The main challenge of the project was building a tool that combines all functionalities from four separate tools that had previously been utilised by employees. The main function of the tool was to provide basic information relating to the contracted party and the details of their reimbursement, total hours worked, allocation of hours to shifts, and to guarantee compliance with all relevant aspects of employment law. The whole process of closing the month is fully integrated between shift managers and the tools currently used by the accounts department and human resources.

At the start of the project a number of interviews were arranged with key managers, our end users, in order to understand their work flow, everyday requirements at work and to try to become entirely familiar with how they worked and integrated with different departments in their organisation.

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It was necessary to collate all relevant information from the client's team to ensure that we were on the same page. An event storming workshop was organised by my team. Representatives from nine company departments were invited to participate in the workshop. For the next eight hours, we were working on creating a service map that illustrated how all departments collaborated with each other, what dependencies limited decision making and what difficulties they were struggling with.

The outcome of this meeting was a detailed step-by-step process visualisation that gave us and the client a clear overview of the way the business division structure functioned.

A roadmap has been prepared with user stories grouped into themes, each theme was divided into phases, and the value and feasibility of each theme was indicated.

During the first few weeks, the team was working on an MVP version with basic features related to pre-prepared user stories. User flows were created for each management level and access was adjusted to be appropriate with seniority. The work was started from the main calendar view with the ability to add work shifts, provide basic contractor information and create lists of guarded premises.

Remote user sessions have been run regularly to check hypotheses and receive feedback from end users. We also tested several ideas for bigger, more complex features in the early stages using low fidelity prototypes. These sessions saved us and the client time and money rather than spending excessive hours on developing useless functions unnecessarily.

Work with non-tech-savvy people

One of the big challenges for this project was to persuade the client that scheduling a service design map workshop and interviewing managers at the beginning of our work was a productive way of spending their time and money. The majority of people from all departments were non-tech-savvy and were unfamiliar with Agile and Design Thinking principles. Our role was to introduce the client team to these methods, their goals and the impact they would have on the end result.

To resolve this kind of issue, I always use a presentation with an agenda that includes a clear goal for the meeting, timetabled activities and a plan of action. This kind of workshop is not just for building a comprehensible picture of business operations, but also a good way to improve team communication, credibility and present a different perspective of assessment of current levels of cooperation.

After only three months of development the client had already confirmed savings based on the calculated results of our algorithm as accurate in respect of time and money expenditure for completed tasks. My team also reported positive feedback from end users regarding the tool’s usability, the simplicity of the interface and clear functionalities.

The team is still working on improving the quality of our tool using best design practices and methods to guarantee that the product meets company goals and the needs of end users.