Momentum Design Lab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a kid-safe social platform being built that allows for brands to create a 360-degree product experience. We have families on the platform, including kids under 13, so we provide COPPA consent for the brands to engage with children.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We needed a UI/UX to get past the MVP stage so we could actually build the product. We had a functional app on the App Store, but it wasn’t designed. It only allowed us to gain awareness of the functions and the future functions we needed to encompass. We basically just needed that design pulled in around our new logo, color scheme, and proper flows.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were on a very tight contract to produce various user interfaces and user experiences for us to implement in time for a television show. They had signed up to meet a turnaround of 3 weeks, and we kicked that off. At the time, we only had an MVP app, but we wanted them to do both web and app concepts. 

They basically said what they could get done within certain timeframes, which included five screens for both web and mobile. We prioritized which screens made the most sense to get done in that timeframe, then they gave us the wireframes for the first review. They would then take our requirements expressed in the meeting and work for a couple days, then return to present their work. We gave feedback on that phone call, and then any outstanding things we needed to provide them with went through Basecamp. We’d give way to any final feedback the next day so they could keep working. 

They didn’t do any implementation for the app. For the scope of this project, they gave us everything we needed to build the screens ourselves put them into the app. 

What is the team dynamic?

They gave us a dedicated designer, and then we had check-ins almost every other day. We also had a program manager who was the point of contact with the designer.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

They collaborated with our API architect on a military project. He really liked how professional they were, and knew how good they were at meeting deadlines. That’s the reason we reached out to Momentum Design Lab. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started at the end of December 2016, and went into the beginning of January 2017. They'll definitely be doing any further UI/UX work we need specific to our mobile app experience in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They provided the framework for our engineers to use in development. We have some creative fronted engineers, but Momentum Design Lab gave us an actual framework, or standard technology plan, that helped up create a look and feel for our products, as well as our platform. 

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed at the highest level. This is one of their best qualities that’s lacking in many other firms. They will drive you to a deadline, make sure the cost and scope are kept in check, and keep you going with what you need to move on so everything can goes as planned. We used Basecamp for coordination. We had to be very tight with everything to make sure deadlines were met.

I’ve worked with a lot of different agencies and engineering firms in the past, and Momentum Design Lab was really good about sticking to a process. They would inform us if they needed to have approval by a certain time in order to meet cost, schedule, or scope. They’re really good about sticking to a project timeline, and they would bug us until they got approval in order to continue working. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their designers, along with their program management, were both very good. They gave us great people to pull our project off. Usually in a team, the design is awesome but the management is poor. My experience with Momentum Design Lab was that every single job within the company was well done, which isn’t typical. We have used a lot of UI/UX consultants, but we’ve never been happy with the full product. We had a great experience with Momentum. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're not the cheapest firm. You are going to pay for the work, but by keeping focused, we were able to avoid any issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide online learning, anything from videos, books, and courses to interactive material. Our aim is to help people build up their skill set and experience. I was the VP of product management for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

The company was on a mission to build a new product and reinvent the experience. Our ultimate goal was to get users to engage and interact with the content and continue on their learning journey. We had systems in place that could deliver and keep track of learning materials, but they had become quite dated over the years. It’s important for our users to have a good experience with the platform since the utilization of the content is what really drives our business. If someone has a bad experience in finding what they want, they will be less likely to use our resources for learning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged with Momentum Design’s team for ideation on the type of experience we wanted our users to have. There was some ramp-up time in the beginning, while Momentum Design was still learning about our business and what drove it. We also engaged them to design some marketing materials, but the high-level work we did with Momentum Design focused on the ideation of the product. They also ran a couple of usability sessions for us at a major customer event.

The initial thinking was done around why people would come to our platform. We also developed some user personas, going through the difference between new and returning users and how we would engage each one. Momentum Design helped us think outside of our own boundaries. In essence, we were putting a replacement product into the market, and we tended to be bound by our own thinking. They helped us determine whether our limitations were internal — based on our own assumptions — or external.

