Meet Andrea Anderson - Head of User & Information Experience at Guidewire

Summary

Andrea Anderson, the head of user experience at Guidewire, shares her non-traditional journey into design from a business school background. She emphasizes the importance of diversity in her team, which includes designers, researchers, and product managers, all contributing to a rich tapestry of perspectives. Anderson discusses the team's focus on cloud applications, digital consultancy, a design system tailored for the insurance industry, and user research. She invites potential team members to join Guidewire's innovative and globally collaborative environment.

Takeaways

• 😀 Andrea Anderson is the head of user experience at Guidewire, having been with the company for three years.
• 👩‍💼 She manages a diverse team including designers, user researchers, design leaders, product managers, focusing on all aspects of design and user experience.
• 🚀 Andrea's journey into design was not traditional; she came from a business school background and transitioned into the software world from credit management.
• 🤔 Her curiosity about software functionality led her to join a design services team, where she was trained by IDEO in their innovative methodology.
• 📚 Andrea emphasizes the importance of learning when teaching others, which has led her to gain expertise in various areas of design.
• 💼 She recommends that designers have business and engineering knowledge, and vice versa, to foster a more comprehensive understanding in the field.
• 🌐 Guidewire's design team operates on four main pillars: cloud application design, customer experience design, a design system with a component library, and user research.
• 🔍 The design team also focuses on the information experience, ensuring that users can easily access and understand product information.
• 🌈 Andrea believes in the power of diversity within a design team, highlighting the value of different opinions, backgrounds, and experiences.
• 🌟 She encourages hiring from different backgrounds and without necessarily requiring insurance experience, to bring fresh perspectives to the team.
• 🌍 Guidewire Design has a global team spread across various locations, including Krakow, Dublin, and San Mateo, with a strong focus on virtual collaboration and team bonding.

Q & A

How long has Andrea Anderson been with Guidewire?

Andrea Anderson has been with Guidewire for three years.

What is Andrea Anderson's role at Guidewire?

Andrea Anderson is the head of user experience at Guidewire, managing a team of designers, user researchers, design leaders, and product managers.

What was Andrea's background before she joined the software world?

Andrea came from a Business School background and initially worked in credit management before transitioning to the software industry.

How did Andrea get involved in design?

Andrea was given the opportunity to join a design services team at the company she was working for, which led her to be trained by IDEO and learn about design methodology.

What is the main focus of the design team at Guidewire?

The design team at Guidewire focuses on four main pillars: designing cloud applications, helping digital consultancies design customer experiences, owning the design system, and conducting user research and documentation.

How does Andrea define diversity in the context of a design team?

Andrea defines diversity as having different opinions, backgrounds, impressions, and experiences within the team, which leads to a healthy debate and joint wisdom.

What is the role of the design system at Guidewire?

The design system at Guidewire includes a component library and pre-made UI components optimized for the property and casualty insurance industry, which designers and developers can use.

What does Andrea recommend for designers, engineers, and product managers to enhance their skills?

Andrea recommends that designers have some business and engineering knowledge, engineers take a design class, and product managers learn about design thinking to broaden their perspectives.

How does Andrea describe the journey of learning about design and teaching it to others?

Andrea describes it as an amazing journey of almost 20 years, where she learned a lot about various aspects of design and the importance of teaching what she learned to others.

What is the composition of the Guidewire design team in terms of locations?

The Guidewire design team is composed of teams in Krakow, Dublin, Ireland, San Mateo, CA, and other locations across the US and Europe.

What advice would Andrea give to someone planning to join the Guidewire design team?

Andrea would advise that working at Guidewire offers a defined space with opportunities for innovation and a great, globally distributed team that has figured out how to collaborate and have fun virtually.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Journey to Design Leadership at Guidewire

Andrea Anderson, the head of user experience at Guidewire, shares her non-traditional path to design. With a background in business school and a previous career in credit management, she transitioned into the software industry. Andrea's curiosity about software functionality led her to a design services team within a large company, where she was trained by IDEO in their innovative methodology. Over nearly two decades, she has learned extensively about various aspects of design, including user experience and visual design, emphasizing the importance of teaching to truly understand a subject. She also highlights the value of having a business background and encourages cross-disciplinary knowledge among her team, advocating for a fusion of UX, business, and engineering expertise.

05:01

🛠️ The Multifaceted Role of Guidewire Design

The role of Guidewire's design team is structured around four main pillars. They design cloud applications for business users, assist digital consultancies in crafting customer experiences—such as online insurance shopping interfaces, oversee a design system with a component library tailored for the property and casualty insurance industry, and conduct user research and documentation. Andrea emphasizes the importance of diversity within the design team, suggesting that varied backgrounds and experiences enrich the design process. She describes the team's composition, which includes individuals from business, education, user research, and insurance domains, and stresses the significance of leveraging this diversity for innovation and effective teamwork.

