ORB — The Future of Remote Teams
Life’s great, you just scored a remote job working for an amazing organization. No more long commute, no more getting ready in the morning. You’re ready to start every day in your pjs, with a bowl of cheerios.
Fast forward 1 month. Remote life isn’t all it’s chalked up to be. I mean yes, you have so much independence and the comfort of working from your own space. BUT, you’ve never felt so disconnected from a company and team . You don’t really know who you work . You don’t really know who you work with. Now you’re thinking, is commuting into an office all that bad?
Introduction
This case study is my final Capstone submission for the full time UX/UI diploma program at Brainstation in Toronto, ON.
I have always been interested by the future of work and automation in the workplace. For my capstone I wanted to explore the future of work. Due to research and time constraints I chose a topic I am already familiar with, which is the future of remote working teams.
Role
This Capstone required that students complete the full end to end UX/UI process.
Duration
Over the course of 12 weeks we have conducted the full design process on a problem space of our choice.
System
iOS Native App
Tools
Problem Space
As we navigate further into the digital world, remote and work-from-home options are rapidly becoming a popular choice for both employees and companies worldwide.
A quick search of the term “remote jobs” in Google Trends shows that in the past 2 years interest in remote work has grown significantly worldwide, with the US, Canada and Australia ranking highest in interest. Remote work allows companies to diversify their talent pool while saving on office related costs. Additionally, it allows employees the convenience and comfort of working from their own space. As teams switch to remote options, platforms such as Google Suites, Slack and Zoom continue to grow in popularity. However, remote work can create the problem of disengaged collaboration and decreased productivity when working in a collaborative team environment.
Project Planning Brief
Hypothesis
I believe remote teams need better access to efficient and collaborative tools.
User Interviews
To understand my potential users better I decided to conduct user interviews on remote workers.
When explaining my idea to individuals in my class, many believed my key target audience were freelancers. In reality, I actually wanted to explore the idea of remote work on remote working teams within organizations.
To make this apparent I made a list of participant criteria for each of my interviews:
The interviewee is a part of a team that works remotely(not a freelancer)
The interviewee works from home at least 2 days of the week
The interviewee is in an occupation that requires collaboration (brainstorming, meetings etc.)
Key Research Insights
After conducting phone interviews I was able to extract the following key pain points, motivations, behaviours and insights.
Key Pain Points
- Lack of remote communication skills
- Poor software systems
- Inefficient processes
- Working from home can be lonely
Key Motivations
- “I like the flexibility of working from home”
- “I like that I don’t have to commute”
- “I like that I can connect from anywhere in the world”
Key Behaviours
- “I felt dehumanized when I was only introduced to my team through a video chat as my name and title”
- “I feel that communication and tone can be misinterpreted when collaborating from home”
Key Insights
Insight #1
Remote team members want to socialize and get to know their teams
Insight #2
When working from home communication can be easily misinterpreted
Insight #3
Organizations often have outdated tools/software for remote teams
Insight #4
Remote employees want to make their collaborative work more efficient
HMW Statement
Based off insights gathered in the research phase of my capstone I was able to summarize my key findings into a How Might We Statement.
HMW better connect remote teams to increase engagement and collaboration.
Persona
User Journey Map
Design Solutions
Selected Solution
After much back and forth with my instructors and TAs, I decided that my solution would be a collaboration and project management tool that features an AI chatbot/virtual assistant.
Core Epic
As a remote worker I want to be able to easily connect to my coworkers, so that I may contact them efficiently.
As a remote worker I want to be able to have a virtual assistant guide me through my day so that I may focus on high value tasks.
As a remote worker I want to avoid long email chains so that I may focus on high value tasks efficiently.
User Flow
After brainstorming use cases, I selected a realistic task flow. Sam, a new remote employee of YYZ solutions is looking for someone to help her with HTML for an assignment she is working on for her team. Sam is unsure of who she is supposed to connect with. However, no fear because JARVIS, ORB’s virtual AI assistant is there to save the day.
