Rare / Albireo Case Study
Albireo needed a grants application platform to fund research for a specific medical condition. The platform would serve as a prototype for their future research grants management across multiple disease areas.
The organisation was deeply rooted in traditional methodologies, and we needed to demonstrate the benefits of agile approaches. They needed to deliver an innovative solution within an ambitious two-month timeline that would typically take several quarters to complete.
I filled multiple roles:
- Lead the UX design efforts to create an intuitive grants platform
- Demonstrate the tangible benefits of lean/agile methodologies to waterfall-oriented stakeholders
- Support a cross-functional team to deliver both the platform and supporting processes within our tight timeline
- Engage directly with grant applicants and assessors to uncover genuine user pain points
Combining strategic UX with agile implementation, we achieved rapid delivery and a new approach to their digital development.
The platform became a case study within the organisation, demonstrating how agile methodologies could deliver significant value in a traditionally conservative pharmaceutical environment.
Ben Pask
Founder and MD
Absolutely Brilliant! We met Spencer through a mutual contact who told me there wasn't anyone else to go to. That he was the best there is in service design and UX. And they were right.
In one 90 minute intro session for our clients he turned a room of sceptics into advocates. Making things simple to understand, and getting everyone involved in owning the outcome. Absolute consultancy magic.
That has set the tone for what has been a brilliant journey for us and our client.
I delivered a combination of strategic guidance, hands-on work, and leadership:
Collaborative Discovery:
- Facilitated engaging workshops with key stakeholders
- Created a high-level story map visualising the entire process
- Converted skeptical executives into advocates for our iterative approach
- Engaged directly with grant applicants an assessors to understand their pain points
Strategic MVP Design:
- Implemented a "Wizard of Oz" MVP with a polished user interface
- Designed manual processes behind the scenes to avoid complex automation
- Focused on user experience rather than technical complexity
Value-Driven Development:
- Concentrated efforts on features delivering maximum value
- Created structured note-taking tools for the judging panel
- Thoughtfully scheduled secondary features for future iterations
Agile Implementation:
- Integrated compliance considerations into the design process
- Engaged with necessary compliance third parties from the outset
- Compressed the timeline through strategic prioritisation and prototyping
Delivering an unexpectedly speedy and simple solution to the pharmaceutical company:
Our agile, user-centred approach delivered:
- Rapid Deployment: Successfully launched the complete grants platform within the ambitious two-month timeframe
- Quality Applications: Attracted a substantial pool of high-quality research applications, exceeding stakeholder expectations
- Organisational Learning: Provided a compelling demonstration of agile methodologies in a traditionally conservative environment
- Scalable Foundation: Created a platform that could be confidently expanded to support grant applications across their full range of disease research areas
This project demonstrated how strategic UX leadership combined with pragmatic implementation could deliver significant value, even within the constraints of a highly regulated industry and compressed timeline.
