BUMP
Bootcamp ● UI UX Design ● Prototyping
Enhancing Workplace Communication through Digitalisation
Type of Project
My Role
Length of Project
Tools used
Bootcamp
Research, Wireframing, Usability Testing, UI Design, Prototyping
Two weeks (Before handoff to development)
Figma, Illustrator, Zoom
Platform
Desktop Application
Team
Four UX Designers ● Alif Jani, Cheryl Lim, Thalia Lam
Deliverables
Clickable High-Fidelity Prototype.
Key features: Pulse tracker (Homepage), Message Optimizer, and Schedule Integrator
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
Communication in the Singaporean Workforce
Our task was to create a digital solution for a physical problem, and we chose to center our focus on the workplace. Managers and direct reports often do monthly check-ins, where managers are given a list of questions to go through. However, work performance is usually prioritized over emotions which can lead to a disconnect between managers and direct check-ins.
Managers need tools or resources to help them frame feedback in a way that is conducive and constructive because the process of framing feedback can be mentally taxing for managers.
THE SOLUTION
Direct Reports need an easy way to reach out to their managers and talk about their feelings because they are often hindered by their fears of not knowing how to communicate with their managers.
We have two problem statements to tackle the challenges faced by managers and direct reports which were essentially two sides of the same coin.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM
To gain an initial understanding of the challenges present in the current workplace, we conducted white paper research.
Singapore has one of the unhappiest workforces in the world.
Source
Work is commonly prioritized over our emotions which can have negative consequences on our ability to communicate effectively with our colleagues. As a result, we may feel disconnected at work.
50 - 75% of employees leave because of their manager.
Managers affect employee retention by shaping the employee experience and building engagement.
Attrition is expensive for employers.
Disengaged Employees
Less likely to work hard, feel motivated, or meet expectations for their role.
Cause 60% more errors and defects in work performance.
73% of actively disengaged employees are on the lookout for new jobs or opportunities.
Cost of Attrition
Recruitment Costs
Onboarding Costs
Lost Productivity
Lost Engagement or Impact on Employee Morale
Customer Service and Errors
Training Costs
The way we talk affects the way we work.
After doing our white paper research, we decided to conduct interviews with managers and direct reports to further understand the barriers that impede effective communication.
We created an affinity map to synthesize insights from the data points gathered. From this, we developed personas, empathy maps, journey maps, and design ideas.
Both managers and direct reports fear hard conversations.
Managers Want
Direct Reports to be more understanding
Direct Reports to be more forthcoming with the problems they face
To be less afraid about delivering negative feedback.
Direct Reports Want
Managers to be more compassionate and understanding when conveying criticism
To be less afraid to talk about problems with managers
Using the insights gathered from our interviews, we developed a persona each for the manager and a direct report that represents our users and their characteristics. We wanted to highlight the pain points they faced and what they wanted from a platform.
PRODUCT VISION
Our project was to be presented as a pitch, thus we had to identify the gap between a business problem and the user problem to create our product vision.
Our product vision was a content repository that had content resources that help individuals navigate a diverse workplace. We wanted to be a one-stop solution for building strong interpersonal relationships in the workplace.
Minimum Viable Product:
Pulse feature ● Message Optimiser ● Schedule Integrator
DESIGN
After identifying the key three key features, we started looking at different UI to design the best visualization of the pulse feature, message optimizer, and dashboard. Our sources of inspiration were mental health wellness applications, grammarly, and copy AI.
To identify the critical screens or features for our users, we created a site map and user story journey after designing the visuals of our key features. The site map provided a hierarchical overview of the pages or screens in our website or application, while the user story journey helped us understand the flow and structure of our product from the perspective of the user.
TESTING AND ITERATIONS
We did usability testing with 4 managers and 4 direct reports to gather feedback and do iterations of our designs.
MAIN ITERATIONS
EVALUATION
Our usability tests results helped us determined the viability of the application in terms of the time taken, difficulty level and the System Usability Score.
PROTOTYPES
REFLECTIONS
Manager’s flow
Direct report’s flow
Please click on the laptops to view each flow separately
NEXT STEPS
After meeting with the engineering team, they gave us several suggestions that we thought were good to incorporate. This included creating more key screens such as each employee’s emotional profile and more minor screens that would make navigation smoother.
This was my third project during the bootcamp at General Assembly and I was more confident in both the UX and UI design processes. Working alongside a diverse group of individuals with different backgrounds, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow from my teammates, who brought complementary skill sets to our team project.
Pattern library: How to create a comprehensive and easily comprehensible pattern library that would assist the engineering team in developing elements efficiently.
Working with engineers: This was the first time that we would be working with the other students who were in the engineering course to develop our application and it was really cool to team up with them on this project. I was excited to see our idea become a reality and to assist the engineers with anything they needed. We talked with the team to find out if they had any problems and how we could make things easier for them.