Role: Service Designer / UX Lead
Team: Platform Engineering Team, Security Stakeholders
Timeline: 1 Year
Platform: Internal Developer Platform & Support Ecosystem
The Challenge: The 2-Year Bottleneck
Before "Alchemy," internal app teams coming out of bootcamps faced a bureaucratic nightmare. Due to fragmented security checks and manual audits, it took a minimum of 2 years to get an application into production. A single failed security scan could reset progress by months.
The Goal: Shorten the "Path to Production" by creating a transparent, guided, and automated service for software engineers.
Research & Strategy: Mapping the Chaos
Because we were building the platform while teams were actively using it, I leaned heavily on Service Blueprinting to visualize the end-to-end journey.
User Interviews: I conducted 30+ interviews with app teams to audit their tech stacks and identify why they were failing security hurdles.
The "Aha!" Moment: We realized that teams were waiting too long to test their security posture. By the time they reached the "Production" gate, their architecture had too many variables to fix easily.
The Pivot: We introduced the "Test Project" phase. By having engineers deploy a "clean" sample project during their discovery phase, they learned the "Happy Path" to production without the complexity of their actual codebase.
The Solution: A Transparent Ecosystem
We transitioned from a "black box" security process to a streamlined, automated service.
The Questionnaire & Kickoff: A front-end intake process to ensure mutual fit and technical alignment before work began.
The Slackbot Triage: To manage the "Messy Middle," I designed a Slack-based triage system. This wasn't just a chat tool—it was a data engine. By filtering questions through specific parameters, we could identify exactly where teams were getting stuck (e.g., Environment Parity vs. Security Scans).
Visual Roadmaps: We provided teams with a transparent checklist and estimated timelines, replacing uncertainty with a predictable schedule.
Constraints: Playing Nice with Security
In a high-security environment, "cutting corners" isn't an option. Our constraint was that security requirements were non-negotiable.
• • Our Strategy: Since we couldn't change the rules, we changed the access to the rules. We used the Slackbot data to identify common friction points and turned those answers into automated features or FAQ documentation, reducing the burden on both the app teams and the security auditors.
The Impact: From Years to Days
Project Alchemy didn't just move the needle; it broke the scale.
Speed: Reduced the deployment process from 2 years to just 6.5 days (once STIGs and requirements were met).
Efficiency: The Slackbot triage reduced manual help tickets by 30% over 6 months.
Scale: Successfully guided 30 app teams to production during my tenure.
ROI: Massive reduction in failed deployments and security review cycles, saving thousands of engineering hours and significantly lowering the company's risk profile.