Localization Improvement
Process overhaul across Google & Waze
Issues I identified
Inaccuracy
Wrong terms used
Poor fit into design
Copy that’s too long
Inconsistency
Confusing variation in terms
Wrong tone
Tone that’s ineffective or off-brand
Poor grammar
Components or concatenated sentence parts not matching
Occasional ridiculousness
“Showers” translated as “bath”
in a weather app
My process
Research
Interviewed dozens of stakeholders & mapped processes/tools
Solutions
Selected the most urgent pain points &
min effort/
max impact solutions
Relationships
Built close connections & secured buy-in with peers & leads
Implementation
Created & presented resources to
influence adoption
Expansion
Measured results & spread the word to other teams through
talks & training
Solutions implemented
Source improvement
UXWs & Eng providing written info & screenshots
Improved planning
Adapting copy writing cycle to L10n deadlines
+
Translator training
Adding UXW know-how to
official onboarding
Context sharing
Creating more L10n-friendly UX and UXW
Education
Training for UXWs,
Eng & partners
Sync meetings
Monthly meetings to share upcoming L10n requests & info
Exciting results
Higher quality
“Great linguistic quality reported by translators”
Pilot QA report
Meeting deadlines
No more launch delays due to translation issues
Better collaboration
Increased communication
& alignment among teams
Translator satisfaction
80-100% of Waze linguists:
“This has made my work easier”
“Your attention to detail and diligent research highlighted the opportunity for us writers to improve our products
for most of our users!”
- UXW manager
Impacted all products & teams
Google | 82 languages
Waze | 58 languages
Directly tied to core KPIs
UXW committee award
1 of 4 winning projects
across Google
UX University & UXW summit
Invited to share the process at internal conventions
“Your valuable insights into the process will help us deliver a better experience for billions of Android users” - Senior UXD