Oct 2023 - April 2025
The challenge
Thames Water's Developer Services team had long wanted a logged-in system to replace their offline processes but needed help getting things defined.
The team was responsible for handling applications from property developers relating to water and wastewater infrastructure; everything from building over sewers to connecting new housing developments to the mains.
These requests were mostly managed offline via PDF forms and email. With no centralised way for users to track progress or manage multiple applications, the process was inefficient for staff and frustrating for customers.
My role
Contract UX Designer
I was brought in to help scope the front-end work but I ended up playing a central role in shaping both the product and the roadmap.
I was responsible for deciding how best to approach the brief. To that end, I:
designed the end-to-end UX approach
led discovery workshops
conducted all user research
collaborate with subject-matter experts to map and redesign complex processes
prototyped and tested the new platform
supported the product team through roadmap changes and delivery planning
Getting started
When I was brought in, the requirements were still ambiguous and there was a risk of jumping ahead to solutions. To head this off, I proposed running a lean discovery process to get everyone - myself included - to a base level of understanding.
I kicked things off by adapting the Google Design Sprint framework to suit our needs: a series of short workshops with internal subject-matter experts to map the current state, capture ideas and sketch out what a future-state experience might look like.
This helped to:
Quickly build good personal relationships between the web team and business stakeholders
Establish a shared understanding of goals and challenges
Create early sketches of how the dashboard and application workflows might look
Making sense of complex flows
With multiple user types - from homeowners to large developers - and very different processes between the internal clean water and wastewater teams, I needed to ensure we were designing with both consistency and flexibility in mind.
I held ongoing workshops with subject-matter experts to:
map out the logic behind each application type
identify reusable patterns and components across journeys
design user flows that could branch dynamically from simple to highly complex use cases in a way that paper processes could not.
During this process I helped the SMEs understand the ways in which their service could be simplified and together we clarified business logic that needed to be watertight in order to be automated.
Understanding the users
I would be designing for professional users with specialist knowledge, so I needed to rapidly get up to speed on their needs. I used a mix of methods:
Reviewed large volumes of customer feedback, using generative AI to provide summaries while also reading a lot myself to ensure I internalised it.
Ran interviews and usability sessions with real users (property developers, consultants, homeowners), all of whom I recruited myself via an existing user panel.
Organised team visits to other water companies to learn from their experiences delivering similar platforms.
During this research, one of the key questions from the discovery workshops was resolved: with such a broad range of knowledge among the user base, from total novices to seasoned industry experts, how could we design a single system that was suitable for all?
It turned out that most users - even the experts - benefited from a guided, well-explained journey. By simplifying language, using contextual help and designing flows that branched based on complexity, we were able to support both novices and professionals with the same system.
Adapting the roadmap
Midway through the project it became clear that the back-end work would be significantly delayed. To avoid wasting time (and to make use of a front end team that was already stood up), I proposed a phased approach:
Refactor the application forms so that they could work without login
Develop and release them one at a time deliver value as early as possible
Allow the forms to later plug into the full logged-in system once the back-end was ready
This meant users could start benefitting from a clearer, more efficient experience sooner and we could begin learning from real behaviour while longer-term tech decisions were being made.
Outcomes
Reflection
It was gratifying to get involved on the 'ground floor', helping a project get off the starting line and embedding a user-centred process right from the outset.
I demonstrated that I can get to grips with complex systems quickly, and also build empathy for end-users who are in a professional context, doing things I'm totally unfamiliar with.
I surprised myself by getting really interested in the infrastructure that runs under our streets, ultimately becoming a subject-matter expert myself, then using this knowledge to transform complexity into something usable and scalable.