11 Jul Leadership at WebFirst
Most recently, I was the CX Practice Director at WebFirst. WebFirst is a small business of 55 employees and is a federal government contractor that provides website development and CMS solutions for federal agencies. They have contracts to support multiple federal websites.
I led a Practice Group composed primarily of resources supported through a large HHS contract. The team was eleven teammates in total (20% of company personnel). I directly managed three Sr. Leads: a UX Manager, Content Manager and Principal Product Designer. I grew the practice’s credibilty through relationship-building with Contract Officers across agency engagements. I functioned as a hybrid Client Account Director, Program Manager and Design Strategist – in varying degrees depending on the engagement type.
Clients: Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Labor (DOL), Federal Drug Administration (FDA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Center for Cancer Research (CCR), the National Library, National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).
Responsibilities
Oversight, product roadmap, resource management, and strategic direction on $36M, 4-year contract with Health and Human Services
Expand CX engagement levels with existing and new clients for business growth
Hire and mentor resources to develop practice core capabilities
Results
Times revenue growth
Internal Promotions
CONFERENCES AND EVENTS
strategies
Introduce CX ahead of Budget Cycles
I guided project approach and business strategies to make inroads for CX capabilities. I worked with client-side Product Owners to identify CX improvement strategies that could be drafted into upcoming RFP’s.
Leveraging CX thought leadership ahead of contract cycles positioned our CX team as first choice for newly awarded CX-budgets.
One example of this approach’s success was via proposed site improvements for the National Park Service and redesign of NOAA’s Status of the Outer Continental Shelf (SOCS) internal application.
Establish WebFirst CX Identity
I led a concerted effort to publish CX thought leadership content from our WebFirst Practice. In four weeks, I stood up a templated site to demonstrate our team’s proficiency in following and applying federal CX policy for improved customer outcomes: www.cx.webfirst.com.
Scale HHS.gov Engagement
The strong relationship I developed with the HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs led to the launch of a tiered servicing framework for HHS. The servicing framework provided guidance to HHS Offices and Agencies on how to self-categorize their level of required digital-design services; engage with, and ultimately partner with the dedicated HHS CX Team. The servicing architecture improved brand and content compliance across HHS.gov and its (ASPA’s) web properties.
Partner with Business Analysts
I partnered closely with the Business Analysts to collaboratively append their tech requirements approach with CX requirements. I encouraged my CX leads to foster close relationships with the BA’s and model this method. At WebFirst, the BA’s and PM’s had the closest working relationships and worked hand in hand with almost equal levels of client/account leadership. By amplifying or raising new awareness via the BA’s, CX-led ideas would be better received by the PM’s. Ultimately, CX was seen as a generative source for valuable project suggestions and growth opportunities.
challenges
Partner with Business Analysts
The company’s origins in development and majority composition of staff in development, made the culture one-sided in terms of capability and collaboration.
Although development leadership supported partnership with design, the majority of staff were wholly unaccustomed to collaborative processes.