Multitone
🇬🇧 Basingstoke, United Kingdom
Senior Product Designer advocating for positive growth at a historic UK communications company.
Supporting Multitone’s 90+ year history and deep-rooted relationship with the UK’s NHS and emergency services.
Impact Areas
Health sector, Crisis management, Emergency response, Security, COVID-19 responder support
Tools
Figma, Adobe XD, Adobe Creative Suite
Clients
NHS (National Health Service), Canary Wharf Business District, UK Emergency Services
0
Faster app release cycles.
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Communications up-time.
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Adoption of Agile methodologies for app delivery.
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Countless workshops and presentations led.
An Evolving Product Process
Multitone has an incredible 90+ year history in the communications industry and a deep-rooted relationship with the NHS, having developed its first bleep-paging system. Multitone’s technology has supported life-saving solutions for decades—not only within the NHS but also through valuable security systems, such as those at Canary Wharf, and Major Incident (MAJAX) response systems.
However, with changing times, Multitone needed to add mobile app support to its roster of robust hardware solutions. This required a fundamental shift: moving from a traditional waterfall development strategy to an Agile approach.
Thus, the initial primary function of my role was to understand the company’s history and its relationship with the customers it served, and then use my intuition and prior experiences to advocate for process growth within the company.
Read a paper I wrote advocating for Agile within the company. (PDF)
However, with changing times, Multitone needed to add mobile app support to its roster of robust hardware solutions. This required a fundamental shift: moving from a traditional waterfall development strategy to an Agile approach.
Thus, the initial primary function of my role was to understand the company’s history and its relationship with the customers it served, and then use my intuition and prior experiences to advocate for process growth within the company.
Read a paper I wrote advocating for Agile within the company. (PDF)
<above> An excerpt from an internal workshop I authored & illustrated that shared the benefits of an Agile-like development processes.
MUltitone Messenger
The core app I worked on while at Multitone was Multitone Messenger. Designed to be more than a simple “WhatsApp for Healthcare,” Multitone Messenger represented a GUI that needed to function not only as a modern, wireless-enabled messaging platform but also to surface critical alert and emergency features hosted via Multitone’s on-site server-based communication solutions.
<below> Interactive Figma Prototype of Messenger V3.0
<below> Early prototypes designed to develop an MVP that we could test at trade shows within the UK and Europe.
<below> Icon set v2.0. These are some of the custom icons I developed for Multitone’s suite of software products. Creating a consistent visual tone was essential to resolving the inconsistencies across our software suite, where mismatched icons contributed to visual clutter and usability issues. The outdated UI not only caused confusion but also led to icons failing to effectively communicate their intended functions.
<below> Early designs for the Multitone Messenger app icon. I wanted to combine Multitone’s traditional “atom” logo with the “messenger” angle of the app, so explored various options to combine the two.
<below> The final App icon for Multitone Messenger.
Challenges & Successes
Challenge #1
Disrupting and updating outdated processes designed for hardware delivery, and educating stakeholders about software delivery.
Learnings
Multitone’s long-standing history of delivering hardware-oriented systems had embedded traditional processes that were primarily suited to physical product development and release. While these processes had been successful for decades, they were not equipped to handle the dynamic and iterative nature of modern software delivery.
Shifting from a waterfall approach—designed for long development cycles and tangible outputs—to one that embraced the flexibility required for software posed significant challenges. However, it was necessary to successfully deliver a coherent UX across our brand, while maintaining code efficiency through the promotion of a component-based architecture and a unified visual library of colors, icons, and tonal verbiage.
Shifting from a waterfall approach—designed for long development cycles and tangible outputs—to one that embraced the flexibility required for software posed significant challenges. However, it was necessary to successfully deliver a coherent UX across our brand, while maintaining code efficiency through the promotion of a component-based architecture and a unified visual library of colors, icons, and tonal verbiage.
