Build from interoperable parts.
Help engineers find, combine and integrate reusable components instead of rebuilding them.
ING · SERVICE DESIGN · PLATFORM STRATEGY
Scaling internal technology reuse across ING.
At ING, only one in five enterprise teams reused existing internal technology. Consolidating platforms was the proposed answer, but my research showed why that alone would fall short: engineers struggled to assess and integrate existing solutions, while producer teams applied different quality, publishing and support standards. I led Service Design across the Banking Technology Platform, using this evidence to influence platform investment, connect the producer and consumer journeys, and help establish a shared curation process across global teams.
TL;DR
- Challenged platform consolidation using 50+ interviews and usage evidence that revealed barriers on both the producer and consumer sides.
- Used engineering journeys and OneMarketplace concepts to win leadership backing and funding for design-led work across platform services.
- Helped introduce a shared curation process across global producer teams, with clearer publishing requirements, quality checks and ownership.
01 · THE BUSINESS PROBLEM
One platform could not fix two broken journeys.
Only one in five ING enterprise teams adopted existing internal technology. Instead, teams rebuilt similar capabilities or bought externally, increasing duplication, cost and time to delivery. ING's initial response was to consolidate platforms and processes. I questioned whether making technology easier to find would actually make it easier to adopt.
I designed and led mixed-method research across developers, tech leads, product owners and decision-makers, combining 50+ interviews with platform usage data and internal reporting. The findings exposed two connected problems: consumers lacked confidence in solution quality, integration and support, while producers followed inconsistent development, approval and publishing processes.
I mapped how business users, data scientists, product owners and developers moved from selecting technology to building and running solutions. The journey exposed handoffs where teams lacked documentation, integration guidance or clear support ownership. These findings gave product and engineering leaders a concrete reason to expand the scope beyond a consolidated marketplace.
02 · STRATEGIC INTERVENTION
From consolidation to an engineering service.
The engineering journey changed the question in discussions with product, engineering and leadership. Rather than asking which platforms to merge, we examined what engineers needed to evaluate, integrate and support reusable technology. That meant addressing documentation, onboarding, producer accountability and feedback alongside marketplace discovery.
Platform owners had their own processes and priorities, so a shared service required negotiation, not just a common interface. I used cross-functional workshops, journey evidence and OneMarketplace prototypes to make those trade-offs visible and secure leadership backing and funding for design-led work across the platform journeys. I also introduced a shared design cadence and Kanban visibility, giving designers, product owners and engineers a common view of work and dependencies.
Make solutions ready to adopt.
Connect technology to onboarding, documentation, curation and supporting processes.
Improve through usage insights.
Use feedback and data to help teams refine solutions and respond to changing needs.
Operate as an ecosystem.
Bring producers and consumers together through support, community and feature requests.
03 · GOVERNANCE & DELIVERY
Self-service could not scale without producer standards.
Engineers could find a component in a marketplace and still have no reliable way to judge whether it was ready to use. Producer teams differed in documentation, quality checks, publishing practices and support ownership. Without common expectations, every reuse decision carried extra investigation and risk.
With producer teams and global stakeholders, I defined three priorities: consistent guidance, assessable quality and visible ownership. We used these to determine what producers should provide before publication and what consumers needed to make informed adoption decisions.
Make delivery consistent.
Establish common service standards, reduce overlapping solutions and provide guidance where teams need help preparing technology for reuse.
Make readiness measurable.
Define a baseline for solution maturity, documentation and value so producers and reviewers can assess whether technology is ready for wider consumption.
Make responsibilities visible.
Give consumers reliable information about ownership, support and documentation, while making compliance requirements and review decisions clear to producers.
FROM PRINCIPLES TO DELIVERY
Turning quality expectations into publishing decisions.
I mapped producer journeys to pinpoint where publishing requirements, reviews and handoffs differed. I then led the design of a shared curation process covering policy ownership, solution maturity, documentation, quality checks and review responsibilities. Working with global stakeholders and technical writers, I helped turn platform-specific practices into a publishing approach adopted across global producer teams. Producers gained a clearer route to publication, and reviewers a consistent basis for assessing readiness.
MAKING GOVERNANCE OPERATIONAL
Making standards usable in everyday delivery.
To make the new requirements usable, I designed policy-management, dashboard and publishing concepts showing producers what evidence to provide, which checks applied, who would review a submission and what happened next.
These prototypes gave producers and reviewers something concrete to test and challenge. Alongside the adopted curation process, they showed how shared standards could translate into day-to-day publishing and review decisions.
04 · IMPACT & RESULTS
From fragmented delivery to reuse at scale.
The work changed both the direction of the platform and how technology was prepared for reuse. Journey evidence helped move investment beyond consolidation towards adoption across the engineering lifecycle. Global producer teams adopted a shared curation process with clearer quality, documentation and ownership requirements. The programme also reported less duplicated development effort and stronger alignment between global and local initiatives.
I connected user research to investment and roadmap decisions, translated producer standards into an operational publishing process, and helped connect designers across platform teams through a Centre of Expertise.
Decisions I influenced. Challenged consolidation as the answer to low reuse, shifted investment discussions towards end-to-end adoption, and used journey evidence and prototypes to secure support for design-led work across platform services.
What I led and changed. Led research and service modelling, introduced cross-team design coordination, developed platform and producer workflow concepts, helped establish a curation process used across global producer teams, and contributed to the Centre of Expertise.
Less duplication. Greater reusability.
Standardized, reusable technology reduced duplicated development effort across global and local initiatives, supporting more efficient delivery and long-term sustainability.
A scalable engineering self-service experience.
A shared curation process established consistent quality, documentation and ownership standards, enabling engineers to discover, evaluate and reuse technology with greater confidence.
Sustainable design practices across teams.
A Centre of Expertise connected previously siloed designers, establishing shared practices and closer collaboration with product and engineering teams to support long-term platform evolution.