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Case Study

Novetta.

Rebuilding complex systems around how people actually work

Senior Director, Product Design · Systems Design, Enterprise UX, Art Direction · TS Clearance

Novetta.

Rebuilding complex systems around how people actually work

Senior Director, Product Design · Systems Design, Enterprise UX, Art Direction · TS Clearance

Case Study
Novetta.

A system built to connect creation, evaluation, and transaction in one continuous flow

VP Product (Consulting) · Product, UX/UI, Brand, Narrative

The Situation

The work began at Digital Results Group (DRG), where a platform called Ageon ISR was being used in defense and intelligence environments.

 

On paper, the system was powerful—a real-time Common Operating Picture (COP), aggregating high-volume data from disparate sensors, internal systems, and open sources into a single operational view. It was used across C5ISR mission contexts—force protection, border security, disaster response, maritime domain awareness, and critical infrastructure—where teams needed to monitor activity, interpret signals, and coordinate responses in real time. Its architecture also allowed command, control, and communications capabilities to be federated across an enterprise network, extending visualization, exploitation, and forensic analysis across distributed locations in a way that was genuinely significant for that space.


In practice, it was difficult to use. Workflows were fragmented, critical information wasn’t surfaced in a way that supported immediate decision-making, and the interaction model reflected an older enterprise paradigm built around training rather than intuition. Modern operators were arriving with expectations shaped far more by consumer and game-based interfaces, which called for a fundamental shift in HCI.


In the environments where it was used, that gap carried high-stakes, real-world consequences.


Operators were tracking movement, coordinating responses, and making decisions where seconds mattered. The system was functional, but it required constant adaptation. Workarounds became part of how the work got done in the field.


I recommended being embedded with operators to observe and understand how the system was being used in actual use cases. That wasn’t part of the original engagement, and it wasn’t how other vendors were approaching the work, but given the complexity of the tools and stakes of the engagements, it was necessary.

The work began at Digital Results Group (DRG), where a platform called Ageon ISR was being used in defense and intelligence environments.

 

On paper, the system was powerful—a real-time Common Operating Picture (COP), aggregating high-volume data from disparate sensors, internal systems, and open sources into a single operational view. It was used across C5ISR mission contexts—force protection, border security, disaster response, maritime domain awareness, and critical infrastructure—where teams needed to monitor activity, interpret signals, and coordinate responses in real time. Its architecture also allowed command, control, and communications capabilities to be federated across an enterprise network, extending visualization, exploitation, and forensic analysis across distributed locations in a way that was genuinely significant for that space.


In practice, it was difficult to use. Workflows were fragmented, critical information wasn’t surfaced in a way that supported immediate decision-making, and the interaction model reflected an older enterprise paradigm built around training rather than intuition. Modern operators were arriving with expectations shaped far more by consumer and game-based interfaces, which called for a fundamental shift in HCI.


In the environments where it was used, that gap carried high-stakes, real-world consequences.


Operators were tracking movement, coordinating responses, and making decisions where seconds mattered. The system was functional, but it required constant adaptation. Workarounds became part of how the work got done in the field.


I recommended being embedded with operators to observe and understand how the system was being used in actual use cases. That wasn’t part of the original engagement, and it wasn’t how other vendors were approaching the work, but given the complexity of the tools and stakes of the engagements, it was necessary.

Establishing the Pattern

I spent time on-site in command center environments, working directly alongside operators and walking through workflows as they happened.


Being in that environment made it clear how much of the system’s usability depended on the adjustments operators were making in real time. They developed their own paths through the interface—skipping steps, cross-referencing information manually, missing entire features because they were difficult to find, and avoiding areas that introduced friction or uncertainty. Those adjustments became the way the system was used in practice.


The same behaviors showed up across different teams and mission contexts. Once it appeared in more than one environment, it became difficult to treat it as isolated.


The issues pointed to a broader disconnect between how the system was understood and how the work was actually being carried out.


