Morningstar
My product ownership experience aided me at rapidly securing a seat at the table and shaping products from their very inception. During my time at Morningstar, I became Lead Experience Designer, ensuring that complex methodological procedures are transformed into functioning platforms our analysts efficiently use to evaluate organisations and create sustainability-related products (ESG Research, Climate Solutions, Impact Solutions, Transition Rating, and Stewardship Services).
01. The Complexity of a product
A large part of my activities is based on defining & creating new products. A recent example of such a product is Impact Rating.
My involvement in this project took 10 months and was met by hundreds of hours of inter-departmental exploratory sessions. The process featured a multitude of iterations. The result was a research platform that analysts may use to evaluate organisations.
A vital part of this process entails relying on information visualisation by transforming large, complicated, and interconnected data sets into actual platforms that analysts use to perform their work.
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02. Guiding Organic Growth
Organic growth within an organisation is generally accompanied by a lack of cohesion within its tools. Correspondingly, the research platforms I have worked on had this issue, which saw the creation of the uniformisation initiative.
"The Case for uniformisation" - a business case elaborated to attain buy-in on this massive cross-team endeavour from the leadership team.
03. Refining the Design System
The uniform approach aims to not only ensure interdepartmental flexibility between users but has also made the development of new features more efficient by using a single framework and a single identity across different products, with different teams.
Subsequently, this approach must ensure that the cohesive design adopted is well-documented and featured in a comprehensive design system.
This Design System also features a direct link towards the relevant code the afferent component (or subcomponent) is referencing.
*a product
The primary driver of my role involves interpreting complex methodological requirements that guide the work of analysts. This means that you might find yourself stuck in the intrinsic complexity of the product if you lack a coherent understanding of Impact Rating particularities (metrics, objectives, or goals).
**By clicking on the button and navigating the website, you agree to the terms and conditions applied that restrict any sort of misuse. This product was eventually dropped from production.