Designing 120+ journeys for a $100M+ telco transformation, and the operating model that shipped them in 20 weeks
The legacy digital journeys were underperforming on engagement and conversion, and the roadmap to fix them had just shrunk from four years to 20 weeks. Rushing screens into production would have meant inconsistent experiences across App, Web, and Tablet, so I treated the foundations as part of the product work: a shared design framework built alongside the journeys themselves.
This case study summarises a multi-layered problem spanning 120+ end-to-end journeys journeys across multiple teams. Each case study below breaks down one piece of it.
Role
Fractional Design Director
DesignOps Lead
Duration
20 weeks
Scope
End-to-end UX and UI design across App, Web, and Tablet, plus the design framework, planning, and handoff that kept 20+ designers aligned.
Teams involved
20+ Multinational Designers
150+ cross-functional stakeholders and leadership in over 15 countries
Impact summary
120+
Journeys delivered
200+
Key designers and cross-functional stakeholders' productivity impacted
10x
Increased production velocity from 4-years into just 20-weeks
~$10M+
Budget optimised in project expenditure
One of the existing B2C designs
One of the existing B2B designs (screenshot)
About Ignite, the digital transformation program, and its challenges
The challenge and why Ignite exists
Ignite's core function was to reimagine how a conventional telco business operates in a digital-first world. With the UAE's ambitious vision of becoming a global leader in AI and innovation by 2031, it was vital to innovate at speed 🚀. However, transforming the technology was one thing, but transforming how people worked, their thoughts, and their culture, was a challenge entirely its own.
15 year-old journeys relied on offline steps, manual handoffs, and outdated infrastructure instead of digital-first paths
Fragmented Frameworks
No shared system across products. Every team solved the same problem differently, with no single source of truth
Underperforming
The compounding result – severely impacting key engagement and conversion metrics across all channels.
What we built
The North Star vision was to create a world-class digital-first experience across App, Web, and Tablet — built for Consumers, Entrepreneurs, and Small Businesses, with compliance safeguarded at every step and transaction time treated as a non-negotiable metric.
300+
Features
x
3
Channels
x
2
Personas
=
1,800+
Unique permutations
To get the elephant out of the room, yes, the numbers were precise and not an estimate. These are the actual decision points and permutations our team had to make given the space we had.
Key design decisions I led
Agents served customers from spreadsheets and back-office tables, with no product at all. I designed a guided flow that starts from what the customer is looking for rather than only showing data.
Trade-off: Live order tracking was deferred to a later release, since it depended on systems outside the program's control.
Regulations require every amount to be visible. I designed each 192 multi-product cart variation so customers see what they pay for at a glance, then packaged it as reusable templates adopted across 25+ journeys.
Trade-off: Templates meant more rigorous and strict governance.
Customers couldn't tell Fibre from Wireless, so both journeys now start with location. Eligible customers see Fibre with richer entertainment benefits at a comparable price.
Trade-off: It's a recommendation rather than automatic redirect. Customers can still choose Wireless, but mostly for price.
Operating model I built
Time invested
2 weeks
Approach
Proving by doing
"Why all the trouble? You could've utilised your time in actually designing."
— common pushback from stakeholders
I understood that two weeks represented a significant investment in our fast-paced environment. But one of the most important decisions I made was to invest time to save time. I started by identifying reusable journeys, to recover that lost time and also to prevent redundant work in the future.
Helicopter view of all the Consumer Acquisition journey with all its features and its degree of reusability
What I embedded into the program
When the first drop kicked off, everything I'd previously built was about to be stress-tested at scale. To ensure that the program thrived, I've created core pillars and collaborated closely with 150+ stakeholders, transforming fragmented efforts into a high-velocity, predictable delivery engine.
Project planning and scoping
Audited UX and rebuilt the IA to improve usability
Led cross-functional workshops to surface pain points
Mapped journeys at a high level to estimate reusability, cutting delivery time
Strategic resourcing
Mapped roadmaps against design needs to estimate effort per workstream
Matched designers to products by skillset and persona expertise (B2C/B2B)
Built a task force to absorb ad-hoc requests without disrupting core delivery
Radical transparency
Weekly reports gave every stakeholder an honest read on delivery status
Monthly show-and-tells turned passive observers into active advocates
Design and production support
Ran QA and version control, comparing live builds against Figma before handoff
Introduced refinement sessions to align feedback before moving forward
What it all added up to (Or.. outcome)
TL;DR of a TL;DR — I was handed 20 weeks with no existing playbook nor role and a $100M+ program, I designed the journeys and the system to deliver them, and built both as we went.
When I look back at every decision made, every piece fell exactly where I intended it to. That decision was deliberate across the operational foundations, the design contributions, and the 0-to-1 build.
Here's what it all added up to.
1,600
Days estimated work
Pre-transformation
20
Weeks delivered
~$10mio
Budget optimised
The ripple effect
The foundations paid off well beyond the screens. UAT is the clearest example: a journey-review cycle that used to take three to four weeks became a 90-minute session for 60+ stakeholders, because everyone reviewed the same structured journeys instead of hunting through files. Product, business, and development could now give feedback earlier, before it turned into rework.
Pausing to set the foundations first is what let the program shift from shipping requests as they arrived to working toward shared product goals, with design, product, business, and development roadmaps pointed the same way.
Personal Reflection
This program showed me that DesignOps works best as part of product strategy. The impact was visible because the operating model was to match the moment of the product work.
However this wasn't an easy start. The changes were initially met with hesitation, so I did the works myself. I applied the new systems on the actual journeys, designing alongside the team, and trusted the process to make the case. This has demonstrated the value of investing in time to save time in the long run, without sacrificing quality. This approach has effectively removed all skepticism, proving that the 'Just Ship It' mindset way was costing us more than it was saving.
You don't find out what your foundations are worth until everything is on the line. Now I know, and so does everyone who was in that room. The best product work I did here and the best operating decisions I made turned out to be the same work.
Let’s get in touch 🤙🏼
Always open to conversations! Whether it's about Design Operations, Design Leadership, UX/UI Design, or just exchanging notes on what's working and what isn't. Looking to bring on a Product Design, want to collaborate, or just want to geek out? Let's have a chat
Contact me