I want to start off this section by saying the work done in this role is covered under multiple NDAs.  I can only enclose certain details without getting too specific. I apologize for the lack of images, I am not authorized to show them to the public.

After the success of the launch of Research & Development, Dynamo wanted me to be the main UX designer on the Business Operations  (BusOps) contract. I was confident in my skills and design process so I said yes and met the new team I would be working with.

Much like R&D, BusOps did have an online presence, but it was incredibly outdated and some of the resources were split between the HTML site and Microsoft Sharepoint sites. The team consisted of a Scrum Master, Business Analyst, three developers, and three stakeholders.

When first meeting the stakeholders they were sharing their goal for this project which was to improve the usability  and UI of the site. BusOps started as a simple website with very minimal features; announcements, news, events, about us, and  contact us. There was one office under BusOps that we were to bring into the new look and feel as well.The scope of the project expanded massively after we were introduced to the requirement of bringing in offices under  BusOps into the new design framework as well. This included 11 offices that all had their own stakeholders and design opinions as well, so we had our work cut out for us.

What was very nice about this project was that I had such a head start on the initial research since BusOps used the same design system as R&D. Since I was familiar with this framework and the accessibility requirements I felt comfortable with jumping straight to gathering requirements from the stakeholders.

The first requirements gathering session gave us  insights as to who will be using this website and what they use it for. The stakeholders' goal was to have the BusOps site be the hub for all it's offices and their employees. This site would be mainly used to assist with the employee's daily tasks. They wanted to create a website that even a new employee could land on and figure out how to complete a very niche task without having to ask a colleague or support for assistance.

With this being the desire of the stakeholders I was able to understand that they needed a site built to  provide  answers. I created an IA that needed to include every page under both BusOps and the sub-offices as well. The IA was built similar to reflect the request of BusOps being the funnel that the users begin at and then find their way to the information they need based on what office they belong to.  This task was very meticulous and ended with a massive file that I needed to organize in Adobe XD just to capture all the pages. This IA  I needed to present to 3 different levels of stakeholders to get their approval. After this was approved, I moved to branding.

Just like R&D, the branding was 95% established since BusOps was also under the Forest Service. I was able to reference the design of R&D to showcase color scheme, font, layout, iconography, and components to potentially utilize. This sped up the process of branding to be twice as fast as it took for me to develop the branding for R&D. We were able to get into the low-fidelity mockup stage very quick thanks to the thorough work completed in the previous project.

Knowing how successful the method in creating low-fidelity mockups was in R&D made me confident in applying the same methodologies to BusOps. Using Adobe XD I created multiple landing page mockups within a few days then presented those to the stakeholders for review. Through a design presentation I walked the stakeholders through my ideas for layout and potential components that would best assist the user in getting what they are looking for from BusOps. We landed on a design that was flexible and had potential to be used for the offices as well when we got to that work. I had all the information that I needed to then create a high-fidelity mockup  that would also be  made into a prototype.

The  high-fidelity mockups and prototype were built based on the different types of pages a user would be coming across. For example; a user who wanted to see what events for an office in BusOps are coming up. This would require a dropdown that would take the user to the events page, where they  would see a list of events that is required to be filterable in many facets - one being office. I would then have to build these screens with real-world information and sprinkle in some lorem ipsum to fill out the dense content sections like an events description. After I have enough pages built I used XD's prototyping software to link each page and create animations to simulate a real web experience.  Once I felt like  the prototype was ready for some additional eyes, I ran it past our internal team of developers, BA, and scrum master to see  if I missed any requirements or if anything designed raises concerns with developers. This was beneficial because there are times that designs increase the workload of a developer to a point that it may not be sensible to take on the work due to timeline restraints. Once the design passed the internal team check, I presented to stakeholders for review.

