A Week With… Mark Wittkampf

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Backbase

5 min readJun 8, 2016

Mark Wittkampf works since 2014 at Backbase, he is Chapter Lead UX and Senior Consultant in Professional Services [We implement Backbase products for customers.]

In the evenings and weekends he also likes to sketch. Find some of his work on https://www.instagram.com/wittkampf/

MONDAY

Umf… Monday morning… Wake up! It’s an early start today. We need to take two flights for a client in Lebanon we’re doing a project for . Via Paris to Beirut.

After two weeks of discovery workshops, Andrea (Business Analyst), Alan (Solution Architect), Jeroen (Project Manager) and me (User Experience Consultant) are going to present and discuss our documentation with findings and advise .

Yesterday evening Alan and I used Whatsapp to decide to share an Uber on this early Monday morning to Schiphol. Because of rain it’s busy on the road. After arriving, we pass security and we can have a small breakfast in the business lounge (I can join Alan, a KLM Gold Member.) Let’s tell Jeroen that we are almost there. “Good morning Jeroen, we’re a bit late, due to the second security..” :)

We realise after breakfast that the journey isn’t a happy flow: it’s chaos at Schiphol, because of heavy rains. We hear that the connection in Paris will be missed. Luckily Jeroen and our Backbase office manager, Naomi, can change our flight. Next stop: Rome! It gives me some extra time to go through the documentation and prepare my presentation.

A few hours later we arrive in the hotel in Beirut. A good start of the week.

TUESDAY

6:00 alarm? That’s too early! Ooh no, I’m hearing honking cars, just another sunny Beirut morning.

At 8.00 I wake up again. I take a shower, put on the my clothes and run through the breakfast buffet to grab an apple (I never make time for breakfast, it only means less sleep). Jeroen and Alan are waiting for me in the lobby, ready to get into the taxi.

We are three days with the client and today is my day to shine: I share our discovery process and present the defined UX strategy.

After the coffee break it’s time to show the first concept designs we’ve created for our client. They give feedback in the way I like it the most: positive and happy! (Sorry, can’t share any visuals yet...)

We have a nice lunch in the sun and in the afternoon we discuss the remaining open questions.

At 20:00 Andrea arrives from the airport at the hotel. Just in time to join us for dinner at a restaurant we know from the previous Lebanon trip: Al Falamanki. With 25 degrees, we can sit outside. We talk about how the day was and what the plan is for tomorrow. We drink one or two delicious Almaza beers and thank Lebanon for the tasty peanuts, hummus and baba ganoush.

WEDNESDAY

I start the day with orange juice before we go.

Today is all about briefing an implementation partner for the Backbase product. I start with an introduction of UX to give them an idea of what they will need to build. After me, Andrea talks about the planned scope of the project and the created epics and Alan discusses technical requirements.

During the talks I can’t help thinking of the beauty Lebanon showed us last time.

Back in the hotel I have a call with Linda (VP of Professional Services). We talk about the fast growing department, the coming structural changes and I share my ideas about the role of the UX department.

Jeroen convinced me to go to the hotel gym, because the amount of hummus I’ve been eating starts to show. So after the call I go to the gym with Jeroen, my new fitness buddy.

THURSDAY

Today is our last day with the client. The days go very fast in Beirut.

While Andrea and Alan are discussing the project scope, features, functionalities and technical solutions, I have to do some work for another project too: the second edition of the Backbase H4CK4TH0N. The deadline is coming closer and the details start to matter more and more. I promised to work on a T-shirt design. Let’s see what the stakeholders think.

After a day of sharing ideas, the moment to say goodbye is there. We have one last night to spend in Beirut. We first decide to go to the Corniche (the boardwalk next to the Mediterranean Sea) and drink a beer in the sun. Not bad. Jeroen is taking the pictures, he likes that.

The sun is under, so we go with the team to our new favourite Armenian restaurant Mayrig. When you’re in Beirut, you should try the food!

FRIDAY

A day of traveling. Via Paris to Amsterdam. Estimation is to be back in Holland around 18.00. After landing I need to run to the train, because I planned a weekend with my brother and father in a peaceful little village called Olst. The Plan: make fire and drink beer!

SATURDAY

Waking up by birds is a better then honking cars. We have a nice breakfast in the garden and decide to go biking. I sometimes forget how beautiful the Netherlands can be in spring. I’m totally relaxed!