Business Software Research & Design
Time Will Tell
Project Background
OVERVIEW
Time Will Tell began in 1997 as a one-man clock repair business. Twenty-five years later, the owner was still managing his business through a collection of word processing documents. He spent hours copying and pasting information from one document to another, or entering the same data in multiple documents. Although laborious, the owner knew exactly what he was doing and was skeptical about changing his method.
PROJECT GOAL
Design software that simplifies entering and accessing business data while maintaining a workflow and terminology that match the user's current process.
MY ROLE
UX Designer
User Research, Information Architecture, Interaction, UI, Testing
TEAM MEMBERS
Ryan - Software Engineer
Autumn - Software Engineer
CLIENT
Time Will Tell
Research
Something old, something new
The owner was interviewed and his records studied to identify specific terminology and steps in the workflow. These became the foundation of the design in order to smooth the transition from the original method to the software.
Then the workflow was examined for areas that could be automated or simplified. Equations like milage and travel time could be calculated by the software instead of the user. The workflow was designed so the user only entered everything one time and the same entry form would be used no matter what kind of clock repair was needed.
Design
Choose your own path
Each step of the workflow, previously separate documents, were now pages of the software. The screens were designed with a great deal of flexibility so regardless of which screen the user was on, navigation to any other page or action was only one click away.
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Spreadsheet layout similar to original documents
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Primary navigation buttons located at the bottom
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Quick links to frequently performed actions
Testing
"The way I normally do it . . ."
However, during testing, the user could not navigate the flexible design. He could not locate buttons on the page, did not understand what the buttons did, and generally struggled to perform tasks. As the user searched for how to navigate and perform actions he frequently commented "Well, I normally . . ."
Iterating
The subsequent iterations addressed the issues uncovered in testing. Flexibility was exchanged for a linear path through the workflow. Buttons and navigation moved to the top of the page to increase visibility and button labels were updated to clarify what they did. More feedback was added to indicate available actions. Continued user testing and developer collaboration were crucial as the design evolved.
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Quick links moved for visibility and to create more space
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Workorders organized by status to indicate what actions are available
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Simplifying workflow reduced five quick links into a single "new workorder" button
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Navigation moved to top of page for more visibility
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Additional status feedback to indicate available actions
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Changed payment entry method to support edge cases
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Shaded button indicates that the action is unavailable
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Color and shorter button label for easier action identification
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Button position standardized to promote muscle memory
Results
"I can't wait until it's done"
Over testing sessions and meetings about the software, the owner's attitude gradually changed from resisting change to saying "I can't wait until it's done."
Time Will Tell is currently under development.
Takeaways
But I like it how it is!
This project was challenging because the user wanted his current method to work better without changing anything. I learned how to balance the user's opinions, creating a usable product, and working within the technical constraints communicated by the developers.
TOOLS USED
Miro
wireframe.cc
Justinmind
What did we decide again?
The documentation method I used for this product did not contain everything the software engineers needed to know. Development slowed as I received messages saying "And what did you want for this part?" After I adjusted how and what I handed off to the developers, the speed of the project improved.
