Northvolt
I was tasked with designing a task management platform to be used company-wide at the production lines. The primary users of the platform are operators of the production line machines, shift managers, production managers, but also agile engineers and upper management. Consequently, it was crucial to explore the requirements of each of these users, how a task management platform would fit in their workflows, and what their most frequent use cases would be. I uncovered these through contextual inquiries and in-depth interviews with over 20 users. Additionally, I enhanced my research findings through a competitor analysis of the best practices from task management systems used in different industries.
At the time, the go-to tool for managing tasks was Excel, which was the source of several issues such as lack of clarity, loss of data, an absence of standardization, and overall slower production due to administrative processes. After outlining the product backlog of user requirements, I began the iterative design process. The fast-paced culture of the company required that the development of the platform would run parallel to the designing and testing, which meant that my design process began with creating a testable workflow structure with foundational components. I then tested my prototype at the production line, observing exactly where, how and when the users interacted with the task management system. After this, the foundational design could be updated, and handed over to the developers, while I delved deeper into the structure, features and details of the platform.
The final product has clarity, usefulness and usability at its core, with users expressing high satisfaction over the potential improvements to their workflow. The core features enable the operators to easily access and complete tasks assigned to them and their machines through different channels (phone app, desktop), view standardized checklists and work instructions, request supplies, and comment on each step of a task. Shift managers can easily create new tasks through templates with pre-defined checklists and descriptions, and assign them to shifts and machines. One of the most crucial improvements is the standardization of processes and clarity attained through a centralized platform that offers an overview of tasks, their status, and ownership.
