Vision Statement
Establishing a formalized, transparent request and approval process will enable consistency, efficiency, and improved user experiences across all chatbot implementations.

Problem Statement
Lowe’s faces increased chatbot requests without a centralized process or oversight, causing fragmented efforts, inconsistent experiences, and operational risks. Implementing a formalized intake and approval process will ensure consistency, efficiency, and alignment with design standards.

At the beginning of 2023, Lowe’s reached out for assistance in improving their Assisted Checkout, Mobile Checkout, and Self Checkout processes. There were significant issues within these checkout systems and the teams managing them. Within the first few weeks, I noticed a major challenge: there was widespread confusion about the different checkout flows. During every meeting, it became clear that people were unsure about which part of the user journey was being discussed.

PMs and developers began visiting stores and taking screenshots to understand the checkout flows. It was then that I realized we needed a clear, organized flowchart for each checkout process, along with a happy path flow for all three. I immediately started working with my UX team to set this up.

In just four weeks, we had everything aligned, and moving forward, the PMs and developers were much more confident in understanding the user experience. As a result, they were able to close stories faster and deliver their sprints on time.

Vision Statement
Lowe’s Business, aiming to lead the industry in store technologies, is focused on achieving enterprise goals through innovative solutions. Beacon, a product designed to act as a “digital remote,” empowers the business to unlock new possibilities by simplifying operational processes, providing tools to associates, and inspiring creative technology solutions for technology teams. This vision is intended to position the business as the premier leader in store technologies, driving efficiency and innovation.

Problem Statement
Lowe’s Business is investing $300 million in a three-year front-end transformation to redesign store layouts, improve productivity, enhance the customer experience, and elevate the brand’s image. However, the challenge lies in modernizing store systems and technology to meet these high business expectations and fully realize the benefits of this significant transformation.

Workshop Summary
To address this challenge, a 2-day Discovery workshop was conducted, focusing on aligning the vision and problem statement for the Beacon app, which is designed to manage in-store registers. The workshop identified key pain points and How Might We (HMW) statements, which led to a sketching exercise for visualizing the proposed solutions. The key areas of focus included Notifications and Alerts, Associate Interventions, Tracking, Technical Needs, Overrides and Approvals, and IT support.

These insights helped guide the development of the Beacon app, ensuring it meet the operational needs of Lowe’s and supports the broader goals of the front-end transformation.