Objectives
One of the crucial parts of redesigning the Walmart.com site in late 2006 was to develop a clear system of navigation. One of the unspoken requirements of this objective was to insure that the site managers who setup the navigation understood the navigation paradigm and could build consistent navigation modules.
Challenges
Although a navigation conceptual model was already defined when I took over the navigation project, there remained engineering difficulties which threatened to undo the conceptual model if they could not be solved. The new navigation paradigm was significantly different than had previously existed on the site, and the site managers were struggling to understand the logic behind it. Additionally, the setup process within the CMS Tool was brand new, required documentation, and the site site managers required training.
Solution
I worked closely with the engineers to help them understand the desired user experience for the navigation, and assisted them in finding solutions to the implementation problems. I worked with the CMS Tool engineer to insure that the UI was as easy to use as possible and displayed consistently with the display on the front end. Working closely with the engineers I gained an intimate knowledge of the navigation setup and functionality, which allowed me to create several pieces of training documentation. I also created exhaustive site maps for the entire site, which was unprecedented. I presented the documents to the site manager team and successfully guided them through the process of building and managing the site navigation. My documentation and tutorials were praised as having been crucial to the launch of the new site.
