General

SRC specializes in radars and electronic warfare (EW). This tool prepares radar files for ELINT missions.

Challenges

The reprogramming OODA loop is long, detailed, and data dense. Creating tools for that process is inherently challenging.

Complex Domain

• Signal intelligence (SIGINT) involves intricate databases and workflows. Understanding the domain and user roles required significant effort.
• The tool’s role within a larger OODA loop was difficult to articulate clearly.

Ambiguous Scope

• The project’s broad and ambiguous scope created team confusion and friction.
• I developed many visuals and concrete plans to help the team gain clarity and move forward. We articulated the reprogramming landscaped, and defined what features to include and exclude.

Strategic Misalignment

• Diverging opinions between senior leaders and younger team members led to disagreements.
• Employing progressive disclosure helped bridge these gaps.

Designing for Technical Users

• Reprogrammers needed a tool that worked for both novice and expert users.
• A progressive disclosure approach satisfied users with varying levels of expertise.

Data Challenges

• The project dealt with incomplete data at launch, with future iterations facing overwhelming data.
• We designed a solution that accommodated both sparse and data-rich scenarios.

Process

We found success by aligning the team's understanding of scope trade-offs and current needs.

Key Military UX Activities

Stakeholder and Technical Research

• Collaborated to define timeframes, goals, priorities, and technical constraints.
• Reviewed SIGINT-specific public and private resources.

UX Artifacts and Frameworks

• Created personas, journey maps, and mental models to contextualize user needs.
• Developed information architecture diagrams and sitemaps to prioritize tasks amidst scope ambiguity.

Design and Iteration

• Established a macro design framework with iterative refinements.
• Designed widgets, graphs, and data visualizations tailored for signal intelligence workflows.
• Produced low-fidelity wireframes; high-fidelity designs were completed by another designer using SRC' design system.

Collaboration and Validation

• Worked closely with SMEs and the tech team in weekly 1.5-hour sessions.
• Conducted three rounds of user testing. Iterated the design until we yielded positive feedback.

Solution

We discovered a simplified database concatenation tool yielded the simpliest result without sacrificing power.

• Designed an intuitive tool tailored to the reprogrammers’ needs, emphasizing simplicity and usability.
• Developed comprehensive information architecture and scope diagrams to guide the project.
• Delivered user-centered designs that supported technical workflows and progressive disclosure.

Results

Well received by young SIGINT reprogrammers during user tests.

• Positive User Feedback: The designs received strong validation during user testing.
• Improved Clarity and Usability: The tool provided a foundation for efficient reprogramming and scalable data integration.
• Choose your complexity: The tool enabled new reprogrammers the functionality required. It also enabled experienced reprogrammers the complexity they expect.

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