J. Rich Rogan - Interaction Design / Information Architecture

Design and Develop Interfaces for Case Management thin client software.

March 1999 to March 2000, Portland, OR. - Contract to Hire

About Company: Legal Anywhere was a startup software company that developed "Collaborator" collaborative knowledge management software for the legal community. Collaborator was used to facilitate casework between corporate and outside counsel, (lawyers), as well as opposing counsel and the court system. Customers that used Collaborator included top law firms such as "Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker" and "Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw".

Clients were demanding accountability and this was becoming a requirement for working with larger companies. Collaborator facilitated visibility and accountability of casework for all stakeholders, clarifying value of service. Collaborator allowed Firms to leverage their competencies, articulate these to clients, and allow for more value added solutions.

My Assignment: I was contracted to design initial interfaces and feature interactions, then develop HTML and Perl coded screens. The Collaborator interface consisted of 120 dynamic templated screens. I started with a conceptual interface designed by the founders. This interface was expanded upon, tested with Firms and refined through Alpha release through to General Availability.

With this interface, Legal Anywhere was able to gain three rounds of Venture Financing and be purchased by Niku with a post IPO valuation of two billion dollars.

Techniques Used:
- Interviewed Stakeholders and Analyzed Requirements to develop Task and Work Flows.
- Developed Interface Standards and HTML Prototype.
- Utilized Web-based User Testing to Establish Best Practices, resulting in efficient Rapid Development of the Legal Anywhere Flagship Product, Collaborator.

Techniques Used:
- Business objectives analysis, Redesign Strategy development.
- Interviewed Stakeholders, shadowed clients through their workday.
- Integrated Work Observation, Interviews and Testing with Customers.
- Task and Work Flow analysis and development.
- Diagrammed application interface architecture using documentation, schematics, wireframes and prototypes.
- Design common user interface standards, usability and design guidelines.
- Defined User Interface Interaction Models and Navigation Models.
- Utilized Web-based User Testing to Establish Best Practices.
- Developed Wire Frames, Annotated Prototypes, click through HTML Prototypes.
- UAT Customer Validation with Prototypes.