I believe we used InVision at the time, possibly because it was already in use by our own design team. We’re a well-established company, so our own teams are used to certain processes. Momentum Design also used Zeplin. Our teams worked in tandem throughout the project. Tasks were tracked through JIRA.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

Momentum Design did a lot of work with a company we acquired a few years ago. That company recommended the Momentum Design team. We liked the work we saw and reached out to Momentum.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

I recently left the company and don’t have access to this data.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Momentum Design Lab at the beginning of 2016. I believe that there is still a UX person from their team working as part of the staff. I wasn’t involved in the staff augmentation piece, so I cannot say for sure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Momentum Design helped reinvent our system, and the overall designs they helped put together were received positively. We performed a number of usability studies and focus groups. There was nothing I could identify as a major issue, but there were some tweaks to make.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

I had frequent phone calls with our account rep, including on Skype. About 1–2 members of Momentum Design’s team continue to do various user interface and user experience work with our Agile squad. Our own team used either Skype, Google Hangouts, or WebEx with video. Momentum Design was embedded into these platforms. They were great at working with us if we were unhappy with any of the resources, and they made changes quickly. They were responsive and good to work with.

There was an international team in place, which came with its own challenges, but Momentum Design was flexible and traveled whenever we needed them to. Given this setup, there will always be language and cultural barriers. At the beginning of the project, I was reporting to someone in Paris, France, which meant that any meetings had to take place in the morning. That person had a heavy accent when speaking English. I found myself translating their communication to the account rep from Momentum Design so that we could all get on the same page. This extended the work, but we worked through the challenge.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design Lab?

I found some of the brainstorming and ideation sessions to be very good. Momentum Design wanted to help us push our boundaries, which was unlike some of the other companies we’d used. Other vendors only wanted to take what we said and build it. Unfortunately, a lack of ideas from the vendor side can work against us sometimes. Momentum Design was really good at putting things on a board, then pushing us to determine if a persona was really valid or if there was another one we should have thought about. Their team was also receptive to feedback.

Are there any areas Momentum Design Lab could improve?

I can’t really think of anything, given the realities we had to work with. There were no major issues.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Momentum Design Lab?

Sometimes, we can go in with a specific project in mind and just want someone to execute what they’re given. However, Momentum Design can help on the deeper level.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My former company was Boost Media and I was the co-founder and CEO. Boost Media does AB optimization for advertising creative.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design?

We needed help building the initial UI for our new product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to Momentum with some wireframes showing what we wanted to build and they helped us refine those. They put together both the UI and UX based on the wireframes and then they coded the HTML and JavaScript. They did a lot of the frontend work as well to build out the initial UI.

The platform is basically an AB testing platform for ad creative. When we first started the business, we were doing it with a tech stack from Google. The platform syncs up with your Google AdWords account and makes a recommendation for which ads can be improved. You approve that recommendation, and then it generates a series of competitions. Writers see the best existing ad copy, and they submit alternative versions to try to improve the performance of that ad copy. Our platform then takes the existing ad copy and the copy provided by the writers, and it runs an AB or an ABCD split test between the baseline and the new proposed ad copy. It evaluates which one performs better, and then keeps the best-performing ad and pauses the underperforming ad.

We had about three people from Momentum on this project. A couple years later, we contracted with Momentum again for some redesign work. I don’t really remember the details of that project, but it was on the same platform.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design?

It was important that we went with a firm who had significant experience in B2B work and enterprise SaaS platforms. We looked at their portfolio of work and that was the decisive factor. I’m sure we were considering other providers at the time, but Momentum had done some work on their own product and I remember being impressed with their portfolio.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design?

It was around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in 2011. We worked on the first version for six months. The second time around was a little shorter, approximately three months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Their work was instrumental for us. We ended up raising a $1.5 million seed round and it was very helpful in us raising that.

How did Momentum Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed wonderfully. Joe Preston did a lot of the project management and David was involved as well. We were very pleased with that.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design?

They took a lot of pride in the craftsmanship of the UI and the UX they built for us. They were perfectionists about really making sure it was well thought through. They did a good job of really understanding our product and all the nuances of the use cases and interactions. They did a good job of listening to what we were looking to build but also pushing us beyond what we had thought of. We ended up using some designs and user interactions they had come up with without any input from us. We both contributed important elements toward the UI and UX, but they weren’t simply executing on our requirements; they also helped us to rethink some of the fundamental design and user flows.

Are there any areas Momentum Design could improve?

