software design
Minutes before the daily stand-up meeting, the developers scrambled gathering their notes for reporting. The team is distributed across the United States, requiring virtual meetings. The developers brought notes on post it notes, notebooks and whiteboard scribbles.
The team struggled prioritizing tasks within the companies agile process. The project management software organized the project milestones but was difficult for individualization.
THE GOAL: A new feature within the project management software that increases the users efficiency in the agile process.
Design Process
Stakeholder interview & observation
The interview with the business leaders provided the companies goal of connecting the dispersed team. The daily stand-up was struggling because the individuals were not engaged in the meeting.
The observation presented the individual behaviors. I noticed the inconsistency of information shared. The kanban board (a workflow visualization board used in the agile process) worked during the meeting but remote workers could not apply their tasks. The internal team did not have through status updates for the stand-up.
Audit
I tested the project management software to understand the user’s interface. A few examples of evaluations I used were if the softwares language matched the team’s communication or if the program had consistent experience through out the program.
research
I observed and interviewed the team to understand how they performed their tasks. I used affinity diagraming to organize the data into groupings for easier analysis.
Ah-ha moment
I had an ah-ha moment when I was researching why the kanban board visualization was successful in the agile process. The human brain processes visual patterns 60,000 times faster than words alone.
ideation
After analyzing the research and observations, I created quick sketches to capture the possible solutions. The sketches were reviewed and the feature that best solved for the goal of the project was further developed.
annotated wireframe
The annotations provided notes that describe each of the items of the solution.
consistency
The style guide provided the standards for the graphics and language of the software. The feature that I designed complied with a consistent aesthetic and user interface.
Solution
a dashboard feature provided the users a report they will use.
easy
A few clicks distills information specifically for the user. The user can glance at their dahsboard to determine what their next task should be or plan ahead for their day.
clear
The dashboard is a at a glance view categorizing necessary information. The kanban format of the dashboard reinforced the companies agile process.
connected
The dashboard is accessible anywhere by anyone. It was discussed that a product manager could display the dashboards at the stand-up electronically. The consistent transparent visual engaged all team members.
conclusion
Observing the developers provided me insight that could not be communicated in an interview. I was able to see how the team interacted in the stand-up meeting. I witnessed the work flow. The ethnography allowed me to get to a solution faster and a better user experience.