Veritas internship
GDPR | UX/UI Internship
PROJECT DETAILS
Challenge: Design an end-to-end solution for enterprises to respond to multiple concurrent Data Subject Access Requests in compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law
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Solution: Create a seamless design for a tool for Veritas customers to manage and respond to Data Subject Access Requests on time
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Role: UX/UI Design Intern
TOOLS
Pen & Paper
Balsamiq
XD
Illustrator
Sketch
Axure
JIRA
Trello
Overview
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU law that took effect on May 25, 2018. It would increase privacy for individuals and give regulatory authorities greater power to take action against businesses that breach the new laws. All companies across the globe, who process any type of data on EU residents, would have to comply with the stringent requirements or risk facing a penalty of €20 million or 4% of worldwide turnover, whichever was greater.
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A Subject Access Request (SAR) is a written request made by or on behalf of an individual for personal identifiable information he/she is entitled to ask for under the GDPR. It can be filed with any organization that process personal data. The request must also be fulfilled within 30 days after the request is confirmed.
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In an intern pod of four, we were tasked with tackling this issue with Veritas and made contributions toward something larger than us. We were given the task of creating an enterprise solution to help companies comply with SARs under the GDPR. Due to time constraints of our internship, we focused on "The Right to be Forgotten" part of the extensive GDPR law.
Our Design Process
Project Design
Our approach was to design a customer enterprise tool to manage SARs because it is essential for a holistic GDPR solution. The vision for the tool was to design a simple, scalable tool to manage concurrent SAR life cycles effectively and with confidence of compliance. External organizations would need the ability to search for a data subject's personal data and effectively manage the SARs.
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A liability without our project is a massive fine for non-compliance, encouraging band-aid solutions that won't suffice to meet deadlines when SARs come in bulk. Future advantages that would come with our tool would be efficiency and clarity of the whole process to prove compliance, visibility for clients and clients' users, and minimize burden on internal resources.
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Automation, transparency, compliance visibility, and flexibility to adapt were the things we strive for.
Research process
The UX researcher started her internship a month earlier than us, the designers, and was able to conduct some interviews before we joined. I read and analyzed the recorded interviews and transcribed it for easy accessibility to the information when we develop findings and design recommendations. Being in an agile environment and a small group to work with, we joined our researcher to observe the interviews in real time using a web conferencing service. With the multiple sessions, I was able to develop an understanding of the users, and what their pain points were.
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In the beginning, we used Trello for note taking and pinpoint patterns, but we realized it was hard to see patterns throughout the interviews. As a result, we did affinity mapping to understand raw data and synthesize results together. User stories, personas, and journey maps were products of our research and analysis.
Later in the process, we were able to have a meeting with our PM's mentor when he was in town. Since it was the first time talking to him, our team hesitated about what to ask or talk to him about. I was proactive and tried to answer his questions to the best of my abilities, while using this opportunity to clear up any questions we had as a team and get a better grasp of the context we're designing for.
Design sprints
We adapted Jake Knapp's design sprint process and modified our process to be completed in 1-2 weeks, while using part of the time and resources for planning our next sprint and bookkeeping.
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We went through rounds of Crazy 8's to explore various ideas quickly. In a design workshop that I facilitated, we invited our UX mentors to join us and give us feedback on how we can improve on our ideas and the process. We completed the design workshop by doing Crazy 8's, storyboarding, and Sketch and Design (from the Google sprint).
As a group, we picked out the best and favorite ideas from Crazy 8's and expanded on those ideas. As I moved onto storyboarding and prototyping with the other UX/UI designer, I took the initiative to help out the UX researcher to help recruit testers and refine the testing guide by communicating the changes in the design and giving a different perspective to the testing goals.
Reflections
UX research is more than just interviewing and conducting user testing.
Near the end of my internship, our researcher ended a month earlier than us. I took the initiative to learn and understand her role more to create tasks for user testing and learn how to conduct user tests by observing her. I was able to conduct some pilot/dry runs sessions myself to be prepared to do more when she left. With her guidance, I was able to pinpoint what are leading tasks and why I should avoid them. I would also like to thank my UX mentor, Marie-Blanche, for being there whenever I have questions and being a supportive person by giving me advice and encouraging me as I try out new things.
Always ask questions.
I started out as a Computer Science major and had to a lot to learn to catch up to my UX designer peer. In the first few weeks, I caught up quickly to avoid wasting anyone's time and to push the product forward. I needed to research the GDPR and clarify things I didn't know on my own time. Thanks to my passion for tackling challenges, I did not hesitate to ask senior designers and researchers learning new processes and clarifying anything I have related to the project itself. I would like to thank Chris and Jeff for patiently answering all my questions and pushing me to greater limits.
First time collaborating with PMs.
This was a very new experience to me because none of my school projects have had a product manager. By having a PM incorporated into our team, I learned to communicate more efficiently and become a better team member by ensuring a product moved forward in the right direction because the whole team needs aligned our goals and perspectives.