That on-site exposure also made the physical environment impossible to ignore. Operators were working long sessions in low-light command centers, often across multiple displays. The existing color palette increased eye strain, and workstation configurations didn’t support how they were actually moving through the space. Those factors weren’t part of the original design, but they directly impacted how the system was experienced in use.

Why I Was Brought In

The initial ask was to evaluate the system and identify where it was breaking down.


That required getting up to speed quickly. The domain, terminology, and operational constraints were unfamiliar, but the patterns became clear once I was working alongside operators and walking through workflows during live missions. My background in consumer-facing and game industry UX—where interaction models rely on recognition rather than training—was one of the reasons they sought me out.


I documented the gaps—where the system slowed decision-making, where information wasn’t easy to interpret, and where the interaction model created unnecessary friction. That included recommendations for restructuring workflows, improving how information was presented, and extending the system beyond the desktop through a mobile companion designed for field use.


I brought those findings back as a working model for how the system could evolve.


That report led to an expanded role. I was offered the permanent position of Director of Product to carry the work forward.

The initial ask was to evaluate the system and identify where it was breaking down.


That required getting up to speed quickly. The domain, terminology, and operational constraints were unfamiliar, but the patterns became clear once I was working alongside operators and walking through workflows during live missions. My background in consumer-facing and game industry UX—where interaction models rely on recognition rather than training—was one of the reasons they sought me out.


I documented the gaps—where the system slowed decision-making, where information wasn’t easy to interpret, and where the interaction model created unnecessary friction. That included recommendations for restructuring workflows, improving how information was presented, and extending the system beyond the desktop through a mobile companion designed for field use.


I brought those findings back as a working model for how the system could evolve.


That report led to an expanded role. I was offered the permanent position of Director of Product to carry the work forward.

"He has the unique ability to transform complex concepts and user stories into straightforward, intuitive, and visually attractive workflows."

"He has the unique ability to transform complex concepts and user stories into straightforward, intuitive, and visually attractive workflows."

"He has a unique ability to transform complex concepts and user stories into straightforward, intuitive, and visually attractive workflows."

— Hyam Singer, Vice President, Novetta

— Hyam Singer, Vice President, Novetta

— Hyam Singer,
Vice President, Novetta

Rebuilding the System While It Was Running

I approached the redesign as a system-level rebuild rather than an iteration on the existing interface.


The issues identified in the field couldn’t be resolved through incremental changes. They were tied to how the system was structured, how information moved through it, and how interactions were defined. Addressing that required rethinking both the experience and the framework supporting it.


I began building a new version of Ageon alongside the existing platform.


As part of that work, I introduced new interaction models grounded in how operators already understood complex systems. In one case, I designed a timeline inspired by digital audio workstations, allowing users to navigate and interpret events over time with a level of control and clarity that didn’t exist in the original system.


As the work expanded, I hired and grew a small team, including a front-end developer aligned with UX. Early on, I defined the requirements for a design system that wasn’t just consistent visually, but usable directly in development. The goal was to remove ambiguity—so teams could lift components as working code without having to reinterpret design decisions.


That became the basis for the system foundation Novetta Styles.


I approached the redesign as a system-level rebuild rather than an iteration on the existing interface.


The issues identified in the field couldn’t be resolved through incremental changes. They were tied to how the system was structured, how information moved through it, and how interactions were defined. Addressing that required rethinking both the experience and the framework supporting it.


I began building a new version of Ageon alongside the existing platform.


As part of that work, I introduced new interaction models grounded in how operators already understood complex systems. In one case, I designed a timeline inspired by digital audio workstations, allowing users to navigate and interpret events over time with a level of control and clarity that didn’t exist in the original system.


As the work expanded, I hired and grew a small team, including a front-end developer aligned with UX. Early on, I defined the requirements for a design system that wasn’t just consistent visually, but usable directly in development. The goal was to remove ambiguity—so teams could lift components as working code without having to reinterpret design decisions.


That became the basis for the system foundation Novetta Styles.


I defined the system as a technology-agnostic CSS framework, structured around a shared set of variables with a pre-processor that allowed those variables to be used directly in code. It included core components and a set of atomic utility classes covering themes, layout, typography, grids, forms, animations, transitions, and a custom icon library.


