Building the Right Thing: A User-Validated MVP for Construction Intelligence
CASE STUDY
PROJECT BRIEF
Thinkproject planned to consolidate its portfolio of seven construction intelligence products by integrating them into one platform. Their biggest challenge was a very tech and sales-driven product development process. Naturally, through the countless potential customer problems to focus on, it was challenging for Product Management to create a cohesive product vision and strategy. I advocated kicking off the product development process with a customer-centric Design Process to solve only one user problem and prototype an MVP version of the new Construction Intelligence Platform.
MY ROLE
As a Head of UX/UI Design I designed and led the End-to-End Product Design for a construction intelligence web platform, a green field project.
MY WORK
- Through my design leadership I aligned multiple departments of stakeholders like Product, Engineering, Marketing and Sales toward a common product vision.
- A user-validated high-fidelity prototype as the first iteration to kick off the product development process.
- A core Design System and components library created with Figma and Storybook.
PROCESS
The design process follows the principle of the Double-Diamond strategy – a user-centric design framework.
Problem Discovery
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
Define Problem
Ideate Solution
Design Solution
Test DESIGNS
1. Problem Discovery
Based on our key stakeholders’ feedback and requirements we defined a problem hypothesis as a How Might We (HMW) question. This questions would be the guiding direction for our Discovery and Research Phase. It is was also an important tool to align product decision makers in one direction.
“How might we help our user to make better decisions (based on linked information) in their daily workflow with the linked data presented visually and can see relevant project KPIs?”
User Interviews
We conducted five moderated interviews with potential users that matched our pre-defined proto-persona Peter Project to identify their main goals and needs for using a construction intelligence platform.
Proto Persona Peter Project Performer
2. Problem Analysis
We analyzed and organized the interview results with an affinity map. An affinity map contains a large number of ideas into their natural relationships. We identified four main user-needs categories:
- Display role-specific information
- Analytics capabilities
- Task Management / Day-to-Day work
- Project Management KPIs
3. Problem Definition
We defined four more precise How Might We problem statements based on the four user-need categories identified in the affinity mapping exercise. These four HMW were our guiding north-star for designing a solution. To provide value to our user-persona Peter Project Performer, we need to answer all four HMWs.
- How might we show potential changes or predictions for what could happen? (Show the impact of changes)
- How might we display different types of information to different user groups?
- How might we represent the data streams of quality, schedule, finances, and risks?
- How might we display immediate actions for our users and their associated deadlines?
4. Ideation
We started with low-fidelity prototyping to focus on building a solution that answers our four HMW statements.
Low-Fidelity Sketches of main use-cases
5. Solution Design
Project Selection Page
Project Dashboard
Project Status with Gantt Chart
Task Management with BIM Model
6. Test Designs
With a first high-fidelity prototype, we conducted five remote usability tests to validate the solution. I ran the interviews, and one of my team members noted the feedback directly into a Miro template with virtual sticky notes. We summarized the findings and suggested improvements for each use case on the same board.
Detail of Miro Template for Usability Testings
VALIDATIONS
- Understands that the Project Screen presents aggregated data from various sources
- Understands that a schedule of the project is being displayed
- Understands that the red dots mean issues to take care of
- The 3D model adds a lot of value, especially having the schedule connected to it
- Finds it is valuable that you can view the different collaborators in the schedule view and see their specific tasks
THINGS TO IMPROVE
- 4 out of 5 users don’t understand what the ‘task overview’ refers to. Which type of tasks? For whom? How are they assigned?
- 3 out of 5 users don’t understand the concept of the Project Health color coding
- 3 out of 5 users don’t see value in the time-line at the bottom of the gantt chart
OUTCOME
The MVP in this case study covers the most critical use cases for one key persona. The construction industry is very specialized. The solution needs to be tailored to the workflows of particular job roles. After the first iteration of the Construction Intelligence platform, we started a broader customer validation program to identify the user needs of many personas.
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