Concept Sketches
Brand and Visual Identity
“Design is the silent ambassador of your brand” — Paul Rand
Colour Palette
Colour psychology is something I considered when choosing the colour palette for ORB. I looked into what different colours and colour combinations emote. I chose the colour blue as my main colour because blue is known to emote feelings of trust, stability and is known to improve productivity.
One challenge I faced at this point in my capstone journey was choosing colour combinations that meet accessibility guidelines.
Extracted colours can be seen below on my moodboard.
Typography
I chose Avenir as my main font because I wanted to choose a minimal font that is simple and easy to read.
Iconography
From the beginning of the design process I wanted to ensure that iconography throughout ORB was very intentional. Iconography was an important factor because it takes into consideration heuristic principals such as error prevention and visibility of system status. Skeuomorphic iconography also helps the user better understand what features the app has.
Product Name and Logo
I chose the name ORB because it is an acronym for the term order of business.
As I was working on logo development, I envisioned many complex ideas. However, when pen hit paper, I could only relate ORB back to a series of orbs representing remote teams all over the giant orb we live on.
The logo is used throughout the app as a shortcut to access JARVIS, ORB’s AI chatbot and virtual assistant.
Iterations
Iteration 1
Iteration 2
Iteration 3
Iteration 4
Iteration 4 is shown below.
Key Usability Testing Insights
- Improve information architecture and content hierarchy
2. Use right handed configuration for CTAs
3. Integrate visibility of system status and system standards through a navigation/tap bar
Final Prototype
Marketing Site
I was tasked with designing a responsive marketing website for my digital solution. I wanted to keep it light, minimal and clean. I utilized my app screens and illustrations from Undraw throughout to communicate what ORB does.
Alternate Channel
I was also tasked with creating a digital translation of my solution on an alternate channel. I chose a desktop app because it is the most logical place for a solution like ORB to exist. Below is an example of a chat screen within the desktop app.
Key Learnings
Integrating Subjective Feedback
- Feedback is subjective. I will accept it always, but I now know how to integrate it in a way that makes sense to me, rather than the person providing the feedback.
How to be Organized
- Being organized is important in a course like this. Crazy deadlines and last minute changes and additions are always something to be aware of. In situations like these being organized is key.
Label Everything
- Before I realized I should be naming my layers and groups methodically, my sketch file was a disaster. Needless to say this is an important take away going forward.
Self Care
- I think it is easy to get caught up with life. Throughout these 12 weeks I did not take a lot of time to practice self care. This was not healthy and I learned the hard way that your health and well being should always come first.
Future Thinking
The Tarot Cards of Tech is something that was introduced to us in class to get us thinking about the possible impact our solutions may have. Below are 2 examples of future thinking through this exercise.
The Catalyst refers to cultural habits and how they may be affected by how my solution is used.
How might cultural habits change how your product is used?
During my research process I took socio-cultural constraints into consideration. Remote work is global and the concept of time is different depending on where you are in the world. My solution works off of a North American sense of time. Due to cultural habits around the concept of time my solution may be used differently around the world.
And how might your product change cultural habits?
As I mentioned above, remote work is global and communication is interpreted differently throughout the world. Communication styles vary from country to country and I hoped to create a solution that simplifies communication barriers and cultural habits around what effective communication is. My solution works to help remote teams communicate more effectively with minimal misinterpretations. The use of emojis, GIFS and stickers are highly suggested to create a more engaging and welcoming employee experience.
The Radio Star asks the question
Who or what disappears if your product is successful?
As automation becomes more apparent in the workplace, I found this is an important topic to consider.
If my product is successful, the virtual assistant will work to complete administrative l tasks for employees, so they may focus on high value tasks. However, it can also complete the work of a receptionist or executive assistant. I believe if my product is successful, it will ultimately replace administrative roles on remote teams.
