In early 2018, Charles Schwab made a bold organizational shift: moving to agile, co-located teams where designers, developers, product owners, and scrum masters worked side-by-side. The goal was clear — fail fast, deliver often, and modernize critical client experiences.

The RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) process was a perfect test case. Before 2018, it was entirely manual: clients over the age of 70½ (now 73) were required by the IRS to withdraw funds from untaxed retirement accounts, and the process relied on lengthy phone calls and mailed PDF forms. This created friction for clients and consumed enormous service center resources.

I was the sole in-house UX designer selected to reimagine this experience. Partnering with a UX lead, a contract UX researcher, and a contract content writer, I began mapping the entire RMD journey to identify where digital self-service could have the biggest impact. The opportunity was huge: if we could successfully digitize this process, we could cut service center calls dramatically, reduce client frustration, and prove that Schwab’s new agile process could deliver real business and customer value.