No. I was very satisfied and pleased with their work. I don’t remember anything that could have been done better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and head of product management of vFlyer, which I founded 12 years ago. It is a real estate marketing platform used by real estate agents, apartment communities, and property managers across North America. We develop a content management platform that generates and distributes marketing content. To get traffic for our clients, we send that content to some of the largest real estate websites.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

Design and user experience are critical to the success of a web service. We were looking at getting professional help with the development of our initial web application design and some of the templates that we use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Momentum Design worked with me on 2 projects. They helped us with user interface design and graphic design. We handled the development side of it internally. Initially, they did some work on our design templates. Several years later, we re-engaged them to work on a new product — a website builder. We were going for the development with an inline editor in our website builder. It isn't that uncommon today, but it was a little bit more uncommon back then. In most cases, we were handling new products, so we didn't really have a user base to focus on. Certainly, there was consideration for personas, but I don't remember how detailed that persona analysis was at the time.

We worked with one of their designers. She ended up working part-time on our project for 3–4 months.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

I don't recall how we found Momentum Design for the first project. Since we were pleased with their work on the first project, we included them in a review of potential vendors. We ended up choosing them again.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

We’ve spent somewhere between $25,000 and $50,000 on Momentum Design’s services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project was in 2006, and the second project was in 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We needed a design to build these products. They were integral in us developing some new services.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a smaller project for them. I really was budget-conscious, so I really can't provide that much input. I worked with only 1 designer, so there wasn't as much project management that they potentially and usually provide. Nevertheless, it was adequate.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design Lab?

I like the fact that there was a team versus one designer, and they could provide support to each other. That was a benefit. They had a good portfolio of successful clients with good products. They were getting exposed to tough challenges and getting tested by users, so I felt they had the right experience to solve my problems.

Are there any areas Momentum Design Lab could improve?

No, I was satisfied. If it could have been done faster and cheaper, that would have been better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SingleMind Consulting is a digital product design and development firm. I’m the CEO and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

At the time, our core focus was software development or web application development. We needed a design partner that could do the interactive and visual design for a client of ours, Screenshots.com.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They conducted the user interview of the client to get an idea of what the client wanted the interaction model to be for the website. Their design team built out the designs, including the interactive visual design, and handled the reviews for the client for any modification that needed to be made before development got underway. We took it from there and brought the project into completion, got it launched, and then they were on-hand for changes after the fact. This was the first creation of the website. What the client site did was there was a snapshot of what a website looked like at a given point in time for all websites on the internet. MDL created an interface that was really intuitive to the visitor of the website to understand what the timeline graph looked like and to make the navigation of all of the screenshots that have been taken for a given domain intuitive and easy to understand.

We handled all the development and collaborated with MDL on the production of the designs. They did some of the slicing of the assets and, since it was our client, we cleaned that up. But once the assets were all put under production, we worked with MDL to make sure that they were pixel-perfect, that the implementation was accurate to the design.

We have worked on larger projects with them. We’ve probably worked on 10 total projects with MDL. There’s been some general design consultation provided by some of the team members on some of the projects that we ended up not building and they didn’t bill us for.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

Our account rep was Joe [Preston, Chief Experience Officer] and there was a lead designer. I believe there was a third person that we didn’t interact much that was doing some of the visual design production.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

We have worked together over 10 years. This was one of the first projects that we worked with them on. We selected them because we knew them and knew they did good work. It was a high-profile client, and we wanted to make sure we put the best foot forward, so we used the best. We considered two other companies; a freelance designer that was going to work directly with us, and then another design firm that was based locally.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

We have spent between $50,000 and $75,000 with them over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2007, and we still work with them on projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The metric would be the bottom line of retaining a relationship with a client because of the quality of work that MDL put forth. That’s certainly worth $250,000 to $400,000. I’m aware of awards that MDL has won. Generally, the comments that people make are that it’s world-class interaction and visual design, that it looks like it’s designed by one of the larger design firms.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very consistent and they care very highly about what their clients think. They definitely want to deliver excellence throughout the organization. We use JIRA, Redmine, Basecamp, and Slack during the projects.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design Lab?

I would say the team is very capable of scaling. They were never asking for only large or small projects. They did whatever work we talked about doing together. The team was able to scale to meet the demand, which says a lot for a design agency to do that and then maintain their quality. That is very important and very powerful.

Are there any areas Momentum Design Lab could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Momentum Design Lab?

