When the City of Amsterdam was looking for someone to define, design and manage the roadmap of a future product that they called the “Integrated Customer View”, they ran into Peter Boersma. With his design background and consulting experience, he might pull off the first two parts of the assignment, but would he also be able to act as product manager and manage the product’s roadmap? In this presentation, Peter describes how the team around him changed and how his influence on the roadmap changed with it, as the product - now renamed to My Amsterdam - went from sketch, via prototype and product, to platform.

1. a UX designer's influence on
the roadmap of
My Amsterdam
Peter Boersma (@pboersma), Online Product Manager My Amsterdam
ProductTank Amsterdam, December 2017
Hi, tonight, I’d like to tell you a little bit about my journey as Online Product Manager for the City of Amsterdam.

2. I have to warn you: there will be no screenshots of any of the popular Product Management tools like Aha!, ProductPlan, ProdPad, Craft, etc. You may see a few
Atlasssian and Excel screens though…

3. Peter
Peter Boersma (@pboersma), Online Product Manager My Amsterdam
ProductTank Amsterdam, December 2017
HELLO! My name is Peter.

4. Peter Boersma
Computer Science & Ergonomics
20 years as UX Designer*
at interactive agencies
1 year as in-house UX Strategist
at software development company
*actual job titles: Consultant, Project Manager, Consultant User Understanding,
Concept Designer, Sr. Information Architect, Managing Partner, UX Consultant,
Sr. Interaction Designer, Experience Designer, Interaction Design Director
Peter
I studied Computer Science but realised I liked the people on the outside of computers more, so I added ergonomics classes. I then worked for 20 years at internet
agencies. My last job before the work at the City of Amsterdam was as a UX Strategist at SDL - where Gino, the next presenter also worked - helping to put UX efforts
on the product roadmaps.

5. OCT
2015
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
My story starts in October 2015, when I had just ended my contract at SDL.

6. “the Service Department of the City of Amsterdam
wants an Integrated Customer View application”
My phone rang, and an intermediary told me that the City of Amsterdam was looking for someone to help them define, design and maintain an “Integrated Customer
View” application, which would hold a 360-degree view on every citizen of Amsterdam.

7. TEAM
Peter
So the team to do this was me…

8. TEAM
Peter
Business
…and my client - Tino - whose job title was Advisor Online Services, was the Business Owner.

9. TEAM
Peter
Stakeholders“launch committee”
Business
…oh, and stakeholders: a set of Directors of different departments, ranging from the Welfare department, via the CTO, to the Communication department. They were
going to help us launch the product, hence their collective name: Launch committee.

10. I started with them, and tried to make notes of what I thought they needed, using a concept diagram which showed the concepts and their relationships.

11. As I spoke to more people, it got more and more complex.

13. When I noticed that after new conversations nothing new had to get added, I had my first deliverable: a conceptual, abstract map of everything that had to be
designed and built.

14. TEAM
Peter
launch committee
Business
But since I didn’t know what to start with, I turned back to my client for advice.

15. short
term
long
term
ROADMAP
1 login with DigiD
2 personal data
3 welfare application
4 city discount pass
5 move within Amsterdam
6 house value
1 forms handed in at city hall
2 parking permits
3 financial status
4 births
5 marriages
miscellaneous
And he quickly wrote down some short-term and long-term features that he thought should be developed. This was the first roadmap for My Amsterdam!

16. OCT
2015
2015
OCT NOV JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
This process took a little more than a month…

17. DEC
2015
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
…and by early December…

18. …I was invited to the Dragon’s Den!

19. TEAM
Peter
Launch committee
Business
I was asked to present my ideas for a non-existing product to the Launch Committee.
And what do you do in situations like this?

