Software Design- Simplifying Performance Management (Internal Tool)
Background
The new performance management feature was requested by the clients and stakeholders as an addition to the company’s existing employee engagement tool. This tool is used to improve overall employee engagement. It is used by both employees and managers.
Goal
My goal was to create a “performance management” tool – a new feature on the Gallup Access platform that lets managers access all employee information in one place to facilitate team management.
Kick Off and Alignment
Apart from the requirements received from the clients, partners and stakeholders, I conducted 10 manager interviews within my company. These were in person user interviews with various managers and Go-to’s to learn more about their pain points while conducting team meetings, quarterly performance reviews, etc.
I was given the freedom to really own the project from deciding MVPs (from the given set of features) and incorporating the new addition into the existing user flow of the Employee Engagement Tool.
We started by documenting the most to least essential things that we want to include on this tool. We felt that it was essential to understand what exactly our users’ (manager’s) common behaviors were with the entire platform and what they thought was missing.
Primary List of MVPs(Left), User Interview Script (Top Center), Initial Requirements Laid Out by Engineer(bottom right) First Layout (Bottom Center)
After listing all the functionalities requested, we came up with the MVPs of the platform.
Since this was going to be a part of the existing platform, I spent time recreating the user flow to understand how other parts of the tool would be affected by this new addition and from where certain chunks of data will be generated.
Breaking down the flow and features
Once I was aligned with talking about the system and understood the starting and end points for a user, I laid out a user flow that included key pages and functions. For each of the key pages, I listed features, tasks and expectations for the user. I used this document to discuss with my engineer and made changes as needed. Then I created a more finalized categorization of the features and what pages they lived on.
Updated Sitemap
I iterated multiple times with low-fidelity, primarily changing the information architecture. And these were the final options before we moved on to high fidelity.
Concept Elements Highlighting special features
Ensuring the success of the team in developing screens and functionalities as per my vision was paramount. To achieve this, I created comprehensive component documents that covered styling, visuals, functionality, states, and imagery. By providing this detailed document upfront, I was able to save time and money by reducing the chances of having to reach out to the developers to address any inconsistencies that may have arisen due to poor initial communication.
Final Designs
For these high fidelity mockups, I used existing brand guidelines for the cards, typography, colors and buttons. Some components were freshly created to incorporate some unique features.
(View of the final designs)
Key Takeaways
Throughout the project, I found it intriguing to witness its evolution through multiple brainstorming sessions and feedback rounds. This experience highlighted the importance of considering various use cases, particularly those involving large industries where managers oversee hundreds of team members. Valuable insights were gained from exploring how managers value recognition and the ability to keep track of each team member’s personal details, such as birthdays and anniversaries. As a result, it became clear that having a centralized location for record-keeping was essential in ensuring that no important events were overlooked.
