[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Template Basic Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Header Row” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/banner_portfolio.png” alt=”My Portfolio” title_text=”banner_portfolio” admin_label=”Header Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_menu admin_label=”Site Main Menu” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”31px” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_menu][et_pb_text admin_label=”Expository Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Quick Blurb quick blurb quick blurb.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Situation Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Situation Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Ecolab is a huge company, involved in over a dozen market verticals.<\/p>\n
At one point, the company figured it was possible for salespeople from several of these verticals to be sitting in the lobby at one of their big institutional clients \u2013 McDonalds, Hilton, Yum Foods \u2013 and not even know each other were there selling Ecolab.<\/p>\n
Marketing opportunities were being lost.<\/p>\n
As a result, the company instituted a new position, a D-level Customer Account manager, to manage relationships with the really big clients.<\/p>\n
To support them, the company commissioned one of the big software solutions companies to build a Data Warehouse application, centralizing reporting across the verticals for both Ecolab and their customers.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, after spending $2 million, the system had serious issues \u2013 not just usability issues, but a creeping sense that something was very, very wrong with the application.<\/p>\n
I was called into the office of the vice president in charge of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis thing is just awful\u201d, she said, telling me to figure out what we could so, but fast and on a budget.<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Task Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Task Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Diagnose and fix massive, debilitating problems \u2013 while not ruffling executives political\u00a0feathers.<\/p>\n
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[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Action Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Action Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Add Your Heading Text Here<\/p>\n
At the beginning, it just seemed to be a bunch of simple micro-usability problems.<\/p>\n
The original vendor \u2013 one of the big software solutions companies \u2013 had built a three-<\/p>\n
step \u201cwizard\u201d for generating a report on Ecolab\u2019s sales activities by vertical, by branch in the customer organization, and others factors.<\/p>\n
A simple heuristic review revealed many of them:<\/p>\n
A deeper dive showed a much bigger problem, though.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0 the user edited a \u201creport\u201d (the file that saved the criteria) and changed the name, it simply renamed the report object.<\/p>\n
But when the user renamed the Customer Query (the part that originally had three names, above), that created a separate copy of that query. The user wasn\u2019t clear not only on which copy they were working on, but it was entirely possible for the \u201cReport\u201d to be getting its data from the wrong query.<\/p>\n
As a result, the user could be generating numbers that had nothing to do with what they expected. The numbers were so complex, there was no way for them to know.<\/p>\n
The system was practically designed to put out bad data<\/em>.<\/p>\n In addition, the \u201ccustomer query\u201d portion relied on a 2,000 node treeview control that took as much as five minutes to load, and couldn\u2019t be avoided. It was so slow, people thought it had crashed. Which, sometimes, it did.<\/p>\n To make things even more complex, most of the executives who\u2019d signed off on the original $2 million development cost were still at the company, and still had egos invested.<\/p>\n I had to be careful.<\/p>\n So I ran a round of usability testing with five users, ascertaining that the problems I identified were real \u2013 nobody could either successfully create a report, or knew that they were not viewing the data they thought they\u2019d put in it.<\/p>\n One key finding \u2013 about 2% of users actually used the Customer Query step at all. Ever.<\/p>\n So I did a mocked up three different approaches to fixing the problem, at low fidelity (to make fast iteration easy. <\/p>\n The \u201cHigh Impact\u201d solution used the results of the usability testing. <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ admin_label=”Results Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Results Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Management decided to invest in my \u201cHigh Impact\u201d solution; the investment was worth it for this high-profile a project.<\/p>\n Then, to make sure the results were absolutely clear enough to overcome any political obstacles, I ran a round of usability testing with 27 users, making sure every possible usage permutation and audience were covered exhaustively.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was a huge success.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mitchellberg.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Visio-AP346_CTC_Redesign_Wireframe__High-Effort__pdf__page_3_of_8_1.png” alt=”Circle the Customer” title_text=”Visio-AP346_CTC_Redesign_Wireframe__High-Effort__pdf__page_3_of_8_1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” admin_label=”CTC Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Its just a wireframe – although Ecolab’s actual stylesheet wasn’t much more elaborate back then. But the action is around callout 15 – where I hid that huge treeview control that the users needed on roughly one query out of fifty.\u00a0 That, and labeling everything correctly and consistently, did the trick. <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Footer Section” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(12,113,195,0.15)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5,1_5″ admin_label=”Footer Row” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Home Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”link_option_url” _module_preset=”default” link_option_url=”@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF9saW5rX3VybF9wYWdlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsicG9zdF9pZCI6IjE2MCJ9fQ==@” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Home<\/strong><\/p>\n Back to the top<\/p>\n [Home<\/a>]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”WID Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n What I Do<\/strong><\/p>\n All about the things I do and how I do them<\/a>, and what I’ve achieved<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Portfolio Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Portfolio<\/strong><\/p>\n Links to illustrations and case studies of several important projects. (You’ll need to contact me for a password<\/a>)<\/p>\n [Portfolio Page<\/a>]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Resume Text” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Resume<\/strong><\/p>\n My most current resume. <\/p>\nThe Response<\/h3>\n
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Results<\/h2>\n
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