a Friendly system that manage to Understand project Management
*For Advertising Agencies environment
I was a sole Ux and Ui designer throughout the whole project.I was responsible for the research, analysis, strategic planning, wireframing, interface design and execution.
Addressing the issues of time tracking, departmental synchronization, and the incompatibility of current systemswith advertising environments by providing a dedicated systemthat improves workflow efficiency and allows employeesto focus on the tasks that really matters.
In advertising companies, the work might be difficult, come in large quantities, and go through a series of approvals before it leaves your computer. The current management systems only offer a partial solution for task and time management in the advertising industry because they are mostly focused on general management. These systems focus in part on the client management side and do not take into account use cases, workflows, or characteristics of genuine agency environments.
This results in irregular working practices, a lack of coordination among the agency's departments, and false reports that are bad for business in the long term. It causes unpleasant friction among managers as well as bewilderment and discontent among the workforce.
Very fluid and moves from a number of tiny activities to a single large campaign that may last for days or even weeks. For certain organizations, each employee may work with several customers each day, while others may be assigned a single client. The employees can frequently switch between tasks, and throughout their life cycle, the tasks must receive several approvals from various departments.
Client management
Role description: Daily communication with clients, budget management, department assignments management and creation of briefs.
Interests: To ensure that their tasks are in a work process, to close the
lifespan of their tasks as quickly as possible, and to continuously monitor
the state of their tasks.
Traffic
Role description: The link between the departments (client management, strategy, studio, creative, production, and management), who are in charge of gathering assignments, examining them, assigning them, and prioritizing them.
Interests: Accelerating task completion, ensuring that tasks are distributed fairly across the workforce, and tracking employee skill levels in order to
assign tasks that are appropriate for them.
Studio/Creative
Role description: The task executors are in responsible of keeping track
of their time and reporting on their tasks. Depending on their function
and its obligations, they may operate in pairs or groups.
Interests: On the one hand, doing duties as efficiently as possible (preferable within reasonable time limitations), and on the other to do them quickly
(time pressure).
A pair of questionnaires were distributed to staff members from two distinct departments in order to establish the problem and obtain more information:
The studio/creative department - which handles the "dirty" job and has the best knowledge of the surface because it is involved in the smallest details of the work.
The traffic - who is in charge of the macro components of the job and routes tasks
to the workers after assessing the situation as a whole.
After examining the responses, it became clear that the users' main complaint related to the way the present systems for tracking time worked. Because of the following factors, 67% of participants said they had a bad experience with the time tracking process:
They were just forgetting to keep track of the time, they weren't paying attention to the operation, and occasionally there was a general confusion over the precise time due to an increased number of tasks. This resulted in uncomfortable conversations with their bosses and inaccurate reporting that was based on old emails and retroactive memories.
From the participants reported having a negative experience with time tracking at their companies.
It was evident from the responses that there was an issue with the departments ability to coordinate their use of shared working procedures. The problem was characterized by 60% of the participants as the result of various working approaches and ongoing personal change.
The responses revealed that there was a problem with time tracking as well. Half of the participants reported having a bad experience with their employees' time tracking, which led to awkward conversations with their managers about the monthly reports and general unease about the over-supervision of the staff.
From the participants complained
about a lack of coordination
between departments.
Two user groups were chosen for the interviews in the second phase of the research. The objective was to comprehend quantitative questionnaire results thoroughly and learn more about user behavior and routines.
The following three inquiries let me fully comprehend the problems:
"What is the policy surrounding the time tracking/reporting in your company?"
I discovered many firms perspectives on time reports and they’re
significant impact on business operations through their responses.
The following query was also asked:
"At what points in the workday do you often time-track your assignments and why?"
I was able to grasp the users' routine and work flow, as well as their
attitudes and behavior with regard to time reporting and their pain
points, through the answers.
The final query was - "Tell me about the most recent time tracking experience you
had at your workplace..." - Throughout the responses, the users' pain areas
were highlighted, and I discovered their issues with time tracking in general.
