On landing pages, we tackle 3 different types of problems:
Blossom migration squads
Customer-problem focused squads
Strategy-focused discovery squads
In total, the landing pages team(solely focusing on landing pages in the lodging space) consists of:
27 engineers
2 designers
0 UDS champions
0 design managers
0 content strategists
1/4 dedicated researcher
2 primary product managers
3 technical project managers
Current ratios:
Roles
Ratio
Designer to developer
~1 : 13
Designer to product manager
1 : 1
Content strategy to UX
0 : 2
Research to UX
.25 : 2
UDS Champion to designers
0 : 2
Design manager to designer
0 : 2
Current state
UX resourcing
We’ve been tackling ~4 squads at a time, in which UX is a vital participant. However, there is often overlap with squads that haven’t yet wrapped up, causing us to support around 6-8 squads, with varying levels of support, at a time.
Our current capacity is ~45 story points for a 2 week sprint. With all of the agile & recurring meetings, on average the Landing Pages UX team has approximately 25 hours total(3 days out of every 10 day sprint) to complete design work.
There is currently very little bandwidth for discovery squads, so we’re often tasked with creating experiences without a holistic vision of the experience. In addition to supporting squads, there has been an increasing number of requests to expand the scope of landing pages to LOBs like cruises and alternative accommodation within BEX as well as numerous consultations with Comet brands looking to migrate to Blossom.
Currently, out of stories 82 total(triaged, in progress and complete) stories in the LPUX backlog:
~35% is work associated to squads
~37% would be handled by a UDS Champion
~13% would be handed by a Design Manager
0% of the work is related to landing page strategy
Without a dedicated design manager and UDS Champion, the increase in consulting needs, UDS participation, and process / workflow improvements takes away from our already limited capacity.
Research resourcing
Because our researcher is supporting a large team, our research backlog continues to grow however landing pages has not been able to get key research prioritized.
The BEXG SEO org has identified funding for research needs, that is currently being unused.
We currently have 11 large research asks in the research backlog.
Content Strategy resourcing
Because SEO has the ability to change content and information architecture through the Flex & Blossom platforms, having a strong focus on content strategy is a crucial gap in this space. There is no focus on content hierarchy, continuity down the funnel, or content guidelines to ensure Expedia’s brand voice and tone is maintained. Since landing pages are, often times, a user’s first impression of Expedia and Google algorithms rank based on relevant content and clear hierarchy, this role is a crucial gap.
Current state
UX resourcing
Research resourcing
Content Strategy resourcing