🌐 Embracing Global Team Dynamics at Guidewire

Andrea discusses the global nature of Guidewire's design team, which includes members from Krakow, Dublin, Ireland, and various locations across the US. She speaks highly of the team's ability to collaborate effectively and maintain a sense of fun despite being a virtual, globally dispersed group. Andrea shares her enthusiasm for working at Guidewire, noting the ample opportunities for innovation and the strong team spirit that has been cultivated, especially over the past two years. She invites potential joiners to consider the dynamic and inclusive work environment that Guidewire offers.

Keywords

💡User Experience

User Experience (UX) refers to the overall experience a user has while interacting with a system, product, or service. It encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with the company, its services, and its products. In the video, Andrea Anderson, as the head of user experience at Guidewire, is focused on creating a positive and efficient experience for users, which is central to the company's design philosophy.

💡Design Team

A design team is a group of professionals with various skills and expertise working together to create and improve products or services. In the context of the video, Andrea manages a diverse design team at Guidewire, which includes designers, user researchers, design leaders, product managers, and others, all contributing to the company's design and user experience efforts.

💡IDEO

IDEO is a global design and innovation consultancy that helps organizations in creating positive impact through design thinking. In the script, Andrea mentions being trained by IDEO, which taught her their methodology that is instrumental for innovation, indicating the influence of IDEO's approach on her professional development and the design practices at Guidewire.

💡Design Thinking

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that places the user's needs at the center of the design process. It involves empathy, experimentation, and iteration to create innovative solutions. The video discusses how Andrea had to teach design thinking to skeptical engineers and product managers, highlighting the importance of this methodology in bridging the gap between traditional business practices and user-centered design.

💡Business Background

A business background typically refers to an individual's educational or professional experience in the business field, often involving management, finance, or marketing. Andrea comes from a business school background and transitioned into the software world, which gives her a unique perspective in combining business acumen with design practices at Guidewire.

💡Diversity

Diversity in the context of the video refers to the range of different experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives within a team. Andrea emphasizes the importance of a diverse design team at Guidewire, as it brings different opinions and experiences to the table, leading to more innovative and well-rounded design solutions.

💡Cloud Applications

Cloud applications are software programs that run on remote servers and are accessed over the internet, rather than being installed locally on a user's device. In the script, Andrea mentions that Guidewire's design team works on designing cloud applications for business users, indicating the company's focus on providing flexible and accessible solutions in the cloud computing space.

💡Design System

A design system is a set of reusable design components, such as UI elements, design patterns, and guidelines, that ensure consistency and efficiency in product design. Guidewire owns a design system that includes a component library and pre-made UI components optimized for the insurance industry, as mentioned by Andrea, which aids in creating a cohesive user experience across their products.

💡User Research

User research is the process of gathering and analyzing data about users to inform and validate design decisions. It's a critical part of the design process that helps in understanding user needs and preferences. Andrea discusses the role of user research in Guidewire's design team, emphasizing its importance in creating user-centered designs.

💡Information Experience

Information experience refers to how users interact with and consume information within a product or service. It's about making information accessible, understandable, and useful. In the video, Andrea mentions that the information experience, which includes documentation and reporting, is part of her team's responsibilities, showing Guidewire's commitment to providing clear and useful information to its users.

💡Global Team

A global team is a group of individuals working together across different geographical locations. Andrea talks about Guidewire's design team being spread across various locations, including Krakow, Dublin, and San Mateo, and how they have successfully collaborated and built strong relationships as a global team, even in a virtual setting.

Highlights

Andrea Anderson is the head of user experience at Guidewire, managing a diverse team including designers, user researchers, and product managers.

Andrea's journey in design was not traditional, having a background in Business School and initially working in credit management.

She transitioned into the software world and was intrigued by the 'why' behind software design decisions.

Andrea was part of a startup-like team within a larger company tasked with integrating design into the organization.

She was trained by IDEO, learning their methodology focused on innovation.

The challenge of teaching design thinking to skeptical engineers and product managers was a significant part of her role.

Andrea emphasizes the importance of learning when you need to teach, which led her to deepen her understanding of various design aspects.

She recommends designers to have business and engineering knowledge for a more comprehensive approach to design.

Guidewire's design team works on four main pillars: cloud applications, digital consultancy, design systems, and user research.

The design of cloud applications aims to help business users configure them efficiently.

Guidewire assists digital consultancies in creating customer experiences, such as online insurance shopping.

The design system includes a component library and UI components optimized for the insurance industry.

User research and documentation are key components of the design team's responsibilities.

