About Cisco DNA Center Cloud
Cisco DNA Center Cloud is a command center for mid-sized companies to bring up and manage their networks through the cloud, improve network performance, and ensure security.
I was one of 4 designers that designed the product from the ground up. Cisco DNA Center Cloud brought 451 new customers to Cisco, projecting $140M in annual subscription revenue.
Timeframe:
1.5 years
My Role:
Designer, design thinker
The Process
Research
User Interviews
Research synthesis
Ideation
User personas
Workshops
Design
Low fidelity
High fidelity
Testing
Usability testing
Early field trials
Initial Research Takeaways
My team interviewed 4 IT generalists, 1 non-IT specialist, 1 network administrator, and 1 Cisco partner through remote, moderated sessions.
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Each session included a 60 minute interview and a 30 minute card sort activity.
Speedy deployment is mission critical
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Long lead time results in adoption barriers
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Deployment is often done via cookie cutter approach
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In-depth network knowledge is often scarce
Users don't have time to actively monitor
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Need a solution that proactively surfaces issues
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Require data for specific purposes
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Mobile app use case for onsite troubleshooting
User Persona
Creation
After synthesizing the initial research, we created user personas to create design focus.
Journey Mapping Workshop
I planned and facilitated a workshop with 3 designers, 2 engineers, 2 product managers, and 1 technical marketing engineer to map out the end-to-end journey for onboarding network devices.
Design Sprint:
Crazy 8's
I facilitated a Crazy 8 workshop exercise with the other 3 designers on the product to generate different design ideas and iterate on the top voted ideas.
Network Site and Device Pages
I designed these two critical and high traffic pages where users could manage and monitor their networks after deployment.
The hero bar component I designed was added to the Cisco enterprise networking design system that is now used in the parent Cisco DNA Center product as well.
Port Selection and Configuration
The networking device called a switch features many ports that users need to configure and plug cables into it.
Since users need many different combinations of group port settings, I designed a port editing view to allow for easier selection and batch editing.
Research and Early Field Trials
I helped our researcher plan and created prototypes and assets for 6 out of 15 research sessions done for Cisco DNA Center Cloud.
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We also launched EFTs (Early Field Trials) with recruited customers before putting the product to market. These EFT customers gave us regular feedback while using the product in their natural environments.
Security Policies
Validate how users deploy security policies onto the network
Application Experience
Understand tools and processes around application performance
Add Devices
Learn how users add devices to the network and troubleshoot
Alerts and Troubleshooting
Learn how users get notified about issues on desktop or mobile
DNA Edge Devices
Understand how users connect devices to the cloud
Issue Self Discovery
Validate how users self discover and fix network issues
Reflections and Highlights
After working at high velocity on this product for a year and a half, the following are some of my highlights from working on the product team.
Strong team collaboration
Our core product team was recognized at an All-Hands meeting as a shining example of how a team should work together
Increased adoption
Product customer adoption increased by 150% after device onboarding workshops and redesign efforts
Simplifying experiences
Enterprise networking is traditionally complex, and our efforts pushed the team to simplify as much as possible
