InfraWorks UI Framework: Scaling Immersive, Contextual 3D Experiences
My Role
I led the team defining the experience vision and the strategy for bridging vision and execution across a large, globally distributed engineering organization.
Global team across Europe, US, and Asia; 25+ contributing SCRUM teams
Impact
Secured a dedicated UI Framework SCRUM team and SDK investment — turning a stalled framework into a funded engineering commitment.
Vision
Build a cohesive, innovative, and visually stunning user experience architecture for a product built with contribution from over twenty-five SCRUM teams.
Background
Autodesk InfraWorks started as an urban scale 3D modeling environment. Geographically and geometrically accurate models can be created easily — models of the city of Boston with over 400K buildings, or the 1200KM of the Suez Canal, aiding planning workflows. InfraWorks later evolved into a civil engineering tool for building and collaborating around infrastructure such as roads, highways, and bridges.
Challenge
My team had won an innovation award within our organization. The SVP loved the work and encouraged the team to meet regularly across our global offices. Accolades streamed in at all levels. Nine months later the team was despondent: none of the work we'd received so much excitement for was getting to production.
Obstacles
The obstacle was not the quality of the work or its value proposition — it was change management. While some components got into individual team backlogs, the six or seven key framework components weren't being built. Platform components are much harder to prioritize than features, and battling organizational inertia was the most challenging part.
My Approach
I decided that creating a movement was required — one that built traction and alignment both top-down and bottom-up simultaneously. I produced a two-minute video with a real customer scenario showing how each component of the UI framework worked together to create a rich interaction model. I charged designers with building excitement with individual SCRUM teams while I did the same with product management, engineering, and senior leadership.
Measures of Success
Funding an engineering team dedicated to owning the UI Framework backlog was our measure of success. Organizational investment, not just enthusiasm, was the signal that the framework had crossed from aspirational to real.
Results
Investing in a dedicated UI Framework SCRUM team was a direct result of this effort. Individual teams signed up to own and build components from their backlogs that would add value to the customer workflows they were delivering. The team quickly stood up the need for an extensible SDK, solidifying the effort.
Key Learning
Building platform components requires a movement, not just great work. Top-down and bottom-up alignment must happen simultaneously — a viral internal demo is more effective than a slide deck, and designers are change agents as much as they are makers.
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