Project Overview
This Project Management Platform was designed for adult users in Ireland and England to collaborate on local mental health initiatives and projects run by a mix of NGO members, community members, and local businesses. The platform aimed to manage tasks and resources, geo-tag assets, facilitate knowledge management, and provide 3D visual urban design features. It particularly focused on supporting small-sized NGOs that often face challenges such as limited funding, lack of project management experience, insufficient resources, and low digital literacy among staff and beneficiaries.
My role
◙ Conducted requirement gathering through contextual inquiry and ethnographic observation.
◙ Designed and facilitated 7 focus group sessions, 36 interviews, and 8 design workshops across 6 cities, engaging over 80 participants.
◙ Developed questionnaires for 120 potential users.
◙ Researched four competitor apps, providing insights for design simplification.
◙ Performed thematic analysis and created personas, including learning material analysis and categorization.
◙ Designed sketches and wireframes for visual urban planning features.
◙ Conducted usability testing on both mobile and desktop platforms, utilizing various analytics tests, including log analysis.
◙ Coordinated iterative design sprints, resolving identified issues, which led to an 850% increase in onboarded projects.
◙ Designed and facilitated 7 focus group sessions, 36 interviews, and 8 design workshops across 6 cities, engaging over 80 participants.
◙ Developed questionnaires for 120 potential users.
◙ Researched four competitor apps, providing insights for design simplification.
◙ Performed thematic analysis and created personas, including learning material analysis and categorization.
◙ Designed sketches and wireframes for visual urban planning features.
◙ Conducted usability testing on both mobile and desktop platforms, utilizing various analytics tests, including log analysis.
◙ Coordinated iterative design sprints, resolving identified issues, which led to an 850% increase in onboarded projects.
Requirement Gathering
To understand the needs and challenges of these NGOs, I led the requirement gathering process through contextual inquiries and ethnographic observations. We conducted 7 focus groups, 36 interviews, and 8 workshops across six cities, involving over 80 participants.
Surveys and user personas were developed to capture diverse user needs and preferences.
Explore
During the explore stage, we used various methods to gather insights:
During the explore stage, we used various methods to gather insights:
Contextual Inquiry and Ethnographic Observation: I visited five different NGOs, observing their daily operations, meeting discussions, data handling, and interactions. This immersive approach provided a deep understanding of the hierarchical relationships and the overall context.
Focus Groups and Workshops: Participants discussed project planning, allowing us to observe their processes, identify problems, and understand their support systems.
Interviews: Conducted with participants who had special expertise, project champions, and those unable to attend group activities, providing in-depth insights.
Surveys: Gathered data on demographics, project nature, tools and devices used, locations, internet connectivity, and digital competence.
Data Analysis
We conducted a thematic analysis on all collected data, including transcripts, scans, ethnography notes, and recordings. This analysis resulted in a comprehensive breakdown of key themes:
◙ Audience & Demography
◙ Workflow
◙ Resources
◙ Challenges impacting users
◙ Suggested Features
◙ Challenges impacting future research and design
◙ Workflow
◙ Resources
◙ Challenges impacting users
◙ Suggested Features
◙ Challenges impacting future research and design
Research Challenges
The project faced several challenges. Here are some examples and how they were mitigated:
Geographical Communication Challenges: Users were distributed across various locations in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Bristol, and Essex, while the designers and developers were mostly based in London. To address this, face-to-face meetings were organized every three months, and detailed personas were developed to ensure that developers and designers remained connected to user needs.
Various Partners, Without a Clear Hierarchy: Continuous negotiations and communication were necessary to establish a clear hierarchy and power dynamics for decision-making, with defined priorities and KPIs.
Focus on Rapid Delivery Missing Critical Design KPIs: Regular usability tests and meetings with users provided data-driven arguments to stakeholders, highlighting the importance of specific design aspects and emphasizing necessary priorities.
Various Partners, Without a Clear Hierarchy: Continuous negotiations and communication were necessary to establish a clear hierarchy and power dynamics for decision-making, with defined priorities and KPIs.
Focus on Rapid Delivery Missing Critical Design KPIs: Regular usability tests and meetings with users provided data-driven arguments to stakeholders, highlighting the importance of specific design aspects and emphasizing necessary priorities.
Ideation & Design
Here are some examples of the designed features and how they were derived from user research and data analysis. I focused on supporting the core pillars of motivation (Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness) in all the designed features which resulted in an increased motivation to use the tool and onboard more projects.
Here are some examples of the designed features and how they were derived from user research and data analysis. I focused on supporting the core pillars of motivation (Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness) in all the designed features which resulted in an increased motivation to use the tool and onboard more projects.
○ Need for Communication and Organisation:
“We use multiple tools, including WhatsApp that I prefer to keep personal... too many discussions in one place” – Research participant at a workshop.
Solution: We introduced features like:
◙ Chat & Private messages: organised by project discussion categories such as "General, Money, Places, Time" that were derived from the thematic data analysis from the Workflow theme.
◙ Cloud Protected File Sharing section: that automatically picks up any files shared in the chat
◙ Task Management Tool: assigned to members, categoriesed by the discussion topic
◙ Cloud Protected File Sharing section: that automatically picks up any files shared in the chat
◙ Task Management Tool: assigned to members, categoriesed by the discussion topic
○ Lack of Experience and Support Resulting in Lack of Motivation:
“I often don’t know where to start from, who to ask, what to do”
– Research participant at a workshop.
– Research participant at a workshop.
Solution: introducing a supportive Chat Bot that analyses the project tags & data and provides the following:
◙ Template plans for planning the funding, human, and time resources.
◙ Suggesting resources based on project Tags and categorisation.