20. I am an elevator pitch
for citizens, companies and institutes
who are willing to use online self-service
the City of Amsterdam offers
an online integrated customer view
application
which is a layer over
a channel-independent application
You create an elevator pitch!
This is the summary…

21. I am an online integrated customer view
for citizens, companies and institutes
who want to know how they are registered with the City
who want to know (the history of) the status of service-processes they are engaged in
who want to and are allowed to take next steps in these processes
who don’t want to / can’t use other channels such as service desks or the call centre
the City of Amsterdam offers an online Integrated Customer View application
where their registered profile is shown
where the status of current and completed processes are shown
where information about, and links to, possible actions are given
where suggestions for other, relevant processes are made
which is a layer over a channel-independent application
with other layers for other target groups, most notably civil servants
with other layers for other channels, such as service desks and the call centre
with documented APIs to support other (online) service-process applications
It had statements about the users:

22. I am an online integrated customer view
for citizens, companies and institutes
who want to know how they are registered with the City
who want to know (the history of) the status of service-processes they are engaged in
who want to (and are allowed to) take next steps in these processes
who don’t want to (or can’t) use other channels such as a service desk or call centre
the City of Amsterdam offers an online Integrated Customer View application
where their registered profile is shown
where the status of current and completed processes are shown
where information about, and links to, possible actions are given
where suggestions for other, relevant processes are made
which is a layer over a channel-independent application
with other layers for other target groups, most notably civil servants
with other layers for other channels, such as service desks and the call centre
with documented APIs to support other (online) service-process applications
users
…about the features of the public, online part:

23. I am an online integrated customer view
for citizens, companies and institutes
who want to know how they are registered with the City
who want to know (the history of) the status of service-processes they are engaged in
who want to (and are allowed to) take next steps in these processes
who don’t want to (or can’t) use other channels such as a service desk or call centre
the City of Amsterdam offers an online Integrated Customer View application
where their registered profile is shown
where the status of current and completed processes are shown
where information about, and links to, possible actions are given
where suggestions for other, relevant processes are made
which is a layer over a channel-independent application
with other layers for other target groups, most notably civil servants
with other layers for other channels, such as service desks and the call centre
with documented APIs to support other (online) service-process applications
users
online
features
…and about the underlying layer of web services and and integrations:

24. I am an online integrated customer view
for citizens, companies and institutes
who want to know how they are registered with the City
who want to know (the history of) the status of service-processes they are engaged in
who want to (and are allowed to) take next steps in these processes
who don’t want to (or can’t) use other channels such as a service desk or call centre
the City of Amsterdam offers an online Integrated Customer View application
where their registered profile is shown
where the status of current and completed processes are shown
where information about, and links to, possible actions are given
where suggestions for other, relevant processes are made
which is a layer over a channel-independent application
with layers for other target groups, e.g. civil servants
with layers for other channels, e.g. mobile, service desks, call centre
with an underlying layer of webservices to support all applications
My Amsterdam
(online & personal)
Integrated
Customer View
(not public & virtual)
}
}
users
online
features
back-end
architecture
The underlying service was the real Integrated Customer View,
And I called the public, online solution My Amsterdam.

25. In the next launch committee meeting, I live-sketched this diagram.
It was an XXL version of a drawing that I had slowly developed on the side.

26. I am My Amsterdam
product-
specific
application
(for
professional)
My Amsterdam shows statuses from product-specific applications
citizen professional
My
Amsterdam
product
statuses
product
webservice
product
product-
specific
application
(for citizen)
public
website
product
info
&
product
forms
The diagrams shows how a citizen finds status updates about the processes they started via My Amsterdam and in Product Specific Applications. These connect to
legacy databases via webservices.

27. web
service
I am the Integrated Customer View
web
service
web
service
product
webservice
the collection of web services create the integrated customer view
citizen professional
products
…and all web services together allows for the creation of the Integrated Customer View.

28. ROADMAP
And - although this was abstract and not concrete - this was another visualisation of the roadmap!
- it included elements required for launch (like the My Amsterdam homepage and the need for at least 1 product specific application)
- and later improvements (such as improved professional applications and a suggestion engine)

29. toelichting
MijnAmsterdam
Mijn Profiel
Mijn Instellingen
MijnAmsterdam
(uitgelogd)
uitloggen
wijziging
Mijn Suggesties
Mijn Berichten
bericht
product
informatie
DigiD
ZijnAmsterdam
(ingelogd als)
Status Product
(stap X)
Werkinstructies
Toepassing
(stap X)
Zijn Profiel
ZijnAmsterdam
(niet ingelogd)
Google CCA
bellen
met CCA
gebeld
door burger
bericht van
Mijn
Amster
dam
Mijn Suggesties
suggestie
suggesties
archief
suggestie
afwijzen
suggestie
opvolgen
suggestie
bewaren
www.
amsterdam
.nl
MijnAmsterdam
(ingelogd)
burger
berichten van
Product
bericht
(incl. download
link)
brief
Mijn Producten
Product
(stap X)
Zijn Berichten
bericht
Zijn Producten
deeplink
naar bericht
introductie
tour
archiveren
wijziging
deeplink
naar
Product
voortgang
vorig
volgend
naar bericht
van Product
(indien van
toepassing)
berichten van
Product
bericht
(incl. download
link)
brief
vorig
volgend
berichten
archief
Zijn Suggesties
suggestie
Zijn Instellingen
deeplink
naar
Suggestie
"Mijn Amsterdam" ambtenaren view (voorbeeld)www.amsterdam.nl
specifieke online toepassing
The launch committee approved the direction, so I could start with the design of a prototype, as part of a Proof of Concept (the other part was a technical connection
to DigiD).

