IBM Garage

IBM Consulting lacked a unified way to plan, sell, and deliver Garage engagements.

Garages existed globally, but each operated slightly differently. There were no standardized tools, little shared knowledge between teams, and inconsistent resources for onboarding new practitioners.

"Stop reinventing the wheel on every engagement. I want every Garage to be better than the last Garage because it learns from the prior Garages."

• Consistent tools and frameworks
• Clear guidance for practitioners
• Shared knowledge across teams
• A repeatable system that could scale globally

I served as both Design Lead and Program Manager, responsible for guiding the design, prioritization, and delivery of the Garage enablement ecosystem.

• Information architecture and experience design
• UX research and persona development
• Wireframing and interaction design
• Visual design aligned with the Carbon Design System
• Agile program management and roadmap planning
• Development coordination and launch planning
• Content production and tool deployment
• Feedback loops and product iteration

A one-size-fits-all approach would not work. Different practitioners interacted with Garage in very different ways.

Through research and design thinking workshops, we identified five primary personas:

Over a nine-month period, my team designed and launched seven integrated tools that formed the core of the IBM Garage practitioner ecosystem.

The goal was clarity, scalability, and speed.

• IBM Garage Experience
• IBM Garage Squad Insights
• IBM Garage Playbook
• IBM Garage Resources
• IBM Garage Answers
• IBM Garage Outcomes
• IBM Garage Command Center

Each product focused on a specific stage of the Garage lifecycle while remaining connected through a consistent experience framework.

We used a rapid evaluation method we called "sharp sticks." These were intentionally low-fidelity concept artifacts used to quickly test ideas with practitioners in the field.

Instead of building full products, we created simple concept cards representing potential tools and presented them during global Garage bootcamps. Participants ranked the concepts by importance and provided direct feedback.

• Quickly identify high-value solutions
• Eliminate weaker ideas early
• Prioritize tools that solved real practitioner needs

Once the tools were prioritized, we organized the work using Experience-based Roadmaps, which broke long-term experiences into near-term outcomes.

Each tool followed the same delivery structure:

• Discovery
• Research synthesis
• Wireframes
• Iterative prototyping
• Stakeholder playbacks
• Production design
• Developer handoff

Every two weeks we held Playbacks, presenting the work to stakeholders and collecting feedback before progressing to the next iteration. This ensured alignment across teams and allowed the solutions to evolve through real practitioner input.

Within four months of launch, the ecosystem saw strong adoption across IBM Consulting.

The work helped transform IBM Garage from a loosely defined consulting concept into a repeatable operating model supported by tools, resources, and shared knowledge.

The ecosystem allowed consulting teams to move faster, onboard new practitioners more effectively, and deliver more consistent Garage engagements worldwide.

This project demonstrated how design leadership and operational structure can enable large organizations to scale complex methodologies.

Key principles that guided the work:

• User-centered design
• Agile iteration
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Clear storytelling and stakeholder alignment
• Structured frameworks for scaling innovation

By combining these principles with continuous feedback loops, the team successfully delivered a system that allowed IBM Garage to expand rapidly while maintaining a consistent practitioner experience.