Aside from two distinct questions that helped me better understand the issue, the interviews with the employees of the traffic departments were nearly identicalto those of the creative department. These questions were:
"What is the exact path in which the tasks are moved in the system and why?"
I was able to comprehend the explanations throughout the flows, work processes, and stations where the tasks are stopping and what is
happening in each stage.
The second inquiry was - "Tell me about your most recent experience with the time-tracking procedures used by your staff"... I learnt about the traffic daily
pain points and concerns through the answers, as well as issues that
related across the agencies.
The information obtained from the two studies provided a strong foundation and a thorough grasp of the target audience and the product
in general. As a result, persona profiles were created to depict
the different types of users who would utilize the product.
Main axis: Global navigation. Good for: Employees who also manage tasksor managers whom also doing tasks.
Special features: Employees can enter their work-related expenses in theappropriate section, and users can add reports and export them in a varietyof formats under the monthly reports page.
Cons: The time tracking method is excessively drawn out, the navigationis global and not tailored to each department, and the work assignment procedure is also excessively drawn out.
Main axis: Hybrid navigation model.
Good for: Management / Client management department.
Special features: Dedicated area for breaks, in and out of shifts, tasks history and help area.
Cons: Poor information hierarchy causes users to become unfocused and causes confusion in general.
Specifically made with task management in mind.
Main axis: Task creation (global hybrid navigation). Good for: Employees who also manage tasks or managers whom also doing tasks.
Special features: Personalized workspace, deadline progress bars, tasks status overview, integrations options, various data visualization options, easy and intuitive tasks assignment process. Cons: Users are becoming cognitively overloaded and confused due to the varied navigational styles and the abundance of features and components. There is a steep learning curve for the system.
Product targets:
1. To create a better user experience which suits to advertising agencies
work environments.
2. To enter the market as a strong differentiated product which provides
an alternative to the existing systems.
Economic model targets:
1. To position the product as a leading self category product.
2. Sell extra special features as bundles.
3. To open extended capabilities for existing features.
KPI's:
1. Reducing the staying time in the system for the employees from all departments.
2. Making the existing processes more efficient and improve time.
3. Producing more accurate reports.
Users between the ages of 21-60, work full-time in advertising firms,
and have average to above-average technical skills. They were divided into three groups:
Those who must be seen and heard. They typically focus on the essence rather than the surroundings and take the big picture into account. To complete their tasks to the best of their abilities, they must maintain constant focus, and their greatest fear is feeling guilty.
Those who have an obsession with small details, want to express their thoughts, and need to establish logic and order in the foundation of all they accomplish. They prioritize efficiency and are most frightened of making mistakes. To reduce the possibility of errors, they believe it is crucial to work in complete coordination amongst everyone.
They are extremely sensitive to even the slightest vibrations. They pay special attention and cherish everyone's orderliness and conflict-free operation. Although they are continuously striving to improve, they would prefer that their coworkers understand that they are human and occasionally fall short.
A macOS dedicated system designed for advertising agencies working
environments. The system focuses on users' natural workflows in those environments, pain points regarding time tracking, and addresses
synchronization issues between key departments. The system is built
on the traditional agency paradigm, with the client management,
studio/creative, and traffic departments serving as its main
working paths (with an emphasis on studio/creative and traffic).
Upon logging in, users are directed to the "my tasks" tab where daily tasks are shown in order of priority.
To begin a task, users select it and press "start clock."
Users can pin a task to the top right of the screen as a reminder and launch their dedicated software to preform the task. The clock can be stopped from the system or from the reminder and will automatically resume upon returning to the system after taking a break.
After completing a task, users save it locally, upload it to the task cell, and conclude it, which triggers a success notification.
Upon logging in, users are directed to the "General" tab to view progress of current tasks, daily employees, and overall data.
From there, they can navigate to the "New Tasks"tab to assign forthcoming tasks to employees .After reading the provided brief, users may consult the creative manager by clicking the mail button, which opens an external default mail windowwith the brief and predefined contact attached.
Once a response is received, users select employees in a modal window and press the assign buttonto distribute the task. A success toast notification confirms the task has been assigned and userscan move on to their next task.