30. During the Christmas holiday, I made an interactive prototype (in Axure) that illustrated the concept.

31. DEC
2015
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017

32. JAN
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017

33. And that was just in time, because then, in January, we hired a team to make it real!

34. TEAM
Peter
launch committee
FE / UX / BE
Business
I suddenly had to give assignments and assign priorities to a Front-end developer, UX Designer, and Back-end developer!

35. The team started making a working prototype, with a homepage with status blocks…

36. …and a product-specific application.
We wanted to make this one - for citizens who applied for welfare - the first, because the related stakeholder had stuck out his neck and said he would be interested
in going first.

37. And to test our concept, we did a usability test with actual Amsterdammers, using the services of the UX Lab of the Service Department.
They didn’t actually have this bakfiets yet, but the UX Lab wants to be as close to the users as possible, and this bike would help them do that.

38. To keep ourselves and our launch committee up to date, we developed this status overview - a variation of the concept drawing I showed earlier. It showed the
status of parts of the solution in green, orange and red/pink post-it. This was another important deliverable for us.

39. ROADMAP
A
B
C
D
E
F
many visitors
many calls
…
simple products
many users/high freq.
relevant timing
I also worked with the Business Owner on rules for prioritisation of work.
On his original roadmap, he had already given some hints…

40. rules to prioritise product-specific applications
1. requests by users
(citizens & companies & institutes)
2. fit for online self-service
(product & organisation)
3. promising business case
(investments vs. savings)
4. we realise that politicians will influence priorities, but we cannot predict or measure that
ROADMAP
…which I developed in these formal rules for prioritisation of the roadmap.
Using these as a checklist would help us find the right place on the roadmap for any new item.

41. JAN
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017

42. MAY
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
By May, we had a working Proof-of-Concept that had scored well with citizens.
It seemed we could develop it further, but then…

43. (“Give it to me, baby”)

44. TEAM
Peter
launch committee
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open Data
Business
Several technically-oriented departments had heard about our efforts and wanted to get involved.

45. DigiD
One group wanted to develop a generic connection to the national online identity program DigiD for the whole city, and took our specific implementation away from
our team.

46. anything accessing
Amsterdam’s data
Another group wanted to make sure that any application that wanted to access data from the City of Amsterdam would do so in a safe and controllable manner.

47. “Access Manager Amsterdam”
They called they control system the “access manager”. Since our web services would access such data, so they had to developed by that team, and not by our
team.

48. product-specific
applications
We also discovered that some departments had already commissioned the build of product-specific applications, but then as stand-alone online portals.

49. I am My Amsterdam
product-
specific
application
(for
professional)
My Amsterdam shows statuses from product-specific applications
citizen professional
My
Amsterdam
product
statuses
product
webservice
product
product-
specific
application
(for citizen)
public
website
product
info
&
product
forms
So instead of applications that were integrated into the My Amsterdam environment, they were to be designed to exist separately.

50. local taxes
application
One example was the local taxes application for garbage tax and estate tax.
The company that was building it said they would make it look & feel Amsterdam-like.

51. Except they had decided to use the only design documentation they could find online…which was from 2013 and quite outdated! We were still busy developing design
patterns for My Amsterdam and could not supply a complete set to them on time.

52. Another application that we were not allowed to touch, was that for parking permits.
The assignment to develop this was given to another company, and the requirements did not include any web services to augment the Integrated Customer View :-(

53. Oh, and their requirements also didn’t include the need to work on mobile…

54. So, several parts of our solution were out of our control…

55. ROADMAP
Which made our roadmap a lot more complex to manage, let alone our Live-date…

56. MAY
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017

57. JUL
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017

58. So by July, I was okay with changing my role:

59. Peter
TEAM
Peter
launch committee
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open Data
Business
My attention was split in two…

60. Pete
TEAM
Pete
launch committee
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open Data
Business
One part was to help the business evangelise the product
The other part was to lead the design team.

