shared model for the complete innovation lifecycle. Innovators had clear goals to reach, UX designers had clear tests to create, and key stakeholders had better metrics to gauge viability and help discern which level of funding any given idea was at and what the next steps would be. The biggest win was transparency: the innovation team no longer had to triple-check the next steps for their ideas or wonder what criteria stakeholders would require for progression.
For all innovation ideas
Clear progression gates
Research and design review point
Aligned on criteria
Project Outcomes
Full Transparency
Clear goal posts and actionable game plans replaced ambiguity and confusion.
Common Progression Criteria
Innovation team operated against a shared standard for what each stage required.
VP Stakeholder Buy-In
Key stakeholders had better metrics to gauge viability and determine funding levels.
Streamlined Process
UX designers had clear tests to create and innovators had clear goals to reach.
