Full Clarity

BACKGROUND I’m the CPO at Mesmerise, a company that develops VR apps. OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE What challenge were you trying to address with Full Clarity? We needed to outsource some of our development tasks. SOLUTION What was the scope of their involvement? Our company used Full Clarity for many projects. They provided a fully agile team, and the biggest project we worked on with them was the development of an administrative website. This website was a complimentary part of our VR experience. Users or administrators could go to the website to manage and set up accounts before getting into the VR app, which was done using an Oculus headset. The Full Clarity team designed and built a large part of this experience. To help them do that, we provided them with high-level brand guidelines and technical documentation, including lightweight documentation on our agile and release processes. However, they also built out their own documentation, which they provided to us. They came up to speed on how we were working and plugged into our process. As an example, they created a UX bible. It had different functions and UX layouts alongside JavaScript elements for the website. This was used in the day-to-day development work. Full Clarity created the UX bible in concert with our designers and brand specialists, so it matched our style. The team also developed APIs using the .NET stack. What is the team composition? The team composition varied. We worked with 4–5 teammates on the low end and 8–9 people on the high end. We had one product manager, two UX designers, and 3–5 developers, which were a mix of front- and backend developers. Their leaders and partners provided some oversight to the project. I also worked with Tim (Delivery Lead). How did you come to work with Full Clarity? Full Clarity was highly recommended, and someone from our company had a prior relationship with them. We knew they were a good fit for what we needed to do. How much have you invested with them? We invested around £1 million (approximately $1.2 million USD). What is the status of this engagement? Our partnership lasted from April 2021–April 2023. RESULTS & FEEDBACK What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? The website didn’t have a lot of users, so we didn’t have plenty of real-time metrics in terms of actual behavior. However, we ran it into usability testing. The results were generally good, but we found some areas that could be improved. We went back into the project, and the Full Clarity team was highly responsive when taking our feedback and working to improve the product. Overall, they delivered high-quality and well-thought-out UX designs. We didn’t have to second-guess much of them. Meanwhile, the product was well-tested, and we didn’t find a lot of big issues. When we found one, they quickly addressed it. How did Full Clarity perform from a project management standpoint? They delivered on time and according to our agreed-upon scope. They were consistent in that respect and had great reporting and communication processes. We didn’t have a specific project budget since we used agile processes; we just had a backlog of work they did for us. What did you find most impressive about them? This was an important project, but we didn’t have time to manage it ourselves. Full Clarity took it off our hands and worked with us as a trusted partner. They delivered it without us having to worry about it too much. Moreover, Full Clarity was responsive to proposals, particularly once we started working with them. We gave them some rough outlines, and they quickly turned around proposals. They didn’t need vast amounts of instructions or direction — they were great at discovery and project scoping. Are there any areas they could improve? Earlier on, we didn’t have a focus on project management and product ownership. To be fair, this wasn’t a huge problem. We just needed more management as we added more people to the project. Full Clarity quickly resolved this when we talked about it. Tim ensured that things ran smoothly. Do you have any advice for potential customers? You can benefit from Full Clarity if you’re short on time or resources. They’ll provide guidance and deliver full services. If you have to be hands-off with the project, look for a team like Full Clarity.

BACKGROUND I am Service Design Lead and co-founder at Cogworx, a service design consultancy based just outside London. My role is focused on the end-to-end design and delivery of digital products and services for the public and private sector. OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE We engaged with Full Clarity to provide us with additional UX Design support for a project with UK Export Finance, a UK government department. Full Clarity embedded as part of the Cogworx team. Our brief was to provide design recommendations to improve an existing online service. What were your goals for this project? We wanted to present a unified 'Cogworx' team made up of senior consultants with great experience who could manage and advise senior stakeholders. We wanted to deliver recommendations that the team could confidently stand by with evidence and rationale to support them. SOLUTION We met Full Clarity at a social event. Exchanged details and, when an opportunity that we felt might be a good fit arose, we reached out. Describe the project in detail. Full Clarity joined Cogworx for a short (1 month) engagement with UK Export Finance. During this time the team reviewed the existing online service, audited the issues, made recommendations, and then created new designs to help illustrate these recommendations. We also did some initial user testing to validate our recommendations. Everything was submitted as a report to the client team. What was the team composition? The team was made up of Service Designer, Content Designer, Front-end Developer (all Cogworx) and UX Designer (Full Clarity). RESULTS & FEEDBACK This initial engagement with UK Export Finance has proven successful for Cogworx and we are now on our third project with the client team. How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs? Cogworx and Full Clarity worked together as an integrated and embedded team on-site at the client's offices. We used shared tools and systems to ensure collaborative working and communications. What did you find most impressive about this company? Full Clarity clearly have a lot of experience in designing a diverse range of systems and applications and were able to bring fresh ideas to the table. Their team is senior and experienced. They are able to effectively communicate with senior stakeholders which helps build relationships and confidence with clients.