Be mindful of what your ideal budget is and consistently reach out to have a discussion with MDL around where they are sitting within the estimated budget. They’re very good at ideating and elucidating the ideas from the product owner, and sometimes that can mean it really doubles or triples the scope of the project. Sometimes the client is completely fine with that; other times they may enjoy the conversation but then when they get to the point of talking estimates, they get concerned about going over budget and then have a hard time pairing back the functionality. If they're mindful of that and enter into that dialogue on a regular basis it should prevent any surprises or negative experiences.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a freelance marketing consultant. In the past, I’ve held various roles at primarily mobile consumer-facing startups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We were a small company in San Francisco. We were launching mobile applications that were distributed through the wireless carriers. This was before smartphones. As most tech startups are, we were very resource-constrained. We had internal design teams and developers but we didn’t have the bandwidth and we were forced to meet external deadlines set by our carrier partners. We needed outside help in order to expand our staffing capabilities and get these mobile apps developed on time so that we could launch with our partners.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Momentum helped us with an application that we were creating, which would be distributed on Sprint. They designed the user experience around a certain feature within the application. This product was made in the early mobile days. It was a way of faking your way through your social life using your phone as your secret weapon. The feature Momentum worked on for us was around developing various personas within the app. For example, you could have a fake boyfriend or fake girlfriend within the app and it would have wallpaper and text messages and ways to pretend that you are taken when you might not be. That was one of many different features.

We also had a rescue ring where you could preprogram a call that would come in during a certain time during a first date with voice prompts, creating a conversation in real-time to get users out of a situation. It was a fun project. The pricing model at the time was driven by the carrier so it was on a monthly recurring charge which is probably what sank the product. All of the features have gone on to be standalone products by other companies. We had a section that allowed you to get a quick download on what was going on with pop culture and politics and anything you might need to know to master cocktail party chatter.

I’ve also worked with Momentum at a different company where they helped us with the onboarding experience for consumers who were signing up for mobile phone service through our application. We liked them well enough that we used them again for the second project. This product was a way to add a second line to your mobile phone so that you could manage both business and personal with separate numbers but the same device. They did the user onboarding flow. If someone signed up on the website, the experience of onboarding, selecting the phone number, and pricing the plan was all managed by Momentum. They owned all of the UX/UI for both of these projects.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

It was a small team. I don’t remember the specific number.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

I don’t recall exactly, but typically I would select a partner through referrals from my network. I would put out an appeal on Facebook or LinkedIn or ask people about their experiences with firms and if they had any recommendations. I trust the good word of someone I know and trust.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

We spent between $10,000 and $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project was probably in 2007, and the onboarding for the mobile voice application was in 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don’t have any metrics from either project.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

I remember the project management was handled well, and the projects went smoothly. I had no complaints, which led me to hire them twice. That was a strong point for them.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design Lab?

They’re very personable and easy to work with. They know their stuff and focus on getting in the consumer mindset.

Are there any areas Momentum Design Lab could improve?

I don’t recall.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Valore Labs. Our mobile consumer app helps increase engagement between customers and retail stores.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum?

We had a very basic app and wanted to transition between a prototype and a much more polished version that we could start showing customers and investors. We wanted an experience-driven transition between the various flows. The biggest challenge for us was keeping it under budget and within a month-and-a-half to two months.

We wanted to lay out our problem statement and have somebody give feedback on the five main things to focus on out of the 20 things we were looking at. Momentum came in to help us transition from a very basic UI template to a more experience-driven framework.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They had a couple of senior people in the room — people who had done this numerous times — so they could very quickly home in on what was required. They got a couple of designers involved and went down the path of giving us options A and B. On a weekly basis or every few days, they would show us what the evolution of what options A and B looked like, and within a week-and-a-half, we zeroed in on one of the options and took that to completion. On an ongoing basis, beyond the two primary designers, we had a part-time project manager who reported back on the status.

How did you come to work with Momentum?

We've used 99designs and other third-party groups in Australia, Ukraine, and the UK. While the pricing was great, we didn’t get great results. Ultimately, we realized that design needed to be done in person. The remote environment setup was not productive or efficient.

On the other hand, design houses in the Bay Area were way over our budget. Between the time constraints and the budget we had in mind, we couldn't get on the same page. Some organizations approached it as a big project, and we were looking at it as a small and quick.

