Project Management
Saas Design for
Depts. of Transportation
The Problem
Our departments of transportation are responsible for millions of dollars of construction projects each year, but those projects are managed using painfully outdated software resulting in inefficient use of time, money, and labor.
The Workflow Manager team at WCG aims to answer this issue with streamlined software that will accelerate and optimize project management across all DOT undertakings.
Users & Audience
DOT employees including engineers, project managers, construction personnel
My Role
Acting as one of two UX designers, I was tasked with the designing of information architecture, and translating user research into conceptual designs.
Scope & Constraints
This project was quite a large undertaking, encompassing the needs of many different roles inside of a dept. of transportation and covering nearly all phases of their massively scaled and
budgeted projects. Oh. And we only had a team of five. The PM, two UX designers, a developer and a QA tester.
The Process
We began each phase of this project with user research. Observing potential users, interviewing and diving into their needs.
After our research, we would bring our discoveries to the table and start asking "how might we" questions in order to brainstorm ideas that would satisfy the customer requirements and improve their experience. We would then began to translate those needs into user flow maps and conceptual designs.
At this point, if we felt it was merited, we would reach out to our potential users again and ask clarifying questions that would help us solidify our design decisions, and confidently move into the prototyping stage.
In the wireframing and prototyping stage, we kept in close contact with our users and had frequent testing sessions allowing us to refine our designs. I focused heavily on the information architecture and making sure that the flow was solid based on the feedback.
Our other UX designer then finished fleshing out the final UI design with help from PM and me.
Outcomes & Lessons Learned
We began soliciting Workflow Manager in February of 2020. There was an immediate influx of interest from heads of DOT's across the United States. Demos were planned and scheduled. And then COVID hit.
Which... you know, kinda sucked...
but here's what I learned from this project:
1. Even a seemingly large-scale project can be broken down into easily digestible, bite-sized pieces.
2. A bigger team doesn't mean faster results. An organized team means faster results.
3. Involving the user in your design process helps you get it right faster!
This was an excellent experience for me an to see what a small, energetic and well-organized team can accomplish!
