Slide UX

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

From the beginning, they were outstanding. We also work with a development and marketing company, and they both have high opinions of Slide UX, not only in their work, but also in how they understand the product and customer. They clearly understand the vision and the brand.

I’ve also shown their work to friends and family, and they all gave Slide UX high marks.

How did Slide UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great. They’re very accessible and collaborative. We met with some individuals in-person early on. Recently, everything has been on Zoom or we’ve had phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand the vision and our brand. They knew our goals and what we were trying to do, and are able to execute on that. They do a good job at making an intuitive UI as well. Their extra understanding is what sets them apart from other providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly don’t know at this point. I’m sure that everyone has room for improvement, but nothing stands out with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend the time communicating with them about the true purpose of the app. Not just the surface description, but also the deeper need you’re trying to address with it. Empower Slide UX to unlock that within the product.

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

The biggest impact is that it's helped bring to focus a shared source of truth between our development team and our government customer. This means that there have been fewer revisions in the middle of engineering and development. 

This also means that there's been less overhead for us to accomplish the same amount of work. Also, having that really well-defined design spec has accelerated the velocity at which our development team is able to implement and satisfy the requirements of our contract. 

How did Slide UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage the project very well. Travis is the lead there because he has been our main point of contact. Slide UX is up to speed with all of the most current and most effective tools for project management and collaboration. We use Slack and Zeppelin. 

Whether it's using our systems or inviting us into their communications ecosystem, the communication has been very smooth. Additionally, they are responsive and get back to us quickly when we need something. Once we synced up on what the requirements were, their work was great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Slide UX has been very understanding when it comes to accommodating our customer. The baseline with a team that's supporting you in a design capacity is that they are very good listeners, and this team certainly checks those boxes.

In addition to that, they have been able to accommodate the dynamic nature of supporting a government client. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don't have any complaints. They’re certainly a premium firm, and they live up to the expectations that they're setting for themselves in terms of the value they deliver. 

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

We’ve only launched the beta to date, and we’ll have the MVP in the next four weeks. The measurement right now is that our company has been able to do something very innovative with low risk, so the investment level we’ve made is much smaller than what we would’ve done with a big agency model. It’s also been a very calculated risk; because they do usability research and collect consumer insights throughout the process, we’ve been able to validate every spend we’ve made. From a build perspective, it’s been a very smart and responsible way to innovate.

How did Slide UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really buttoned up. I always have a true sense of where the burn is and what we’re going to be able to accomplish. Expectations are always very clear and met. Their transparency and visibility are a strength, as is their ability to track the progress of what’s been done and what’s next, and understanding where the burn falls to that. There haven’t been any surprises, as there can be with other agency models.

We communicate via email, phone calls, and Zoom. We also use design tools to comment on their work and leave messages. It’s pretty simple.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are a couple of things. First, I think they’ve built a practice that doesn’t oversell things, so we feel confident in the transparency that they share of how they’re billing in terms of rates and hours. It’s very clear about what to expect on the deliverable side of it. I don’t think that’s always true with other agencies; there can be a lot of vagueness and ambiguity. 

Secondly, they really work like they’re an extension of our team. They’ve gotten to know the internal team and our company’s process, and they’ve adapted to what we have, versus having us form-fit to them. They’re very good at that.

Finally, their focus on the consumer is a big piece. They’re very clear about making sure that whatever we’re creating or designing is from the perspective or lens of the user that we’re serving, rather than it being a solely business-driven decision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they have the capability to scale up or down, but I haven’t had the luxury of doing that. I think that over time, the question will be whether they can scale to bigger projects.

Any advice for potential customers?

What’s worked so well for us is having a lot of directness and clarity around what success looks like. They’re very keen on having a clear view of what success metrics look like so that they are successful. I think that can get lost with larger agencies. They’ve taken a very disciplined approach to the end goal, which comes back to their value system. Their transparency is a big confidence builder.

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

The qualitative feedback has been awesome. We had them look at some of our most highly-trafficked screens first, and we’ve gotten really good feedback from our existing customer base and our internal employees who use the tool quite frequently; they’ve said it’s been awesome.

The rating pages they designed has been a massive tailwind for us as a company; the actual pages themselves are really gorgeous and super intuitive. It’s also meta because it’s allowed us to get really quick and direct feedback from our clients regarding how they feel about all parts of the application. The feedback and the efficacy of Slide UX are mostly qualitative at this point, but the value proposition is very clear. It’s night and day between the pages of our app that they’ve touched versus the ones that they haven’t. Our internal users and our clients – and even their clients – all remark on aspects of the application that Slide UX has worked on.

How did Slide UX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. We have a weekly touch base for 30 minutes each Monday, where we run through the various projects that are in process. Lindsay gives us a summary ahead of time about the status of each project and what the next steps are. The summary is in a really consumable format for someone who is as busy as me. We use those Monday calls to review the summary, give any feedback, or close up any loose ends around projects that we haven’t gotten to over the course of the week.

Our communication is primarily email- and call-based, with the caveat that all of the projects are in a design cool called Zeplin, which I really like. It’s like a high-fidelity wireframe, and it allows me as the client to leave comments at exact locations on the screen to give them direction or feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are super organized and responsive, and they have incredible attention to detail. You can explain concepts or parts of the application just once, and they’ll get it and be able to carry it forward. The best part about working with them is that each project, in a sense, gets easier and easier because they have more context for the whole application. Since it’s a relatively consistent base of designers working with us, they can carry their understanding and expertise of the app forward to the next project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some changes from our side of who owned the relationship, but that ultimately ended up falling on me. Also, we were initially doing some project management in Asana. We as a company have had mixed experiences with it, so we ultimately decided we didn’t want to stay in Asana, and they were really great about allowing us to transition to email and Slack. They met us in our preferred communication medium.

Any advice for potential customers?

Appointing one owner on the company side to keep on top of it is definitely helpful. What’s amazing about them is you can dial them up or down as much as you want; we have them working on 3–4 projects simultaneously when we’re really busy, and it tapers when it’s slow. Just having a good sense of your design budget is good; they’ll help, but you as the client have to take responsibility for the burn rate and how much of their effort you want to deploy at a given time.