That foundation allowed the experience to scale across products without fragmenting.


In parallel, we developed the new platform over the course of a year—mapping workflows, refining interaction models, and aligning the system across use cases. The work required close coordination with engineering, as the redesign also drove a broader technical refactor to support consistency and maintainability.


At the same time, the executive team asked that the most impactful changes be introduced into the existing Ageon platform where feasible. I identified opportunities to apply those improvements without placing additional strain on the legacy back-end, incrementally improving the live system while the new platform was being built.


The result was a fully realized system that stood apart from the original Ageon. Rather than replacing the existing product and its legacy back-end, the decision was made to run the new platform alongside it.


Ageon ISR Redesign

That new version became a key factor in Novetta’s acquisition of DRG.

That new version became a key factor in Novetta’s acquisition of DRG.

Scaling the System (Novetta)

After Novetta acquired DRG, I was approached by the CEO and Vice President of Product to extend the work beyond Ageon.


The model had proven effective, but applying it across the organization required more than assigning designers to individual products. I proposed creating a centralized Product Design Division that would operate outside of existing product reporting structures, with the autonomy to repeat the process and methodology that made the Ageon redesign successful.

That proposal was accepted. I was promoted to Senior Director of Product and given responsibility for establishing and leading the division, reporting directly to the VP of Product.


The scope expanded quickly. In addition to both Ageon platforms, I led product design efforts across Novetta Mission Analytics (NMA), Novetta Cyber Analytics (NCA), Novetta Entity Analytics (NEA), and Datavisor—each with its own domain, data structures, and operational context.

I began by mapping the full experience—how creators, catalogs, briefs, and licensing workflows connect. That system map became the backbone of the product.


Seeing it all at once changed how decisions got made.

NMA became a second major focus. It was used to monitor large-scale public sentiment and detect misinformation across open and social media, supporting policy and crisis response decisions for the U.S. government. Like Ageon, it required a parallel reinvention—restructuring workflows, redefining how information was interpreted in real time, and aligning the system with how analysts actually worked.


Within that system, I designed a Machine Learning Model Manager that brought model interaction into the workflow—allowing analysts to monitor performance, adjust inputs, and understand outputs in context rather than treating them as black-box processes—something that wasn’t standard in these environments at the time.


The platforms remain in use today as critical tools in those environments.


While the domains varied, the underlying challenges were consistent. The focus remained on building shared systems that could operate across products without losing context.

NMA became a second major focus. It was used to monitor large-scale public sentiment and detect misinformation across open and social media, supporting policy and crisis response decisions for the U.S. government. Like Ageon, it required a parallel reinvention—restructuring workflows, redefining how information was interpreted in real time, and aligning the system with how analysts actually worked.


Within that system, I designed a Machine Learning Model Manager that brought model interaction into the workflow—allowing analysts to monitor performance, adjust inputs, and understand outputs in context rather than treating them as black-box processes—something that wasn’t standard in these environments at the time.


The platforms remain in use today as critical tools in those environments.


While the domains varied, the underlying challenges were consistent. The focus remained on building shared systems that could operate across products without losing context.

"Munk will force a paradigm shift… getting teams to think past ‘look and feel’ into optimizing workflow and interaction for the user."

"Munk will force a paradigm shift… getting teams to think past ‘look and feel’ into optimizing workflow and interaction for the user."

"He has a unique ability to transform complex concepts and user stories into straightforward, intuitive, and visually attractive workflows."

— Drew Harmon Vice President, Novetta

— Drew Harmon Vice President, Novetta

— Drew Harmon
Vice President, Novetta

Designing the Team

I began by working across multiple products directly, applying the same approach in different contexts and identifying what could translate across them. That phase clarified the shape of the team that needed to exist.


I hired a team with strategic intention—bringing together a cross-section of capabilities across interaction design, systems thinking, visual design, data visualization, and research—so the work could cover the full surface area of the products without fragmenting.


