LeanIX Mobile App

The LeanIX mobile app provides convenience to LeanIX users to view and manage their LeanIX data on the go from anywhere, anytime.

Duration
14 months (Ongoing)
Tools
Sketch | Zeplin | Miro | Pendo | Cluse
Role
Senior User Experience Designer
Workflow
Sprint (2 weeks each)
WHO IS LEANIX?
LeanIX is a modern Software-as-a-Service platform to document, analyze and plan the enterprise architecture of an organization.

Companies of all sizes use the solution to keep important information about their IT architecture in a single place. It is an easy way for many employees such as enterprise architects, project managers or product managers to collaborate, e.g. to build application roadmaps or manage the lifecycle of used technologies.
Why was I working on this?
LeanIX already has an iPhone app that was built a couple of years ago, with limited or close to no maintainace.  

The objective of this iniative was to design the strategy, requirements, and direction for the new LeanIX Mobile App.
UNDERSTANDING THE USERS & THEIR NEEDS
Before deciding on what features will be inherited from the web to the mobile application, I sat down(Zoomed) with 10 individuals.

All users of LeanIX and were interested in participating in the process, so that I can better understand their frustrations with the existing app and the expectations of what the app needs to be.
Preparing for the interview
User interviewing is not about asking people want they want you to build or do. It’s not even about asking them what they want. User interviewing is about learning what a user is trying to achieve and understanding what is and isn’t working for them.

If you ask users to design your products for you, you’ll end up with the Homer Simpson Car.
My Interview mantra
Ask stark, open-ended questions.

Ask people what they are tying to do.

Ask people for their experiences with our product.

Ask why (a lot) to get to details instead of making assumptions.
Be neutral (also with facial expressions or head nodding) to make people feel comfortable to say what they think.

Embrace silence to let people think and fill the silence with more information.

Spend most of the time listening (20% asking questions and 80% listening).

Ask one person at a time so they do not influence each other and you can go more into detail.
Sample Interview Questions
What is missing in the existing app?

What are the things you would see using your mobile app instead of the web application?

What are areas of personalization that you can think of in mobile?

What are the different platforms that are used in their org?
Some of the verbatim from those interviews
“Don’t clog the interface with too much info. “

“Preview visualisations in the fact sheet”

“I’d prefer to see one section at a time in Fact Sheet”

“You have a meeting and decide to edit the subscriptions on the fly.”
User interface design
The objective of the interface is to be data rich, actionable and navigable. This is achieved through the use of sections, white spaces, cards, and similar web paradigms.
Features
1. Inventory Screen
The inventory tab allows you to browse and find any Fact Sheet in the selected workspace using Quick Search, Saved Searches (Bookmarks).
2. Quick Search
Quick search allows you to quickly find any Fact Sheet and jump to that Fact Sheet. For easy access, the app also shows a list of recent searches and allows to clear that list.
3. Fact Sheet
Fact Sheet view shows all populated fields and details organized in sections/sub-sections as in the web view with the first section expanded and the rest of the sections collapsed.
4. Comments
This tab shows all comments on the Fact Sheet in the reverse chronological order as in the web view. Comments with replies are highlighted explicitly.
5. My Account
The Account tab allows you to do workspace level actions and view app information. For ex: it shows information around the workspace URL, instance details, logged in user… etc
… And many more

As LeanIX is an enterprise software and the objective of the mobile app is to be the on-the-go solution, there are lot of features which are either being built/redesigned/envisioned on a day to day basis. Exciting times ahead!
Post launch
Discuss new stories with the Product Manager

Share early iterations with the Engineering Manager and Product Manager

Review feedback and discuss ideas Share the information with the Product Manager and now the entire development team(Front-end, Back-end...).

Brainstorm, share and repeat

Deliver the production-ready version with the text styles via Zeplin to developers

As feedback trickles in, create usability stories

Prioritize roadmaps with bugs or usability issues, and then repeat
Note: Although the process here appears to be linear, in reality, it was not. The purpose of this documentation is to provide a coherent account of how I designed the mobile app.
The app is available in play store & app store