61. TEAMlaunch committee
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Business
Pete
Pete
And a Product Owner was appointed.

62. get support
and define
processes
for the core
application
Part one included evangelising the product and defining ways it would grow.

63. …this required more conversations with stakeholders over coffee…

64. My
Amsterdam
team
launch
committee
product
owners
DevOps
IT
enterprise
IAs
domain
experts
application
providers
online
service
department
UX lab
public
website functional
managers
privacy
experts
process
improvers
call
center
editors
city
hall
API
developers
other
departments
other
channels
…with a lot of people inside and outside of the Service Department.

65. intake
• user & business goals are clear
• organisational unit is ready to build
design & build
• the application is defined & implemented
• the product status is available
• everything is tested
launch & maintain
• organisational unit is ready to launch
• rest of the organisation is prepared
The results included checklists for when departments wanted their products represented in My Amsterdam.

66. I am a service concept
why do we do this?
(to execute parts of the organisational strategy)
what services do we deliver?
(we maintain My Amsterdam, standards for applications, open-up data)
how do we do this?
(improve My Amsterdam, develop applications, work with departments)
who is involved?
(the design team in the Service department + other roles elsewhere)
when do we do what?
(we define criteria, internal priorities, user surveys, budgets)
I also worked on the so-called Service Concept: how will the Service department support the development and maintenance of the My Amsterdam platform?

67. specifications
for
product-specific
applications
get support
and define
processes
for the
application
Part two included work on specifying the product-specific applications.

68. Specific Application
Introduction
Users
Functionality
- Status in My Amsterdam
- Specific Application
- APIs
Technology
Meetings
Contacts
Misc.
Specific Application
Introduction
Users
Functionality
- Status in My Amsterdam
- Specific Application
- APIs
Technology
Meetings
Contacts
Misc.
That usually meant having more meetings with department representatives and documenting the findings in a standardised format.

69. All this work meant that instead of a prototype with just 2 product statuses…

70. …we could show illustrations of designs for a lot more applications.

71. ROADMAP
So, despite the lack of control over some parts (red), we were making progress on specifying the requirements and design of other parts (white) which should result in
applications being developed.

72. JUL
2016
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
This work took us about 6 months further.

73. JAN
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
But then, in January 2017…

74. Jan Flippo,
Amsterdam’s CIO
This gentleman, the CIO of the City of Amsterdam, appeared.

75. TEAM
Peter
“launch committee”
Business
The CIO was one of the original Launch Committee members, but since we had stopped having regular meetings with them, he had dropped off our radar.

76. “we are not
in the business
of making
software”
Jan Flippo,
Amsterdam’s CIO
The CIO reminded our stakeholders and business owner that the City is not in the business of making software, and that all software creation needs to be outsourced.

77. To fight this statement, we had to prove that the market didn’t offer the solution out-of-the box.
The way to do this was to organise a market consultation.

78. I am a market consultation
Market Consultation concluded:
My Amsterdam is timely; expected by citizens & companies
the software industry offers partial solutions and standards
in-house data-services need to be professionalised
organisational impact means closer collaboration required
organisation: “please minimise redesign of service processes”
working agile is the preferred way
Besides positive remarks about the timeliness of our approach and a confirmation that the software industry doesn’t offer a full solution, the report also concluded that
our internal organisation was not quite ready to do in-house software development…

79. I am a market consultation
Market Consultation recommended:
build a modular system
buy modules individually vs. one monolithic system
start multiple projects for different (groups of) modules
define a governance model
look around for similar initiatives elsewhere
…and that solve this, several departments had to learn to work together better.

80. TEAM
Peter
Stakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
For our team, this meant that more people had to be involved, both at the stakeholder level and in the areas where City-wide software development efforts were
undertaken.