I assigned designers as strike teams to engage with specific products, but the work stayed connected. Context moved across the group, and patterns identified in one system were applied in others.


That shared awareness reduced friction and increased velocity.

Establishing the Division

The division started with a single point of view and expanded from there.


Novetta’s product portfolio had grown through acquisition. Each product came from a different team, with its own interaction model, visual language, and assumptions about how users should work. There was no connective structure across the suite.


The objective was to change that—bringing the products into alignment as a unified system, closer to how platforms like Adobe Cloud operate, where users can move between tools without having to relearn how each one works.


I expanded the team—bringing together a cross-section of capabilities across interaction design, systems thinking, visual design, data visualization, and research—so the work could address the full surface area of the products without breaking into silos.


Introducing the division required alignment across the organization. I met with executive product leads to walk through the approach, using the Ageon work as a reference point and outlining how the same methodology could be applied across their products. The intent was to position the group as a partner to existing teams, not a disruption to how they were operating.


I developed narrative films to show how the system was meant to work.

The division started with a single point of view and expanded from there.


Novetta’s product portfolio had grown through acquisition. Each product came from a different team, with its own interaction model, visual language, and assumptions about how users should work. There was no connective structure across the suite.


The objective was to change that—bringing the products into alignment as a unified system, closer to how platforms like Adobe Cloud operate, where users can move between tools without having to relearn how each one works.


I expanded the team—bringing together a cross-section of capabilities across interaction design, systems thinking, visual design, data visualization, and research—so the work could address the full surface area of the products without breaking into silos.


Introducing the division required alignment across the organization. I met with executive product leads to walk through the approach, using the Ageon work as a reference point and outlining how the same methodology could be applied across their products. The intent was to position the group as a partner to existing teams, not a disruption to how they were operating.


I developed narrative films to show how the system was meant to work.

That included securing time with their users in the field. I asked for access to customers in their operating environments so we could understand how each system was actually being used, rather than relying on internal assumptions.


Once the work began, I assigned designers as strike teams to engage with specific products, while keeping design thinking and communication centralized. Each team owned its product relationships, but the work itself remained shared. We reviewed problems together, carried context across the group, and developed solutions collectively so they could scale across the suite rather than stay isolated to a single product.

"He thinks in systems first—improving organizations and products together."

"He thinks in systems first—improving organizations and products together."

— Nathaniel Buechler, Principal Engineer

— Nathaniel Buechler, Principal Engineer

— Nathaniel Buechler, Principal Engineer

Art Direction & System Foundation

Unifying the product portfolio required more than aligning workflows. The systems needed to operate as a suite, not a collection of products.


Each product had been developed independently, with its own visual language and interaction patterns. Moving between them meant constantly resetting context—new layouts, new conventions, new ways of interpreting information.


The Ageon redesign became the foundation. It established a set of design decisions that could carry across products, with adjustments made where needed to support different business contexts and use cases.


I defined the art direction from the ground up, shifting the products away from a traditional enterprise model toward something more immediate and legible. The focus was on clarity—reducing reliance on training and allowing the interface to communicate structure and meaning through design.


That direction carried through color, typography, layout, and interaction patterns, creating a shared visual language across the suite.


Novetta Styles provided the underlying structure to support that alignment—allowing each product to evolve independently while maintaining consistency at the system level.


The result was a suite that could grow product by product, without losing cohesion.

Unifying the product portfolio required more than aligning workflows. The systems needed to operate as a suite, not a collection of products.


Each product had been developed independently, with its own visual language and interaction patterns. Moving between them meant constantly resetting context—new layouts, new conventions, new ways of interpreting information.


The Ageon redesign became the foundation. It established a set of design decisions that could carry across products, with adjustments made where needed to support different business contexts and use cases.


I defined the art direction from the ground up, shifting the products away from a traditional enterprise model toward something more immediate and legible. The focus was on clarity—reducing reliance on training and allowing the interface to communicate structure and meaning through design.


That direction carried through color, typography, layout, and interaction patterns, creating a shared visual language across the suite.


Novetta Styles provided the underlying structure to support that alignment—allowing each product to evolve independently while maintaining consistency at the system level.


