Egnyte Apple Watch App In March 2015, Egnyte set out to join the short list of companies who would ship the very first Apple Watch apps just one month later, in April 2015. “Create an Apple Watch app that ships at the same time as the first generation Apple Watch.” The Challenge We encountered three main challenges in designing the first Egnyte Apple Watch app: We had never seen an Apple Watch before, nor would we have access to a watch for the duration of the project. Except for the timeline, we didn’t have any requirements. The project started in March 2015, so we had less than a month to design and ship by April. Background Egnyte was a market leader in Adaptive Enterprise File Services whose award-winning platform enables users to share files on premises and in the cloud anywhere, on any device. Their platform currently boasted a suite of web, desktop, iPhone, and Android apps. My Role I led the design of the Egnyte Apple Watch app as the sole UI/UX designer on our small team, which consisted of a product manager, our developer who worked remotely from Poland, and myself. I was responsible for research, interaction design, visual design, copywriting, and UX quality assurance. The project started in March 2015 and shipped in April 2015. Product Definition I worked closely with our project manager to define the product, prioritize and negotiate features, and establish the vision for launch and beyond. User Research and Experience Design We conducted user research and testing, which we used to inform the journeys, wireframes, prototypes, and design specs I created. Leadership I presented my designs to earn buy-in from executives and stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. The Approach The business strategy was simple: be one of the first. Egnyte, Inc. wanted to be recognized as being on the forefront of technological innovation, and that included being part of the first generation of Apple Watch apps. Work across Timezones I collaborated closely with our developer, located in Poland, at least three times a week to review concepts, specs, and implementation until we launched. Overcommunicate I communicated thoroughly and frequently, worked fast, identified any potential design or feasibility issues early, and iterated rapidly at every step in the design process. The Discovery Apple Watch App Anatomy Education The much-anticipated first generation Apple Watch had been announced but was not yet available in stores. Designing an app for a device we had never seen before, on an OS we had never experienced before, required a great deal of research and imagination. In addition to Apple’s watchOS Human Interface Guidelines, I read and referenced every piece of Apple Watch and watchOS knowledge I could find, including the user experiences of other apps that would be shipping with the Apple Watch. Creating Requirements As the motivation for building this app was a business strategy to be one of the first Apple Watch apps available, it was not borne out of the need to solve a specific Egnyte user pain point. Discovering meaningful requirements was our among our first design exercises for the project. To determine what app features to consider, we explored the intersection of Egnyte’s capabilities, watchOS’s capabilities, and what capabilities would bring Egnyte users value. We prioritized the list of items based on two main criteria: how frequently users performed those tasks and how critical those tasks were to the Egnyte platform. The Vision Design an Apple Watch app that adds value to the existing Egnyte iPhone app via: Notifying the user when a file has been successfully or unsuccessfully uploaded or downloaded Informing users how much local storage their Egnyte files are taking up on their phone Displaying locally stored files and folders In addition, utilize the most appropriate Apple Watch component (Notification, Glance, and the App itself) for each of the above capabilities to leverage and fully utilize the capabilities of the watch’s unique form factor and inherent use cases. The Spec