Rebuilding a Team and Accelerating Digital Banking Innovation
As Design Lead at USAA, I spearheaded the migration to the Reveille Design System while rebuilding a UX team amid 75% attrition, directly supporting the first major mobile app overhaul in 10 years. Leading a newly formed team of five designers and one producer (expanded to seven through targeted hiring), I facilitated Human-Centered Design (HCD) workshops, established agile processes, and integrated Reveille’s Figma-based components to streamline workflows in a highly regulated environment. Collaborating with the design systems team, product managers, compliance officers, and stakeholders, we accelerated prototyping and ensured compliance, contributing to a redesigned app that boosted user engagement by 18% and improved overall satisfaction scores. My role blended design strategy with managerial oversight, including hiring/onboarding five designers and a producer, mentoring via 1:1s, and driving the design roadmap.
Overview of the USAA mobile app redesign using the Reveille Design System
Challenge
USAA’s UX team grappled with high attrition, fragmented tools, and regulatory hurdles that slowed digital banking innovations, risking delays in serving military members’ financial needs.
How might we rebuild a resilient UX team, implement a unified design system to streamline processes within banking regulations, and enhance user adoption for platforms serving 13M+ members?
Background
USAA provides banking, insurance, and investments to military members and families, with digital channels critical for accessibility amid frequent relocations and deployments. In 2021, the UX team in the Banking Chief Design Office (BCDO) faced siloed tools, manual processes, and strict regulations (e.g., FDIC compliance), leading to slow iterations and frustration. Three designers quit shortly after my arrival, citing regulatory “red tape” and inefficient workflows, stalling projects like the mobile app redesign—the first major update in a decade. The Reveille Design System, an internal Figma library of reusable components (e.g., buttons, forms, navigation), promised consistency but required validation and team buy-in. Drawing on data from 1.5M+ app sessions, we identified user pain points like slow load times and unintuitive interfaces, underscoring the need for a scalable system to modernize experiences.
Facilitating a Ways of Working workshop to determine how we can work with each other and our stakeholders
Approach
With the internal challenge of building a new design team and external challenge of validating and migrating to a new design system, I utilized a collaborative, design-thinking approach to address both challenges at the same time. This involved agile ceremonies (e.g., bi-weekly demos, PI planning), cross-functional collaboration to align on user needs while addressing team operations.
To better understand the current state of the team, I conducted exit interviews with departing designers and 1:1s with product managers, compliance officers, and partner team members to uncover attrition drivers (e.g., stifled creativity) and bottlenecks. Designers didn’t feel like their voice was heard prior to my arrival. Based on these interviews, I also now understood the regulatory environment was a challenge along with learning a new design system. After hiring for fit into this unique environment and onboarding five designers through targeted interviews, we focused on creating a design process that would fit the needs of the business and our users while avoiding running into past issues identified. I established Slack channels and bi-weekly office hours for transparency with our stakeholders. And I led multiple “Ways of Working” workshops to define team values, resulting in a shared charter document.
To overcome roadblocks with the Reveille integrations, I introduced design challenges focusing on experimentation and learning how to use the new system. I also hosted meetings where our team collaborated with the design systems team to build Figma prototypes of Reveille elements (e.g., accessible forms, secure navigation bars) ensuring they would fit our distinct use cases. We ran usability tests with 20 customers and internal reviews, iterating on feedback (e.g., simplifying compliance documentation).
Facilitating a Design Process workshop to determine how we can improve our design operations
Insights
Research and workshops revealed actionable opportunities:
- Attrition and Team Needs: Exit interviews highlighted regulatory frustration and lack of unified tools; new hires required resilience and collaboration skills—leading to a focus on adaptable talent and continuous learning.
- Stakeholder Priorities: Product managers emphasized compliant speed; compliance officers needed traceable documentation—informing Reveille’s audit features.
- User Pain Points: User testing revealed 65% of customers struggled with tasks like transfers (per internal data); military users valued personalization and security.
- Design System Value: Testing showed Reveille could cut design time but needed better accessibility (e.g., WCAG compliance for diverse users) which our team advocated for; validated through 92% task success in prototypes.
- Broader Opportunities: Insights from 1.5M+ sessions revealed needs for faster load times (<2 seconds) and streamlined navigation, directly influencing the app redesign and how we can work beyond the design system to improve the experience partnering with our engineers.
These insights helped drive our both internal and project processes to evolve our team needs while delivering for the business.
Miro shared with stakeholders on our finalized design process
Outcome
The migration and team rebuild yielded a robust foundation for USAA’s digital transformation:
- Unified System Deployment: Rolled out Reveille’s Figma components (e.g., modular forms for transfers, secure login flows) across banking projects, ensuring consistency and compliance.
- Workflow Efficiency: Standardized templates reduced design cycles by 30%, enabling rapid prototyping (e.g., from weeks to days) while meeting regulations.
- User-Centric Features: Achieved 92% task success in tests for tasks like bill payments; supported app updates with personalized dashboards and faster navigation.
- Team Development: Onboarded and trained new members via MVP checklists and workshops; established agile ceremonies for shared purpose.
- Expanded Capacity: Grew team to seven, securing budget for two additional hires to handle broader initiatives like insurance integrations.
These outcomes directly contributed to the April 2022 app launch, praised for its modernized, easy-to-use interface and data-driven enhancements.
Before: Mobile app store showcasing old design
After: Mobile app store showcasing the newly redesigned experience
Impact
My leadership turned a team crisis into a strategic asset, with Reveille powering USAA’s mobile app overhaul and delivering measurable wins for 13M+ members. Engagement rose 18%, initial load times dropped under 2 seconds, and satisfaction improved—validating the system’s role in improving member experience. Attrition fell to 0%, with the seven-person team thriving via enhanced processes (e.g., research roadmaps, HCD workshops) that increased cross-functional efficiency. This model influenced BCDO health initiatives and scaled to other products, earning leadership recognition for UX as a driver of innovation. This project exemplified my ability to lead through adversity, rebuilding a team while implementing a design system that fueled USAA’s landmark app redesign. It reinforced the value of agile HCD in regulated spaces and my commitment to mentoring (e.g., via 1:1s and training).