Collaborative Workspace Manager
In December 2020, I participated in Interhackt, a week-long designathon, collaborating with two fellow students. Our primary objectives were to enhance our skills, engage with the community, and take part in friendly competition. The challenge we embraced revolved around the theme 'Making and understanding together.'
My Role:
I served as the Front-end Designer and Researcher, contributing to both the visual aspects of the project and its foundational research.
I served as the Front-end Designer and Researcher, contributing to both the visual aspects of the project and its foundational research.
Problem:
The increasingly virtual nature of our lives has introduced complexity, requiring constant navigation between platforms and channels for professional, personal, and scholarly endeavors.
The increasingly virtual nature of our lives has introduced complexity, requiring constant navigation between platforms and channels for professional, personal, and scholarly endeavors.
Objective:
Our mission was to investigate how makers and learners effectively manage virtual workflows. We aspired to develop a solution that would streamline digital experiences, providing individuals and teams with a more focused and efficient workspace.
Our mission was to investigate how makers and learners effectively manage virtual workflows. We aspired to develop a solution that would streamline digital experiences, providing individuals and teams with a more focused and efficient workspace.
Research Insights
Interviews with students informed us of the variety of workspace management processes and pitfalls, which was key to finding our direction regarding the kind of experiences that could be improved
Christian Enriquez
Works on 3 projects at a time in a somewhat loose but prioritized system
Desktop Apps: Discord, Slack, Google suite
Pain points- Scheduling: teammates usually have different ways of managing time which has the potential to create conflict when changes arise.
Deciding on platforms- teammates are sometimes reserved when asked to work with a new app, which can create unwanted friction. Empathy and on-boarding are key to adoption.
“Because we’re all doing something different it causes confusion when it comes to having a productive workflow”
Di Xu
Managing up to 12 projects at a time
Desktop Apps: Calendar, Notion, Figma, Discord, Email, Canvas, and Airtable.
Mobile Apps: Calendar, Email, Instagram, Spotify and Canvas.
Mobile Apps: Calendar, Email, Instagram, Spotify and Canvas.
Works on a focused, structured schedule. Likely to work with one or two apps open at a time. She feels segmenting workflows for different projects makes mental processing easier to manage.
“If I didn’t completely shut down the app I would receive notifications, and then I’m distracted for like 10 minutes.”
Takeaway
Our research findings included a high regard for schedule management, challenges in reaching team consensus on applications, and the importance of maintaining a focused workspace.
These insights led to creation of an organized and collaborative system that would remove the time needed to open digital workspaces and provide a more unified team experience.
These insights led to creation of an organized and collaborative system that would remove the time needed to open digital workspaces and provide a more unified team experience.
Prototype
After reflecting on interviews we came to the conclusion that a bigger picture management tool with community input on workspace templates and scheduled work sessions could better support team productivity.
Customizable and shareable workspaces
Organize project workspaces and provide focus by only opening necessary applications. Work solo or sync with team members.
Scheduler to frame launching/closing spaces
Create timelines while working on a project.
Community space to introduce apps and curated workspaces by profession to help familiarize users with popular apps and workflows.
Auto saved workspaces plus access to previous saved states allowing you to retrace the process of your work.
Feedback and Next Steps
We learned that the need to manage, quickly access, and ‘switch off’ workspaces were most important for our tested users. handling projects with demand for multiple apps to be open was a hassle and being able to toggle them on or off exactly as they were left helped reduce cognitive load before any work was being done. One desired feature is the option of telepresence during team workshops. Continued testing and iteration is needed to target a more simplified and focused workflow as well as do further research on the communication side of teamwork.