Project Description
Project Profile Enhancement
Project Profile is an internal file that houses project data. The file is an Excel document that allows the Project Managers (PMs) the ability to convey project requirements to the development team. Over the years, project complexity has increased, requirements have evolved, and there were no updates to the Excel document.
Role
Design Strategist
Workshop Facilitator
Interviewer
Note taker
Tools
Adobe XD
Discovery
My initial goal was to understand the intention, purpose, and workflow of the project profile. Project research was split between another UX Specialist and myself. Due to limited time and resources, I conducted a few interviews and led ideation. Through our discovery, we learned a lot. However, one thing that stood out was that user needs changed depending on the role of the user.
Wireframing Workshop
After the ideation phase, we collected trends, shared our findings, and provided recommendations. The group voted on the solutions that should make it to the prototype phase and also the 1st version of this tool. As a group, we worked out potential conflicts, what it would take to build a tool, and possible limitations. I facilitated wireframe sessions where I grouped various roles together to form a team. Each team created wireframes and collectively evaluated them as a group. My UX partner and I analyzed the wireframes and focused on content structure. We decided which visual representation worked best for users based on our research.
Prototypes
A prototype was created to realize the new vision of the project profile. It allowed us to uncover areas that needed to be refined, further developed, and which portions that could be cumbersome to implement. We were also able to estimate development time.
Final Design & Impact
I communicated the design strategy to the designer. The intention was to integrate the product objective with the visual solution while maintaining the company's brand standard. A future goal is to add this tool to a suite of products. This will create an ecosystem of software that increases the speed and efficiency of various teams. Currently, this tool is being developed, but we were able to test the high-fidelity prototype with different user types.
Developers welcomed the idea of having a single source of truth by working solely within the tool. They felt that the new design solution catered to their wishes of only viewing the requirements that applied to them specifically. We structured the content in a way that allowed developers to group logical components in an organized space.
PMs appreciated how intuitive the process was. The step-by-step setup allows them to walk through the process with minimal effort. Required text fields ensure that important information is entered. Autofill & common preselected options are slated to minimize spelling errors. Our team is chomping at the bit to experience the new release.
Project Team included Sam Hoglund & Tony Gillen
