Symba: Project Management Feature Redesign
How do you run a remote internship? With Symba!
Managing remote interns is not easy. How do you onboard interns, check-in with them throughout the internship, track their progress, and make sure that the internship runs smoothly all in one place?
Symba is the intern management platform that helps companies of all sizes scale and run their internships smoothly.
How might we make the project management feature robust while intuitive to use?
Solutions
• Implement feedback system on the project submission level
• Balance simplicity with flexibility of use
• Provide visual cues to guide the user throughout the page
Success Metrics
What to measure in the next 3 months after release:
• Assignment submission usage increase to at least once per week
• 30% of the organizations reporting using the feedback feature "often"
Team
CTO (Symba), UX Designer
Role
UX Designer
Duration
7 weeks (Postponed)
Scope
Web Application
Interaction Design
Visual Design
B2B
Tools
Figma
Pen & Paper
Adobe Illustrator
The Problem?
From past feedback surveys I analyzed from Symba's users (intern managers and administrators), many voiced their opinion that the "Projects" feature was their least favorite and that they were bothered by its limitations.
In addition, only 7 out of 27 organizations use the feedback feature, with an average of 2 feedback requests per organization.
Primary User - The Manager
Secondary User - The Intern
Heuristic Evaluation
After careful review of the current Projects page, some issues include:
🙅♀️ Inconsistent call-to-action buttons
🙅♀️ Inconsistent input fields
🙅♀️ Lack of context organization
The inconsistencies and lack of organization causes the users to be unable to focus on one task and orient themselves on the page.
Secondary Research
Focus Group Analysis
Focus group interviews with potential clients who are either intern managers, administrators, or university recruiters were conducted and recorded. From these interviews, many have talked about the struggle with not having everything in one place and the lack of organization within different departments and internship programs.
Internship Analysis
Because I wasn't able to interview intern managers or interns directly, I went on Youtube and analyzed remote internship vlogs. It gave me a better understanding of how the internships are run in different companies and the type of work interns do.
Notes (👈 click here) from the "stalking".
From the research, we can assume that the project management feature would have to be flexible to accommodate to the varied nature of internship programs.
Competitive Analysis
I looked at competitors in project management to understand the competitors' strengths and weaknesses, and see where Symba can play to its advantage.
Symba's Business Model
Symba currently makes money depending on the contract size by the number of users under each contract. Therefore, the bigger the organization, (usually) the bigger the contract.
And who signs the contracts? The HR or administration team.
Determining Features
Even though the HR/administration signs the contract, they often have to convince mid & upper management to get approval to use Symba. Therefore:
The ability to add tasks/subtasks, feedback, and milestone were prioritized from Symba's point of view.
Mistake: It's too Complicated
Since most of the features were based on project management competitors, a lot of the features were more of nice-to-have's for Symba's project management.
This version complicated the product did not align with the founders' idea simplicity.
So... back to the drawing board!
Sitemap V.2 (Manager Portal)
This version of the sitemap emphasizes on the organization of each individual project, therefore allowing features to be on the project level and not hidden within tasks.
Fitting Everything Together
Based on the information architecture, I used mind maps to help me understand the complexity and variants in the overall system.
In the first mind map (below), I looked at the manager's view of the Project Submission screen, mapping out the various states, functionalities, and elements associated with it.
Manager's View
Intern's View
Mid-Fidelity Wireframes V. 2
This new version contains simplified features and focuses on the flexibility and organization of the project management feature. I decided to trust my gut this time and looked to learning management systems (LMS) for inspiration after discussion with the founders since their vision for the product seemed more aligned with LMS platforms.
To organize and maximize the screen estate, I incorporated tabs to help users quickly orient themselves on the page. In addition, even if not all the features in the project management page are used and left blank, it still gives a focal point that guides the user to take action because of the clear call-to-action button, in which the original lacked.
Most of the actions within the project management feature guides the users through the use of form fields and label texts, creating familiarity and encouraging recognition over recall.
Like most LMS platforms, elements are arranged into modules or lists for ease of viewing and organization. Because Symba's customers hold internship programs of various sizes, it is important to consider how the layout can be scaled. With lists and modules, they can be scaled easily to accommodate for 5 or 50+ interns.
Usability Testing
The biggest problems that stood out from 13 users:
😱 Comment box and button placement
--> Move both of them to the bottom and place the button outside the box
😱 Comments order
--> Show the comments in chronological order from oldest to newest
Why does this matter? Because being able to provide feedback for specific submissions would make it easy for the managers to make the connection between what the interns need help with and the submissions.
Some interns also feel more at ease with leaving a comment on their submissions than having to message or chat with the manager in person to ask for help.
Results!
Current Update
Unfortunately, this project was postponed at usability testing due to a change in direction for the project after taking in additional feedback from potential clients.
Conclusion
This project was the most complex one to date. I learned so much about thinking in complex terms such as how different screens and features can interaction with each other in a multi-facing system. In addition, I got to learn how to budget time and resources when they are limited and dig deeper into interaction design. It was definitely a challenge when designs get rejected because of the technological constraints. However, I learned overtime while working with the CTO about what is feasible according to our resources, and that in itself was something that I could not have done alone.
Key Takeaways:
• Things don't always go the way you want, so always be ready to go into a different direction
• Really listen and understand what the clients need
• It is okay to make mistakes. Just own it up and try again.
