Architecture teams face challenges with scattered information and complex project coordination, leading to inefficiency and disrupted workflows.
How
An integrated notes for capturing ideas; a task manager for internal and external collaborations; a dynamic Gantt chart for visualizing timelines
Highlights
Project Dashboard
The project dashboard employs intuitive card-based UI design for streamlined project management. Users easily access project resources and tasks, including timelines and team details, all within a unified interface.
Notes
Easy note-taking empowers users to stay creative and organized in the design office. This feature seamlessly integrates with other features such as tasks, schedules, and reports for enhanced collaboration.
My Tasks
My Tasks offers users a centralized view of all their tasks across projects. Users can also customize task categories to suit their workflow preferences.
Timeline
This feature simplifies scheduling and adjustments of tasks and milestones, enhancing project visibility and stakeholder collaboration. The timeline is essential for managing long-term projects efficiently and ensuring all team members stay informed and coordinated through real-time updates.
Research
Research - Architecture project stakeholders in each design phase
Coordinating long-term architecture projects is challenging, especially for high-rise buildings that can take up to seven years and involve frequent management changes. Keeping project timelines aligned and stakeholders—architects, project managers, engineers, and consultants—synchronized is complex and crucial.
Insights
Problems
1
Challenges in coordinating projects among 5+ stakeholders
Keeping project timelines aligned and stakeholders in sync was a persistent challenge. A complex project can last years, PM could changed many rounds.
2
A lack of office culture
“We're missing out on the sense of community when everything's scattered across different platforms. We need more than just a management tool, we need a platform that fosters a real office culture."
3
Difficulty in capturing creative ideas
“I often grapple with the chaos of scattered information and the constant interruption of our creative process. “
Design
Feature Priortization
I took what we learned from these interviews and developed a comprehensive product outline, identifying all major focus areas for our attention. Collaborating closely with engineers and the founding team, we refined this outline, leveraging our diverse expertise to make design decisions that balanced technical feasibility with strategic vision.
Address Challenge 1 Challenges in coordinating projects among 5+ stakeholders
Research-Architect Daily
We mapped out architect daily workflow, found out almost all the work assignments needs both internal and external collaborations. What if our project assignment system can work for both parties.
Solutions - Project Task Board
Prototype Study
Mockup
Task Card Design Exploration
First Round Design
MVP Trail Testing / Learning
We conducted a controlled MVP trial with a mid-sized architecture firm consisting of six team members (1 PM, 1 PA, and 4 architects). We extended the trial to include external stakeholders, 2 structural engineers, 1 architecture record, and 1 landscape.
We monitored numbers of Emails & Meetings, NPS scores, queries response time across different user roles. Results showed a significantly higher NPS among project managers and external stakeholders, who found the platform valuable for keeping everyone informed and reducing the need for constant emails and meetings. Conversely, architects reported a low NPS, indicating a preference for informal, real-time communication methods rather than structured task boards.
Second Round Iteration
Solutions - Project Dashboard
Project Dashboard Design Exploration
During the project dashboard design process, I encountered the challenge of determining the hierarchy of each piece of information and optimizing its accessibility across various channels. This realization stemmed from running another round of user interviews to discern what information users perceive as crucial for a project. Upon mapping out the content hierarchy, it became evident that while every piece of information could be important, the method of sequencing and accessing it through different channels needed reevaluation.
Address Challenge 2 A lack of office culture
Internal Hub
In addition to the prominent post feature positioned at the center, consideration was given to implementing a global tab for a more comprehensive view. However, this idea was set aside due to concerns that it would overly complicate the content structure. Instead, the most frequently used features—schedules and tasks—were identified through user interviews and strategically placed on either side of the post feature. Recognizing the common stressful working culture in design firms, the design approach prioritized simplicity and clarity to enhance user experience and performance outcomes.
Design Iterations - Internal Hub
If use tab bar in this home page, it should be a global tab bar on the top of this page.
The addition of tabs could complicate our project's structure, adding depth but potentially increasing stress in already high-pressure design firm environments. This complexity risks impacting core performance metrics over time
Based on user interviews, I simplified the global tab bar to focus on the two most used features—meetings and tasks, chosen by 95% of users. I also merged meetings with the scheduling feature to better support the unique needs of design firms, like site visits and business trips.
Address Challenge 3 Difficulty in capturing creative ideas
Solutions - Notes
Initial research revealed that architects highly value recording creative ideas, brainstorming thoughts, collaborative input, and workshop logs. However, the existing text-based note format was inadequate.
Flexible layout with minimal visual design and tailored formatting in a dot grid background empowers users to fully personalize their record-keeping.
Final Design
Internal Community
This platform fosters a sense of camaraderie and connection among employees, enhancing collaboration and productivity. By providing a space for both professional updates and social interactions, the internal community hub promotes employee engagement and strengthens the overall workplace culture.
Internal Library Resources / Project Detail
This feature offers a card-based UI, which tags each project and indicates its progress. The tagging system enables users to search for projects effortlessly.
Project Detail/Tasks
Clicking on a card navigates users to the project detail page via the global tab, offering comprehensive information. This serves as a valuable internal resource, facilitating project reference, team connection, and detailed insights
Notes
Users can capture their thoughts effortlessly with Notes, enabling informal, note-taking to fostercreativity and management. Start from scratch or utilize pre-saved templates for quick access to structured formats.
Notes - Edit & Collaboration
The Notes feature integrates seamlessly with other features such as schedules and tasks, allowing for interconnected functionality. Additionally, Notes facilitates collaboration by enabling users to share notes with team members while maintaining control over file data security.
My Tasks
The My Tasks feature provides a comprehensive overview of all tasks assigned across multiple projects, displaying concise information on each card. In addition to ownership, due dates, and tags, each card includes a notify feature, allowing notifications to be sent to relevant stakeholders, both internal and external. This addresses concerns raised by external consultants regarding delayed design change updates.
Task Detail - break down subtasks
The addition of subtasks within the task detail window offers several benefits. It allows for breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable components, enhancing organization and clarity. Subtasks help prioritize and focus on specific aspects of a task, facilitating better time management and resource allocation. Additionally, tracking the completion of subtasks provides a clear overview of task progress, aiding in milestone monitoring and identifying potential delays.
Schedule - Project timeline / Schedules
The Schedule feature provides a dynamic Gantt chart interface, offering clear visualization of project timelines for improved coordination. Easy editing and adjustment capabilities ensure quick adaptation to changes, enhancing project management efficiency. Detailed timeline windows offer comprehensive insights into related schedules, while customizable bars allow for personalization, boosting user engagement and productivity. Additionally, milestone markers visually remind teams of important due dates, aiding in project tracking and progress monitoring.
Reports
The Financial Report feature streamlines financial management processes by offering tools for budget approval chains, supplier invoices, and budget dependencies tied to design phases. It facilitates easy tracking and management of financial data throughout the project lifecycle, while notifications ensure timely decision-making. Access control mechanisms ensure data security, promoting transparency and accountability in project budgeting and financial governance.
Retrospective
Testable Assumption
Several of our initial key assumptions didn’t meet expectations. This experience taught us that establishing a flexible, testable product lifecycle is essential. It allows us to validate ideas quickly, learn from them, and pivot as necessary.
Product Thinking
Learn to understand how to design an experience that would lead to good business outcome, help user to understand the value of the product, which requires understanding of the user motivation and comprehension.