Successes
Working together with key stakeholders in Product, Sales, and Engineering, we initiated efforts to modernize our delivery processes by introducing Agile methodologies and tools. This ultimately supported more efficient and rapid developmental cycles, offering greater flexibility to compete in the software communications market and meet a variety of complex customer needs.
Challenge #2
Understanding & working within the limitations of Existing NHS communications infrastructure.
Learnings
While there may have been a desire for an exclusively app-supported communications system, the reality was that hospitals, being government-funded, didn’t always have access to the latest innovations in wireless connectivity. This meant we had to consider fallback solutions when internal Wi-Fi was unavailable to ensure that time-sensitive and critical communications could continue without interruption.
This was especially critical for Multitone because our apps had to support both emergency messaging and Major Incident response—areas that required maintaining 100% notification receivership and uptime.
This was especially critical for Multitone because our apps had to support both emergency messaging and Major Incident response—areas that required maintaining 100% notification receivership and uptime.
Successes
Multitone’s history of providing hardware-based internal communications systems to hospitals allowed us to offer the best of both worlds: a distinct advantage over our software-only competition.
In the end, we realized that a balance between the new (apps) and the old (pagers/bleepers) provided us with the firmest foundation for guaranteeing the receipt of critical messages.
In the end, we realized that a balance between the new (apps) and the old (pagers/bleepers) provided us with the firmest foundation for guaranteeing the receipt of critical messages.
Challenge #3
Heavily siloed teams, and a lack of transparency between departments.
Learnings
Without clear communication channels, different teams would often duplicate efforts or work at cross-purposes, leading to misalignment in goals, wasted time, and hostility between teams. This fragmentation also hindered our ability to identify and address dependencies across projects, delaying delivery timelines.
It became quickly evident that without fostering a collaborative environment, where information flows freely between departments, the overall efficiency and quality of our software development process was compromised.
It became quickly evident that without fostering a collaborative environment, where information flows freely between departments, the overall efficiency and quality of our software development process was compromised.
Successes
In response to these challenges, I took a proactive approach to bridge the communication gaps between departments. I made sure to always include key stakeholders from different teams in critical meetings. I helped facilitate a more inclusive, cross-functional dialogue, employing tools like Slack and JIRA to aid our efforts while training the product management team how to use them.
I held daily stand-ups within the product team and invited key stakeholders from other departments to help identify blockers early. These simple initiatives led to greater alignment between teams, reducing misunderstandings and improving collaboration, which ultimately turned the tide of being able to deliver high-quality software more efficiently.
I held daily stand-ups within the product team and invited key stakeholders from other departments to help identify blockers early. These simple initiatives led to greater alignment between teams, reducing misunderstandings and improving collaboration, which ultimately turned the tide of being able to deliver high-quality software more efficiently.
Challenge #4
Responding to the impact of COVID-19 while continuing to support the NHS
Learnings
In times of crisis, technology’s role in supporting essential workers becomes even more crucial. The arrival of COVID-19 brought an unprecedented level of strain to the NHS, and we had to quickly learn how to best support them from afar. Many of our engineers became front-line workers by needing to be on-site, and we ensured a safe but present number of staff remained in the office at all times to respond to support requests as they came in.
The pandemic showed us that being agile and responsive, while keeping empathy at the forefront, was key to providing meaningful support during such an overwhelming time.
The pandemic showed us that being agile and responsive, while keeping empathy at the forefront, was key to providing meaningful support during such an overwhelming time.
Successes
COVID-19 underscored the importance of empathy, adaptability, and responsiveness under intense pressure. Working with the NHS during this period was immeasurably inspiring.
Life At Multitone
From hiking to Halloween, our team at Multitone represented more than just a job. We were a group of like-minded friends, passionately pulling the company forward to break down silos and deliver a product we all cared about. I love looking back on all the adventures we had together.
From hiking to Halloween, our team at Multitone represented more than just a job. We were a group of like-minded friends, passionately pulling the company forward to break down silos and deliver a product we all cared about. I love looking back on all the adventures we had together.