Diversity in the design team is crucial, encompassing different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Andrea appreciates hiring people from varied backgrounds, including those without insurance experience.

Guidewire Design offers a defined space with ample opportunities for innovation.

The team is spread across different locations, including Krakow, Dublin, and San Mateo, fostering a global collaboration.

Andrea highlights the team's ability to form personal relationships and collaborate effectively in a virtual environment.

Transcripts

So I'm Andrea Anderson.

I have been with Guidewire for three years.

I'm the head of user experience here.

It's been a really exciting journey

to really help formulate the user

experience practice here guide wire,

so I manage a team of designers,

user researchers, design leaders,

product managers and we try to

take care of everything that

has to do with design and user

experience here with Guidewire. [Question: How did you come to Design]

I'm not a born designer.

No one is it born designer suppose but I

was not trained in school to be a designer.

I actually come from

Business School background

So when I came to the US I actually

worked in a very boring job called

credit management and then I came

over to the software world right?

I always joke

I had a real job before software,

but what was always fascinating

for me is when I taught software.

Why does it work that way right?

Why do you need to explain?

So much, and so I was given the opportunity

at some point to join actually a new

team at the company I worked for.

That was called to design services team.

I have no clue what that meant,

but it was sort of the small startup

within this huge company and so

we were tasked to bring design

into this huge organization right?

So I was actually trained.

I'd like to say I was trained.

I don't know if that's the

right word by IDEO.

They taught us their methodology

which is great for innovation, right?

But then came the reality,

I now have to teach.

Design to other people and design

thinking to other people that

were engineers very skeptical.

Alright like what does that stuff?

Product managers have never done it before.

Designers that thought, design,

thinking and design on the same thing, right?

So I've been doing this

now for almost 20 years.

It's been an amazing journey.

I learned a lot about design myself

around user experience around visual

design about design research because as

soon as you need to teach something,

you need to learn it yourself, right?

So, but I also have this business.

Background right and I always recommend

when when I interview designers,

business savvy at least you know a

little bit of engineering savvy gets

you a lot further than quote UN quote.

Just UX savvy,

and vice versa.

I tell my engineers you should at

least take a design class one of these

days and my product managers too, right?

So what I love is that design is

such a such a topic that we all.

It's all our business to do that right?

And so then, well,

While I'm not a trained UX designer.

The domain and the way to solve problems.

Just fascinates me and certainly

the way I love to work. [Question: What is the role of Guidewire Design]

So our design team really works on

probably 4 main pillars, right?

One is we design a number of cloud

applications that mostly business users can

use to configure the cloud applications.

So that's one big branch.

The other branch is we help our

digital consultancies actually

design experiences for our customers,

so if you've ever shopped for

insurance online,

you've already seen one of our

experience designs implemented

Then we also own the design system here.

Meaning we have a component library

and pre-made UI components that

designers and developers can use that

are optimized for the property and

casualty insurance industry and then

the big other arm we have is really

user research, design research and

then of course documentation

or like we call it information.

Experience is also reporting into me

and so we also think about what is

that experience look like when you

actually need information about the product

Or how how to run a product. [Question: How did you come to design?]

Yes, one of the key principles behind a

good design team is diversity, right?

And by diversity means

Different people mean different things,

but I think in the end diversity

means there's different opinions.

There's different backgrounds,

different impressions, different experiences,

people bring, and are confident to

bring into the conversation, right?

So I have the business background.

We have an educational designer that

has an educational design background.

We have a person that's a user

researcher that brings in.

That piece right?

We have product managers that used

to be agents or underwriters, right?

So the the art form of design.

The ultimate really well working design team

leverages that diversity of experiences,

opinions, point of views, right?

And gives a healthy time for debate

and figuring out where is the joint.

Where's our joint wisdom leading

us and that can only come if we

have a diverse crowd of people.

So I love to hire people from

totally different backgrounds

that don't have any insurance.

Experience of people that perhaps

have done more visual design,

and want to change over to UX design.

There are people that have been domain experts

and now we want to become a product manager,

right? So I think we can all learn so much

from each other and leveraging

And harvesting that diversity

is up to all of us to do. [Question: What would you tell someone planning to join Guidewire design?]

I love working here.

I think we have a very defined space with

a lot of opportunities for innovation.

We have a great team across the

ocean so we have a team in Krakow.

We have a team in in Dublin, Ireland.

Some European individuals sprinkled in there.

We have a team here in San Mateo,

CA but also some US folks

scattered in various places, right?

So we have figured out,

especially over the last two years,

how to collaborate and have

fun as a global team.

Virtually right,

I think we've gelled a lot of

personal relationships have formed,

so it's really a cool group

to work with and and work for.