IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite
Operationalizing real-time and historical weather & environmental insights
CONTEXT
IBM’s Environmental Intelligence Suite encompasses an array of independently developed applications leveraging IBM's weather data. These apps address diverse operational challenges, aiding businesses in maintaining normal operations amidst weather-related disruptions. EIS also supports sustainability and climate concerns.
The suite initially lacked cohesive user experience and architectural integration across applications, hindering seamless functionality and collaboration.
Despite market demand for advanced capabilities, technical debt exceeded 65% of development capacity, burdening teams. Determining priorities and initiating improvements posed significant challenges.
ACTION
A new Tiger Team was born: code-named Yellow Brick Road. YBR was comprised of Subject matter experts from The Weather Company, cross-function members of the various application teams, and some of the veteran SCIS Tiger Team members.
I led this team with the same approach used in the launch of the Supply Chain Intelligence Suite: rooted in the needs of the market, artifact driven, leaning on the RITE method, inner sourcing patterns, and delivering a vision prototype.
Feedback Session for the Sustainability Scenario
Scrapbooking: Feedback and hacking sessions I led as part of our RITE process
The team was focused on two scenarios: Sustainability & Operational Resilience.
Working with weather, climate, & sustainability experts, we created artifacts and tested them on a rolling basis over the course of ~4 weeks.
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Upon IBM's acquisition of Envizi™ Emissions Management Software, the team narrowed its focus to Operational Resilience.
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With 6 operational use cases identified, we worked with our SMEs to outline the details, personas, user needs & key clients for each.
Feedback Session for the Sustainability Scenario
Use case generalization
Use case generalization
Gathered together in Boston, we
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Dug into each use case, generalizing each one to explore the range of possibilities
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Overlaid existing architecture to identify use cases that were in the technical goldilocks zone
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Aligned around a single hero use case to relaunch EIS 2.0
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Paired (PM & Eng) roadmapping and prioritization of a 12 month roadmap
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Mocked a vision prototype of the use case and shared services needed to support the launch
Self-service data connectors
Builder for Alert Messaging
Operationalizing weather data for physical asset management with Work Queues
We illustrated 4 key pillars in the prototype:
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Using Builders (and inner sourced application for Suite extensibility) to expedite development and stretch the breadth of our use case.
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Implementing work queues so client could integrate weather & climate insights directly into their operational workflows
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Extending & customizing alerts beyond the UI, to meet clients where they were
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Enabling clients to "bring their own data" and hook it up hassle-free.
IMPACT
We launched the Environmental Intelligence Suite into market as a seamless set of applications that allowed our clients to take operational action based on their weather/climate data.
Along with improving their in-app experience, we drastically improved the data onboarding process with a service design overhaul—saving time and money for our clients.
SCALABLE AI INTEGRATION
Inner sourced self-service data connectors and business-friendly rule builders allow clients to connect to their AI with speed and simplicity.
REFINED GO-TO-MARKET
A go-to-market strategy rooted in a novel approach to meeting bona-fide customer needs and the strengths of the business.
EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM DESIGN
EIS supports use cases across Renewables Forecasting, Weather safety, Vegetation Management, & Sustainability Strategy in one suite.