Momentum was great for us because they immediately understood our needs and mindset. They knew what a startup needed. Time was of the essence. Whittling things down to the bare minimum to make it a success was also important. Within the first couple of sessions, they provided meaningful feedback: Here's where we think you are. Here are the attributes you’ll need. This is what we can do in that month and a half to two months. This is what the budget will be like. That process was the most compelling for me, compared to the others that we'd spoken to.

From evaluating them alongside everybody else, the process they used and the way they were able to meet our requirements were just right for us.

How much have you invested with Momentum?

It was in the $15,000–$20,000 ballpark.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started early- to mid-November 2015. We were completely done by mid-January 2016. Now, we're discussing going back to them for a broader set of revisions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It isn’t extremely quantitative, but consistently, users and customers have seen a clear difference between what we showed them before and their overall experience after Momentum worked on the project.

Post-Momentum, it was a lot more intuitive, as people said, "I think I understand what this app can do.”

How did Momentum perform from a project management standpoint?

They were top-notch. When the project kicked off, I was overseas working with another group, so a lot of this was done remotely. Between the process and tools they adopted, we didn’t miss a beat. We had very clear communications on a daily/nightly basis (including weekends) with updates on what was achieved. The first couple of weeks was a weekly drop, and then after that, it was daily tweaks and updates of what they were working on.

It was fairly low-touch: the project manager would report back saying two things that I thought were very useful. He'd tell me how things were going on a daily basis, and how we were doing against the budget we had set. I thought that was super useful because, at the month mark, we saw that we had 30% of it left, and I wanted them to do a few more things. I don't think I even needed to get on the call because I knew exactly where they were just between the tools they used and the daily updates they sent us.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum?

We knew what we were getting into and we knew the seven or eight things we needed to achieve. We knew the money and time we had to work with. The two primary designers were just crisp. Spot on. The thing is when you only have a month-and-a-half for a project, you don't really have time for slippage. We had no slippage whatsoever; everything stayed on track.

Are there any areas Momentum could improve?

I would have loved to see option A, B, and C before we narrowed things down, but that's just a personal preference, and I know we were constrained by the budget and time we had.

Another thing that could have been beneficial for them is to dive deeper into our products. If they had, they might have had even more insightful feedback. For example, if you went from an app that had only five screens to seven, here's how we would suggest you extend the framework. That could have been very helpful, which is something that we ended up doing on our own.

Take our feedback with a grain of salt. We're a startup, so we're always going to push for more, but within the context of what we needed, and given the time frame and budget, they were easily in the 99th percentile.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TowerData is a technology company that offers email data services. We help companies improve the quality of their emails lists and learn more about the people on their subscriber lists. I’m the CEO and founder. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum?

We wanted to overhaul our customer portal, which allows our clients to upload their customer data for our processing or to create API keys to access our APIs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with the existing design to get us started, but the dataflows were different, and we added more dashboards. We discussed what we wanted to achieve and the brand objectives. We did an initial requirements document, and we worked with Momentum to come up with a page template from that. We designed each screen and got feedback on what worked and what didn’t. We did wireframes and designs for 30 screens.

We’ve gone back a couple of times asking for changes and updates. Momentum provided a project manager and several designers. We also had periodic interaction with a higher-level executive.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

We reached out to a number of companies and reviewed their portfolios. We tried to get an understanding of whether the companies would be able to articulate what we wanted to do. We discussed price and availability and spoke with references. Eventually, we ended up choosing Momentum to work with.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

We spent close to $100,000 with them for the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship started in April 2015, and the work was completed in October 2015. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

They did a good job of articulating our vision in conveying our brand and making a smooth UX while looking professional. We get compliments on the site’s design and the ease of use. We’re proud of the work Momentum did.

How did Momentum Design Lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a dedicated project manager who was good at communicating details about the timeline and budget. He was a good interface between us and the designers.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum Design Lab?

I thought they provided high-level service and quality results. They created a very sophisticated site with a great design, and we’re pleased with what they did.

Are there any areas Momentum Design Lab could improve?

We just used them for design. We talked to them about doing HTML, but that didn’t turn out to be a cost-effective avenue for us, so we did that elsewhere. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SumTotal Systems is an HR software provider. When I worked with SumTotal Systems, I was VP of product management. I was responsible for the overall user experience (UX) and product management and innovation. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum Design Lab?

