Which? is the largest consumer rights and empowerment organisation in the UK. Independent of both government and industry, Which? derives most of its funding through subscriptions to its magazine and online services. Executives wanted to broaden their brand reach among consumer segments as yet underrepresented in their paid subscriber base. One of the first verticals to be targeted was mobile communications, both handsets and calling plans that data showed appealed to younger, more diverse consumers.

To go after this segment, executives decided to try something different than their traditional offering of research results, rankings, and ratings in print and online magazine formats. Instead they would give these consumers a variety of paths to interact with and find just what they needed.

When the team was given the go ahead for the new site, timing was a problem. The holiday market was crucial for launch, but only months away. Could they go from concept to launch of a new online product in just eight months?

ThoughtWorks’ Guerrilla Design tactics offer a fast start

ThoughtWorks rapidly organized a distributed Agile team that would have development staff offshore to lower costs, while the creative and experience design work was done onsite. Guerrilla tactics were used to rapidly flesh out and test key design elements. ThoughtWorks sent pairs out with laptops containing the new site mock-up, and tested the page designs and navigation with real consumers in the target demographic at a shopping mall, gym, sports bar, coffee shop and mobile phone retailer. By just the end of the second week, wireframes, detailed requirements (estimated, prioritised and scoped), as well as the technical architecture, were all ready to go.

Distributed Agile key to successful offshoring

Technical team leaders from India participated onsite in the two-week project start- up, side by side with Which? and the experience designers. Now development started rapidly. While a ThoughtWorks design lead continued work in London directly with Which?, all development including the user interface occurred with the team in India. Team members collaborated using Skype, video conferencing, and instant messaging. Face-to-face visits were conducted several times over the course of the project to encourage collaboration and communication. Halfway through development, planned formal lab-based usability testing was also conducted.

On time launch, eight months from product concept

In mid-October, well in time for the holiday season, Which? Mobile went live, on time and on budget. Visitor traffic has far exceeded projections over the first three months.

“This was our first foray into offshore development, and ThoughtWorks delivered what we wanted, with no surprises.” - Steve Pitman, Which? Head of Digital

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