81. So, our backlog got longer..

82. status updates on the applications
product-
specific
application
org design webservice
live?
readiness source state source state
welfare ready internal final internal final beta
in-home care busy internal mockups external connected no
permits almost internal mockups external connected no
land rights busy internal
flows &
mockups
external sketch no
taxes no external reviewed external sketch no
parking no external reviewed external sketch no
house values ready external reviewed external no no
work &
income
busy external reviewed “internal” sketch beta
…our status reports got more complex…

83. improve
basics
(Q1)
specific
apps
(Q1-Q4)
backlog
(2018)
generic
app
(Q2)
ROADMAP
and our roadmap had sections called “improve basics” (i.e. work better with other departments) and since we had so much work and so much coordination to do,
some items could only be started in 2018…

84. JAN
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
…even though it was only January of 2017!

85. FEB
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
And a month later…

86. (cue The Matrix)

87. TEAM
Peter
Stakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
…developers took over the show. Well, not entirely, but they did start to dictate a lot of the work, the way work was done, and the priorities.

88. We started working with developer-centric tools and and methods.

89. And progress was measured in burn-down charts.

90. But we did still produce “stuff”! This was a Beta version of My Amsterdam, using production-ready code.

91. And we produced a separate, large, interactive prototype with many interactions…

92. …that we used to run a series of usability test sessions with.

93. Like with this lady who tested how we would redirect people from the public website to My Amsterdam.

94. TEAMStakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
In order to keep all of the stakeholders and team members up to date, the Product Owner and Business Owner had to do a lot of work too.

95. Our status reports became multi-slide powerpoint decks.

96. ROADMAP
And our roadmap had to show the progress in connecting all kinds of internal systems to the Integrated Customer View.

97. ROADMAP
And since there was a lot of coordination to be done, we had to push some efforts back to 2019.

98. FEB
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
And remember this was in February 2017(!).

99. NOV
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
Well, half a year later, we had produced and proofed and coordinated a lot of “stuff” and…

100. We had a launch event!

101. On Thursday, November 24, 2017, My Amsterdam went live - for a couple of hours.

102. Product
Owner
Service
Department
Director
We had a launch event where the Service Department Director welcomed everybody, and the Product Owner explained the concepts behind the platform. Everybody
was excited.

103. TEAMStakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
Right after this, many people no longer had pressing needs to be part of the project.

104. TEAMStakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
..and the team got a lot smaller.

105. Which was a good thing, because our project had also ran out of budget for the year.

106. TEAMStakeholders
FE / UX / BE
Enterprise IA IT / Open DataPO
Peter
Business
My contract ended too, so I left the team as well.

107. NOV
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
Which gave me time to reflect…

108. DEC
2017
2015
OCT DEC JAN MAY JUL JAN FEB NOV DEC
2015 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017
…so that today, I could tell you my story.

109. And give you an idea of my impact on the roadmap of My Amsterdam.

110. 2015
OCT DEC JAN
2015 2016
5% 75%
1. requests by users
(citizens & companies & institutes)
2. fit for online self-service
(product & organisation)
3. promising business case
(investments vs. savings)
4. we realise that politicians will influence priorities, but we cannot predict or measure that
50%
ROADMAP
After the initial briefing by the Business Owner, I had a big say in what elements should be made part of the solution, and in what order they should be built. And I
managed a lot of stakeholder conversations.

111. MAY JAN FEB
2016 2017 2017
20% 10% 5%
ROADMAP
But then, as the team grew and the timelines became dependant on the efforts of other team, my grip on the situation got weaker. And when the timelines started
including period of 1 and 2 years out, I gave up trying to influence them.

112. ROADMAP
And what would have been my ideal roadmap?

113. It would be one where we defined Epics as “Themes” (see the relevant chapter in Product Roadmaps Relaunched)…

114. Theme 4 Theme 5Theme 3
Theme2
Theme1
Theme6
Theme7
ROADMAP
storiesstories
stories stories stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories stories
stories
stories
storiesstories
stories
stories stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
stories
and define stories as supporting the themes.

115. SNS Bank consumer website
I have done this in the past, for example for the relaunch of the SNS Bank website back in 2006-2008.

116. And at SDL for the roadmap of their main product SDL Tridion, where the themes were matched to customer needs.

117. ROADMAP
… but I’m not sure if I am the best person to do this.

118. Peter
…and I am not sure where my future lies…

119. Peter
Peter Boersma (@pboersma), Online Product Manager My Amsterdam
ProductTank Amsterdam, December 2017
UX Strategist
…but feel free to contact me. For now, I will stick with being a UX Strategist :-)