The Retail Investor Group’s (RIG) Client Experience & Digital (CXD) sub-division was formed in summer 2019 to provide Vanguard clients and crew with meaningful, world-class digital experiences. While CXD currently has variety of team structures, it primarily uses cross-functional teams called Journey Labs that implement an iterative approach to improve a client journey – The end-to-end process when completing a task, such as opening an account. CXD also uses Product Teams, which are nearly identical to Journey Labs except that they are aligned to a particular channel or capability, such as mobile. This multi-faceted approach allows CXD to provide world-class experiences for all clients, no matter how they interact with us. CXD crew recently shared their personal experiences working in the RIG sub-division. Here are excerpts from their stories:

Gavin C., Head of Design in CXD:

My career at Vanguard has been a unique journey. I started as a user experience (UX) designer in 2001 and then left to pursue a graduate degree full-time in 2003. After graduate school, I spent 10+ years working for myself as well as teaching design and digital strategy at a few universities. I came back to Vanguard in 2014 to help evolve the UX practices within the firm. Since returning, I am often asked two questions – Why did you come back, and what is it like being a designer at Vanguard?

Click here to read Gavin’s full story.

Jason L., Senior Product Manager in CXD:

I have been a Journey Owner at Vanguard for three years. When I was offered the job initially, I had no idea what to expect, and neither did anyone else. I was the first to assume this role, and one of the scariest (read: exciting) things about taking the job was not really knowing what I was getting into. So my hope is that I can help answer the question: What is it like being a Journey Owner at Vanguard?

1. Things change hour to hour… and that’s a good thing.
2. The learning never stops.
3. The most useful skill is leadership.

Click here to read Jason’s full story.

Mark D., Senior Scrum Master in CXD:

Before I joined Vanguard in late 2018 as a scrum master for a Client Experience lab team, I spent many years working with more traditional, enterprise-agile software development teams – typically seven to nine people comprised of one product owner, five to seven full stack developers, and one scrum master. Upon joining Vanguard, it felt a bit overwhelming to have the additional expertise on each team for disciplines like client research, user experience design, content writing, and data analytics. It didn’t take long, however, for me to begin appreciating the simplicity, power and effectiveness of this one-team approach.

Click here to read Mark’s full story.

Rehana V., Software Engineering Manager in CXD:

If you’re anything like me, you were drawn to technology and software development because of the problem-solving nature of the work; the opportunity to piece together a puzzle that starts off as an idea and ends with a tangible product. You yearn for those moments when you think you’ve hit a brick wall with no path forward, only to have an epiphany at the remotest of hours that just might work. Now take all of that, the challenge and adrenaline of breaking through that brick wall, and make it core to what you do day in and day out, not just when your fingers are on the keyboard. Within the Client Experience and Digital (CXD) group, developers, strategists, designers, scrum masters, business SMEs, data analysts, and researchers come together to form product teams working to offer best-in-class web experiences to our investors.

Click here to read Rehana’s full story.

Interested in reading more about our CXD team? Click here for Jane M.’s story.