UX STRATEGY · SERVICE DESIGN · FINANCIAL SERVICES
Estate Settlement: Research & Service Design
I led end-to-end research and service design to understand how executors and beneficiaries navigate estate settlement, align teams around the most critical gaps, and translate those insights into a future-state blueprint, prioritized roadmap, and delivery-ready requirements.
Role: UX Strategy & Service Design Lead
Partners: Business, Technology, Frontline Teams & Subject-Matter Experts
Key Outputs: Research Insights, Service Blueprint, Opportunity Roadmap & Experience Requirements
How I Led the Work
I led the end-to-end service design process using a design thinking framework, from early problem framing and discovery research through co-creation, service blueprinting, and future-state visioning. I brought together client insights, frontline expertise, and business and technology perspectives to identify the highest-value opportunities, align client needs with business goals, and define a practical path toward delivery.
I led the end-to-end service design process using a design thinking framework, from early problem framing and discovery research through co-creation, service blueprinting, and future-state visioning. I brought together client insights, frontline expertise, and business and technology perspectives to identify the highest-value opportunities, align client needs with business goals, and define a practical path toward delivery.
Aligned Stakeholders
Collaborated with cross-functional stakeholders to clarify the challenge, establish priorities, and define the desired outcomes.
Led Client Research
Interviewed executors and beneficiaries to uncover unmet needs, emotional pressures, and service challenges.
Shaped the Future Experience
Developed the future-state blueprint, roadmap, and requirements for delivery.
Defined Opportunity Areas
Synthesized research into personas, journey maps, prioritized problem statements, and clear solution areas.
Synthesized findings into personas, journey maps, prioritized problem statements, and clear solution area.
Stakeholder Alignment Workshops
I facilitated stakeholder alignment workshops to build consensus on problems and their priorities. A key outcome was the establishment of Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), which anchored the program, created accountability across multidisciplinary teams, and ensured that design and research efforts kept aligned with business priorities.Facilitated stakeholder alignment workshops.
I facilitated stakeholder alignment workshops to build consensus on problems and their priorities. A key outcome was the establishment of Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), which anchored the program, created accountability across multidisciplinary teams, and ensured that design and research efforts kept aligned with business priorities.Facilitated stakeholder alignment workshops.
Qualititative Research
I designed and conducted in-depth interviews with 29 executors and beneficiaries, and validated the findings with subject matter experts.
I applied thematic analysis to cluster participant stories into recurring themes and validated the prioritized findings with subject-matter experts. This work uncovered critical pain points, including communication gaps, administrative stress, and process inefficiencies that complicated the estate settlement journey.
Qualititavie Research
I designed and conducted in-depth interviews with 29 executors and beneficiaries, and validated the findings with subject matter experts.
I applied thematic analysis to cluster participant stories into recurring themes and validated the prioritized findings with subject matter experts. This work uncovered critical pain points such as communication gaps, administrative stress, and inefficiencies that created friction in the estate settlement journey.
Ideation and Co-Creation Workshops
I co-facilitated workshops with technology and business stakeholders, along with Royal Trust frontline employees who work directly with clients. Together, we prioritized the problem statements, ideated solutions, and evaluated them based on feasibility and viability.
The ideation workshops generated 20+ ideas, which I clustered into themes and scored with stakeholders against CX impact, SME popularity, and implementation effort. Through this synthesis, we collaboratively identified the strongest opportunities, which became the cornerstones of the short-, medium-, and long-term roadmap.
Qualitative Research
I designed and conducted in-depth interviews with 29 executors and beneficiaries,
I applied thematic analysis to cluster participant stories into recurring themes and validated the prioritized findings with subject matter experts. This work uncovered critical pain points such as communication gaps, administrative stress, and inefficiencies that created friction in the estate settlement journey.
Co-Creation Workshops
After defining the problem statements, I facilitated workshops with technology and business stakeholders, as well as frontline employees who work directly with clients. Together, we prioritized challenges, generated solutions, and evaluated them for feasibility and viability.
The workshops generated 20+ ideas, which I clustered into themes and evaluated with stakeholders against CX impact, stakeholder support, and implementation effort. Through this synthesis, we identified the strongest opportunities, which became the foundation of the short and long-term roadmap.
The ideation workshops generated 20+ ideas, which I clustered into themes and evaluated with stakeholders against customer experience impact, stakeholder support, and implementation effort. Through this synthesis, we identified the strongest opportunities, which became the foundation of the short-, medium-, and long-term roadmap.
Key Outcomes
Experience Requirements for Agile Delivery
Converted the vision into actionable requirements for delivery teams
Future-State Vision & Service Blueprint
Aligned stakeholders on a client-centered roadmap to guide implementation.
Strategic Priorities & Investment Roadmap
Prioritized high-impact investments around customer needs, business values, and delivery constraints.
Experience Requirements for Agile Delivery
Converted the vision into actionable requirements for delivery teams
Future-State Vision & Service Blueprint
Aligned stakeholders on a client-centered roadmap to guide implementation.
Strategic Priorities & Investment Roadmap
Prioritized high-impact investments around customer needs, business values, and delivery constraints.
Co-Creation Workshops
I co-facilitated workshops with technology and business stakeholders, as well as frontline employees who work directly with clients. Together, we prioritized problem statements, generated solutions, and evaluated them for feasibility and viability.
Aligned Stakeholders
Collaborated with cross-functional stakeholders to clarify the challenge, establish priorities, and define the desired outcomes.
Led Client Research
Interviewed executors and beneficiaries to uncover unmet needs, emotional pressures, and service challenges .
Shaped the Future Experience
Developed the Future-state blueprint, roadmap, and requirements for delivery.
Defined Opportunity Area
Synthesized research into personas, journey maps, prioritized problem statements, and clear solution area.
Key Outcomes
Experience Requirements for Agile Delivery
Converted the vision into actionable requirements for delivery teams
Future-State Vision & Service Blueprint
Aligned stakeholders on a client-centered roadmap to guide implementation.
Strategic Priorities & Investment Roadmap
Prioritized high-impact investments around customer needs, business values, and delivery constraints.
hdehmeshki@gmail.com
hdehmeshki@gmail.com
hdehmeshki@gmail.com