“Prism” for Terrane Land Surveying
6 month “refresh and enhance” contract for internal legacy software becomes customized software suite that runs an entire firm’s operations.
Role
UX Lead & Product Manager
Time Frame
Feb 2017 - Nov 2021
Responsibilities
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User research
Information architecture
Process audits
Cradle-to-grave flow design
Low & high fidelity mockups
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Stakeholder management and presentation
Vendor management (engineering teams, technology integration partners)
Product development strategy and feature prioritization
-
Sprint planning & backlog grooming with contracted software engineers
Usability testing, UAT, bug tracking
Developer handoffs w/redlines
Data point translation for migration from legacy system to new database
Feature request/bug tracking procedure for post-deployment
The Context
The Solution
Delivering an impressive 2500 + individual surveys per year, Terrane had already achieved high marks on a built-as-they-went web application. Given the nature of the construction, complexity, and workarounds however, it wasn’t easily scalable.
Leadership knew that improved cycle time, über-precise data reporting, and seamless handoff processes were going to be key to remain at the top of their industry—and that they would need holistically planned and built software to achieve that.
From the ground up, craft a collection of digital tools that upcycled familiar experiences/processes with additional refinement and enhancements
Ideate, design, and build out scalable, forward-looking applications that both bridge current gaps and anticipate evolving business needs
5 custom apps
+
2 integrations
=
1 solution
Impact Highlights
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Cycle Time Decrease
With a combination of process refinement, field crew expertise profiling/efficiency rating, and geographic scheduling, cycle times were improved substantially.
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Live Data
Profit ratios viewable by department, job type, time on task and other data points became viewable in real time. Previously, the available data was 1-2 months out of date for several job types and had less specificity available.
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Labor Redundancy Reduction
Site visit “go-backs” were decreased by nearly 10% monthly after the mobile app was deployed in the field which included a final checklist process that was executed before leaving each job site.
Sample Documentation & Screenshots
Outcomes
Established as the “single source of truth” for all of Terrane’s data, the strong backbone of the Prism database combined with extensive API usage allow team members of all disciplines to access clean and reliable data pertinent to them.
Utilizing integrated proposal and billing software, external customers now enjoy cleaner and more accessible inception to delivery experiences.
Carefully crafted Information Architecture and data structure enable Terrane to confidently offer new or enhanced services to their customers, with the confidence that their technology is both flexible and scalable.
Learnings
Advocating early and often for significant investment in planning, validation, and roadmapping before any code is written is a hill worth dying on.
It is difficult, but vital to balance:
Adapting to inevitable roadblocks and unforeseeable sea changes
being receptive to creative ideas as they come
Guarding scope & feature inflation throughout the project
“Everything is possible” in software, as one of our lead developers would always tell me. In the future, I likely won’t repeat that sentiment to non-technical Senior Leadership
Andy McAndrews - Sales Director (Land Use & Planning)
“…[he] was fully invested in learning our industry, and the technical problems we faced, while prioritizing users and capitalizing on efficiencies. Kyle shines as a collaborator and strategic thinker, rarely letting new problems or layers of complexity derail his mission to create and implement holistic solutions that allow opportunity for everyone to succeed.”
Eve Riley - Chief Operations Officer
“Kyle joined our team knowing nothing about our industry or the company’s workflows, but it soon became clear he possesses the ability to learn and synthesize information quickly. He truly had a desire to make the application easier for our team to operate and to create a better overall client experience. He did a brilliant job getting us to the finish line, by getting to the root of what everyone truly needed from the application, without creating unnecessary complexity.”