The project at this point was going almost identical to R&D but there was a twist in this phase. The stakeholders also needed buy-in from their bosses to move forward with development of the website. So after I had the initial stakeholder review of the prototype, we needed to then get approval from the Forest Service Chief AND the leaders of every office under BusOps. I needed to put together a design review for a meeting of 90+ participants. To prepare for this I needed to scale back what I was going to go through to focus on just  the main changes that are being made; navigation, and look & feel. Rather than walking through various workflows that could be picked apart for hours with a large group, I took a more slide-focused approach that highlighted the main changes and did a small walkthrough of ONLY the landing page of the prototype. The reason for this being the goal of the meeting, which was to have everyone on board with the new changes and not to get locked up in a 90 person debate over  potential ideas. This strategy ended up working well, as I was able to lead that call and present all the changes while being able to back up the design decisions with proof from the R&D project, or referencing USWDS. There of course was some feedback but we ended that call with an approved prototype and I couldn't feel more accomplished and excited that my strategy worked so well. 
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I was able to use Adobe XD's sharing capabilities again to share the prototype with the developers who then used dev mode to create the pages in the mockup. Each page was sent to me for review and I either gave feedback or approved the pages as we went along. 
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In January 2023 we launched the internal Business Operations website which included one of the 11 offices.

Over the next 2 years we would be working with the rest of the offices to create their own websites. The requirements would vary, some offices only needed a landing page with some important links for their users, others wanted to integrate the tools they were using in third party systems into the website. For example there was one office which used three different platforms to schedule and maintain training for their users. They wanted to combine all of that into one experience on the BusOps website. This was a challenge of its own as it pushed the boundaries as to what is realisticin both the design and development world while also adhering to USWDS and Section 508 guidelines.

During this project (~July 2024) I also converted all previous work in Adobe XD over to Figma. This was driven by leadership within Business Operations that they wanted to be owners of the design content, not Dynamo. They were not willing to pay for Adobe XD, so they chose Figma as the main design tool to offer to their designers. I had already some experience with Figma, but this would be my first experience using professionally. I had to transfer the XD files using a third party tool which Dynamo had to pay for, but we eventually got the job done. Learning Figma opened my eyes to how much better it is than XD and I haven't looked back since.

This project lasted until April 2025. It was canceled due to shifting federal priorities and budget realignments that affected ongoing support for certain programs. This decision reflects broader funding changes across agencies and is not related to the performance or outcomes of the work delivered. I was incredibly sad to see all the hard work from the years prior be halted due to budgeting. However, this is how contracting goes in the federal space from what I was told.

TLDR: 

After launching the R&D site, I became the lead UX designer for the BusOps contract. I applied my existing knowledge of USWDS and accessibility standards to streamline the design process. Initially focused on a single office, the project quickly expanded to include 11 offices, each with unique needs. I led IA, branding, and prototyping using Adobe XD, and eventually transitioned all design work to Figma per client request. A key milestone was successfully presenting to 90+ stakeholders to gain leadership approval. We launched the internal BusOps site in Jan 2023 and continued iterating for 2+ years until the project ended in April 2025 due to federal budget realignments.

Lessons Learned

• With 11 offices under BusOps, each bringing their own expectations and opinions, I learned just how crucial it is to manage stakeholder relationships and communication. Leading a design review for 90+ people taught me to present clearly, stay focused, and guide large groups toward consensus without getting caught in endless debates.

• Because I had already worked on the R&D site and was familiar with USWDS and accessibility guidelines, I was able to hit the ground running. It made a huge difference to reuse proven systems and frameworks what took weeks before only took days this time around.

• What started as a small redesign grew into something much larger. I’m proud that the design system I created was flexible enough to work across multiple sub-offices, all with their own unique needs. This taught me to always think a few steps ahead.

• Before presenting anything to stakeholders, I made a habit of reviewing designs with developers and my internal team. That helped us catch technical issues early, which saved a lot of time and avoided frustration during development.

• Every design decision I made was rooted in strategy whether it was referencing the USWDS, accessibility standards, or success from the R&D project. This gave stakeholders confidence in my work and helped streamline the approval process.

• When the project was canceled, it had nothing to do with our performance it was simply a result of shifting federal priorities and budget realignments. As tough as it was to see all our work paused, I was reminded that in federal contracting, some things are beyond my control and that resilience is a key part of the job.