The result was a suite that could grow product by product, without losing cohesion.

System Design & Wireframing

I defined the system at the workflow level before it was implemented, working across products to map how each one needed to behave under real conditions.


That work translated into thousands of wireframes across the portfolio—covering identity intelligence, entity resolution, cybersecurity analytics, open-source intelligence, and geospatial systems. The volume was intentional. It allowed me to work through flows in detail, resolve complexity early, and establish patterns that could be applied across the suite.


I partnered closely with product owners and technical leads on each product to ensure their domain expertise was represented. The goal was to avoid designing in a vacuum and to ground decisions in both operational use and system constraints.


As patterns began to repeat across products, opportunities for reuse became clear. Not every component or workflow needed to be rethought. In many cases, structures could be adapted across use cases, allowing the system to scale through consistency rather than constant reinvention.


The wireframes weren’t deliverables. They were the working model of the system—used to align product, engineering, and stakeholders around how everything connected, and to ensure decisions made in one area could scale across others.

"Munk is that rare leader who has an equally strong grasp of the technical aspectes of the function he leads"

"Munk is that rare leader who has an equally strong grasp of the technical aspectes of the function he leads"

"He has a unique ability to transform complex concepts and user stories into straightforward, intuitive, and visually attractive workflows."

— Jesse Suero, Senior Leader, Cisco

— Jesse Suero, Senior Leader, Cisco

— Jesse Suero,
Senior Leader, Cisco

Product Narrative & Patterns

I developed a series of product narrative films to make the system visible before and during development.


Some focused on existing functionality. Others explored features that were still being defined. Together, they showed how workflows connected across the portfolio and how the system would operate in practice.


These were used directly with clients, stakeholders, and internal teams to communicate direction and build confidence in the product as it evolved.


I handled the full production—writing, editing, voiceover, and scoring—so the narrative remained consistent from concept through presentation.


This became a way to align teams early, validate direction, and move decisions forward before the system was fully built.

Outcome

The work spanned nearly a decade, evolving from a single product redesign into a broader system that shaped the direction of the company.


The Ageon redesign established a new foundation, leading to a next-generation platform that ran alongside the original while introducing immediate improvements to the live system. That work became a contributing factor in Novetta’s acquisition of DRG.


Following the acquisition, the same approach was applied across the portfolio. Products that had been developed independently were brought into alignment, forming a cohesive suite with shared patterns, consistent behavior, and a unified design language.


As new products came online, they were built against that foundation from the start, while existing systems continued to evolve. The suite became a core capability within the environments it served—supporting life-saving operations in defense and directly informing policy decisions at the federal level.


The strength of the platform and its capabilities drew the attention of Accenture, leading to the acquisition of Novetta and its integration into Accenture Federal Services.


The work also had a direct impact on my own trajectory. I was recruited by Cisco to build and lead a new UX practice for their Threat Detection and Response division, assembling an international team and establishing design as a core capability within the organization.

"His strategic thinking and leadership have measurable impact across teams."

"His strategic thinking and leadership have measurable impact across teams."

— George Serediuc, UX Leader, Cisco

— George Serediuc, UX Leader, Cisco

— George Serediuc,
UX Leader, Cisco

What This Demonstrates

This work reflects how I approach complex systems:


Start with how the system is actually used.


Define the structure before building against it.


Work across product, engineering, and domain to shape the system from the inside.


Design for clarity in environments where attention and time matter.


Build systems that can scale across products, teams, and organizations without breaking down.


This work was grounded in how the systems are used in practice—across products, teams, and the environments they operate in.


From there, the structure, the experience, and the system take shape.

This work reflects how I approach complex systems:


Start with how the system is actually used.


Define the structure before building against it.


Work across product, engineering, and domain to shape the system from the inside.


Design for clarity in environments where attention and time matter.


Build systems that can scale across products, teams, and organizations without breaking down.


This work was grounded in how the systems are used in practice—across products, teams, and the environments they operate in.


From there, the structure, the experience, and the system take shape.

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