Ux by MIKE

Ux by MIKEUx by MIKEUx by MIKE

Ux by MIKE

Ux by MIKEUx by MIKEUx by MIKE
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Sydney Water TAP In eCommerce Trade Portal

Sydney Water’s Tap In portal was designed to digitise how plumbers and trade professionals apply for services, permits, and access to water infrastructure.


With no formal UX process in place at that time—my role was to introduce Lean UX, define a user-centred vision, and validate it through user feedback. The challenge was cultural as much as technical: taking internal stakeholders on a journey while designing for the practical, time-pressured needs of tradespeople.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Background

Background

Background

I joined Sydney Water as UX Design Lead to establish a user-centred approach for Tap In, a new trade portal. The project involved creating Lean UX processes from scratch and designing a solution tailored to plumbers and trade professionals—while integrating with an agile delivery team.

UX Process

Background

Background

Contextual Research
Conducted field visits and site interviews to observe workflows and gather user insights directly from tradespeople.
 

Personas & Surveys
Created validated personas using field interviews and customer survey data to inform journey mapping and solution direction.
 

Workshops & Co-Design
Facilitated internal sketch sessions and collaborative ideation to align teams and translate real-world insight into practical UI patterns.
 

Lean UX & Iteration
Prototyped and tested concepts through fast, feedback-driven loops. Used guerilla testing and stakeholder demos to validate changes.
 

Process Advocacy
Demonstrated UX value to shift internal mindset from stakeholder-driven to user-led, using customer insights as the primary driver.

My Role

Background

My Role

UX Design Lead


• Defined and embedded a Lean UX approach within the product team


• Conducted contextual research and developed validated personas


• Facilitated design workshops and co-design sessions


• Delivered wireframes, prototypes, and tested flows


• Coordinated internal and external design resources


• Advocated for UX strategy through evidence and user feedback

PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS

Contextual Discovery

Proto Persona Development

Proto Persona Development

Conducted on-site visits and interviews to observe how plumbers and tradies use the current systems. Captured unspoken pain points and designed from practical reality—not assumptions.

Proto Persona Development

Proto Persona Development

Proto Persona Development

Created early personas from interviews and surveys, validated them with qualitative and quantitative data. These became critical to stakeholder alignment.

Workshop Facilitation

Workshop Facilitation

Workshop Facilitation

Led whiteboard and design studio sessions with internal teams, using customer stories to align stakeholders around practical solutions.

Lean UX Integration

Workshop Facilitation

Workshop Facilitation

Delivered tested iterations under tight timelines and budget, using guerilla feedback loops with end users to quickly validate and improve design.

OUTCOMES

• Introduced Sydney Water’s first UX design process, shifting the org away from a UI-only mindset


• Validated a practical solution for an overlooked user group—trade professionals


• Embedded Lean UX as the standard approach under tight budget/time constraints


• Unified internal/external teams with a shared UX vision


• Delivered a product that reduced confusion, improved access, and set a scalable foundation
 

Project Feedback

"Mike introduced the concept of Lean UX into an Agile project, and was the UX champion in an organisation which had never engaged UX design for its web applications. He was charged with providing the UX approach for a website, and leading a team of designers and front-end developers. 


In his role as UX lead, he frequently needed to think outside the box due to constantly changing business requirements. His ability to run design workshops and engage stakeholders is outstanding, and he found creative ways to conduct user interviews when it was difficult to do so. 


He set up a UX framework for the organisation and the turnaround for design documents was very quick. He was a pleasure to work with, with his calm demeanour and sense of humour. I would happily work with Mike again, and recommend him as a valuable member of any team."

Senior Business Analayst, Online Trade Customer (OTC)

Sydney Water

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