◙ Suggestions for similar projects to learn from or contact
◙ Contacts with skills and knowledge that is relevant to the project
◙ Template plans for planning the funding, human, and time resources.
◙ Suggesting resources based on project Tags and categorisation.
◙ Suggestions for similar projects to learn from or contact
◙ Contacts with skills and knowledge that is relevant to the project
○ Need to Feel the Relevance of Available Projects Around Users::
“There are many projects around us that we don't know about. We tried once creating an Excel with links to all mental health initiatives in our area”
– Research participant at a workshop.
– Research participant at a workshop.
Solution: Designed an interactive maps showcasing the following:
◙ All existing and finished projects
◙ Resources & Mentors
◙ Existing visual plans for areas redesign
◙ All existing and finished projects
◙ Resources & Mentors
◙ Existing visual plans for areas redesign
○ Lack of Free Tools to Visually Redesign Spaces::
“Half of the projects we work on involve redesigning a space. We sketch using pen and paper, or some limited mobile apps. We share our ideas with other stakeholders who in return edit it on other apps” – Research participant at a interview.
Solution: Introduced a visual remix tool allowing users to:
◙ Visually co-design spaces by mixing real views using a library of digital elements.
◙ Allows users to share their design ideas with others in a way that allows easy edit and redesign of existing ideas
◙ Allows users to share their design ideas with others in a way that allows easy edit and redesign of existing ideas
Screenshots
Data Privacy and Trust
Ensuring data privacy and building trust were paramount considerations throughout the development of the Project Management Platform, especially given the sensitive nature of mental health initiatives. Key measures included:
End-to-End Encryption: All communications were encrypted to ensure privacy.
Secure Cloud Storage: Project files were stored securely in the cloud.
Anonymization: User data was anonymized wherever possible to protect identities.
Strict Access Controls: Only authorized personnel could access sensitive information.
Regular Security Audits: Conducted to maintain high security standards.
GDPR Compliance: Ensured adherence to data protection regulations.
Transparency and User Consent: Prioritized to foster a trustworthy environment.
Testing & Evaluation
Log Data Analysis using Google Analytics
A comperhensive log, data, and journey analysis was conducted to monitor the early use of the platform. The analysis highlighted the following issues:
◙ Lack of onboarded projects compared to the original sign-ups
◙ Numerous unfinished projects that has stopped at some specific areas of the user journey
◙ Numerous unfinished projects that has stopped at some specific areas of the user journey
Usability Testing
Usability testing was conducted to to investigate the outcome from the Log Data Analysis. Developers, designers, and other team members were invited to participate in the usability testing sessions with the users to bridge the gap between the users and the development team. Initially, we planned a series of 10 detailed usability testing sessions with Champion users, but ultimately conducted 4 of them. The data collected provided strong evidence to support the need for redesigning certain aspects of the app workflow, particularly addressing the following points:
Usability testing was conducted to to investigate the outcome from the Log Data Analysis. Developers, designers, and other team members were invited to participate in the usability testing sessions with the users to bridge the gap between the users and the development team. Initially, we planned a series of 10 detailed usability testing sessions with Champion users, but ultimately conducted 4 of them. The data collected provided strong evidence to support the need for redesigning certain aspects of the app workflow, particularly addressing the following points:
◙ Low user error tolerance resulting in users/projects being locked
◙ User accounts unable to join projects out of their post code, due to existing post code limitations
◙ Lack of clarity in several data fields
◙ Responsiveness issues
◙ List of other bug
◙ User accounts unable to join projects out of their post code, due to existing post code limitations
◙ Lack of clarity in several data fields
◙ Responsiveness issues
◙ List of other bug
These issues were categorized into several groups. Technical issues were shared directly with the software developers, clarity issues were addressed by the designers, and workflow issues, such as postcode limitations and over-transparency causing trust issues, were discussed and negotiated with product managers and project stakeholders. This process was followed by several iterations of design sprints and testing with end users, ultimately leading to a more mature version of the platform. As a result, there was an 850% increase in onboarded projects.
Outcome
The project successfully expanded from Ireland to England (Essex and Bristol), supporting mental health initiatives with added features such as heatmaps, AI GPT based tool, calendar and shared document writing tools. The platform saw an 850% increase in onboarded projects across both countries. Despite challenges such as geographical communication issues, lack of clear hierarchy among partners, and a focus on rapid delivery, continuous negotiations, iterative design, and data-driven arguments ensured the project's success. The app's redesign, informed by usability testing and evaluation, led to a significantly improved user experience and more efficient workflows.
Reflection
This project was a significant learning experience, emphasizing the importance of user-centered design and iterative development. Through thorough requirement gathering and user engagement, we addressed the unique challenges faced by small-sized NGOs in managing mental health initiatives.
Key Learnings:
User-Centered Approach: Understanding user needs through contextual inquiries, ethnographic observations, and user engagement was crucial in shaping the platform's design and functionality.
Iterative Design and Testing: Continuous usability testing and iterative design sprints were essential in refining the platform, addressing issues like user error tolerance, postcode limitations, and data clarity.
Collaboration and Communication: Effective communication among geographically dispersed teams and stakeholders was vital. Regular meetings and data-driven arguments helped align everyone towards common goals.
Adaptability and Problem-Solving: Navigating challenges such as geographical communication barriers and the need for rapid delivery required adaptability and strategic problem-solving.
Impact and Scalability: The platform's expansion and significant increase in onboarded projects demonstrated its scalability and impact. New features like heatmaps and AI GPT-based tools further enhanced user experience.
Conclusion:
This project reinforced the value of a holistic UX research approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to inform design decisions. The positive outcomes and user feedback validated our efforts, highlighting the potential of user-centered design in addressing real-world problems.
Screenshots