We had a product that had grown through acquisitions. There were nine products that were cobbled together through a SharePoint portal, and we were getting beaten up in the market over our UX. This was also the primary limiter of our ability to sell the product. We needed to redo the UX so that we could get past those roadblocks. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During this project, I worked directly with Momentum. They were diligent in their process. They came to Florida where the company is headquartered and spent a week with us going through all the major things we were looking to get out of the project. They also made goals and timelines to come up with a detailed project and resource plan. They had 3 teams working with us with 8–12 resources involved, depending on the phase of the project.

I worked directly with the head of Momentum along with various project managers on both of our teams. Our internal team was comprised of 200 engineering resources in project management that were involved in the revamping of the entire suite. They helped us with 2 major and 2 minor projects. The major projects would last a year, and we would utilize a few teams on their side and big teams on our side. For the minor projects, we would use a single team on both sides.

How did you come to work with Momentum Design Lab?

I worked with another firm, York & Chapel, who outsourced work to Momentum, in a previous position. At the time, we had an Oracle project where we were rewriting the frontend of our cloud-based HR solutions. Momentum had done great work, and I wanted to use them again when I moved to this company.

How much have you invested with Momentum Design Lab?

We have spent between $1.5M and $2M over the course of our relationship. When I left SumTotal 6 months ago, the contract was still project-based, but I don’t know the current status of the contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2015. After this project was completed, we used them as our default UX vendor for any other big projects we had because they had done such a good job. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We had a set number of goals and some baselines that we compared against. From a customer-win rate, we went up by 30%. UI had been an issue before, but that totally stopped being an issue.

We did usability studies; in terms of satisfaction with the product, it went from 49% to 83%. The results exceeded what we expected, and we were happy about that.

How did Momentum perform from a project management standpoint?

SumTotal helped with material support around project management and made company-wide changes. Momentum was able to navigate the politics and silos that existed at SumTotal very easily. They put processes in place that we needed to follow from a UI perspective.

From a timing perspective, we hit all of our milestones. There may have been some minor delays by a couple of days, but nothing major. The project was highly successful, the project management was great, and we executed what we needed to.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum?

I’ve worked with UX firms in the past, and Momentum was excellent in being able to navigate a difficult political work climate and get things done. I haven’t seen that from other UX consulting firms. Most firms get bogged down, but Momentum didn’t. They were willing to go beyond the call of duty to make things work in a timely manner. That also sets them apart.

Are there any areas Momentum could improve?

I was hoping they were going to be more innovative in their approaches. We were looking for radical things, so we had to coax them in that direction. I think they’re used to working with organizations that would incrementally increase things, but we wanted to throw everything away and start over. It wasn’t a big issue, but it did take some time to let them know what we wanted. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of goLance, a global freelancing marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Momentum?

We needed a new user interface for our company for a mobile and web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with them to upgrade our current user interface by designing a new one. It was a beta interface and we had enough revenues to do an upgrade, so we went from MVP to full solution. They did some research on the industry independently, but there was no preliminary research or a discovery process. The design was collaborative. They only designed the interface of the web app; our in-house developers implemented the designs. One resource from Momentum was assigned to the project.

How did you come to work with Momentum?

I found them online. I looked at some of their designs, flew out to meet them, liked them, and decided to move forward. I had considered other providers in my search. They’re a pleasure to work with.

How much have you invested with Momentum?

They charge $250 an hour, so I paid them around $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the end of 2015. It lasted about three months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We got very good positive feedback about the upgrade. Everybody was really happy. It was a good version 2. Although there are no metrics I can give, it has definitely upped our game.

How did Momentum perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t like working with project managers, so we didn't work with one with Momentum. I worked directly with their designer, and that was very efficient. I have a cultural difference with the concept of a project manager, but that’s specific to me in the way I run teams, not to their business. I prefer to work directly with the resource.

What did you find most impressive about Momentum?

They’re nice people to work with. Good people who are very flexible. I liked them.

Are there any areas Momentum could improve?

What gets measured gets done, so the areas of improvement are all on my end. There are certain things I wish I had continued to work with them on, instead of taking a step back, and I don’t think their project manager would have made a difference. There are some things that I’m changing and upgrading now, but their work provided a good foundation. Overall, I’m happy with their work.