Request time off
Unifying workflows to improve ease-of-use
Table of Contents
This is the context I walked onto when I joined the team. I used a mix of market research, user research, and internal research to collaborate towards identifying problems to solve.
I didn't do it all alone, though. Some of my key collaborators in this effort are my cross-functional partners in Product Management and Engineering.
Additionally, I collaborated internally within the design team, working with Accessibility, Globalization, Content Design, and Design Systems
To unpack a complex problem along with my product and design team, I created a sprint-based timeline to help stakeholders understand and predict when to expect design solutions.
Once Upon a Time in a Tech Company
Once Upon a Time in a Tech Company
Jenny Sampson is a business analyst at Lyft
Once Upon a Time in a Tech Company
Jenny’s been working hard this year, toiling through projections ...
... and she’s looking forward to a well earned vacation
Back at her desk, Jenny logs into Workday ...
... and finds her “Time Off” calendar
She selects a few days ...
... and fills out the details in the form before submitting
Jenny has a great time on the beach in Acapulco
A few months later, Jenny has a family emergency ...
... and she needs to take an absence from work
She finds the same calendar where she submitted her vacation request ...
... but is suprised that she isn’t able to submit her request here
After digging, Jenny finds out that there is a separate place ...
... for her leave of absence requests
To make things worse, Jenny has to sort through different calendars ...
... to view and manage different types of requests
We unified two different workflows — Requesting Vacation and Requesting Leaves Away from Work – Under a single umbrella.
The user can either select days to include in their request by clicking on a calendar or by entering a date range.
The calendar surfaces days that the user can select. Many salaried users would have the weekends blocked off as pictured here
The user can select single or multiple days to include in their request. After selecting "Continue" ...
The user enters a second step to enter additional details for their request. Since the types of requests — and the information required to submit them – can vary, at this point we need to first find out what type of request the user wants to make before revealing additional information.
The user selects a type of time off to take. This could be a vacation, a family emergency, a medical event, or other ..
After the user selects a category, contextual information appears at the bottom to help inform the user's action. Here, the available PTO the user has available is surfaced dynamically.
After the user has selected a type of time off they'd like to request, the supporting information needed to finalize the request is surfaced.
The user selects a start time ...
And an end time for the request ...
And the contextual information at the bottom of the view updates to inform the user of how their remaining PTO balance would be affected by this request.
The user then submits the request ...
... and the user receives a confirmation of the successful request
Concurrently, I collaborated with a junior designer to deliver the specifics of the mobile solution. The mobile system contains slightly different components but there were some opportunities for consistent solutions
then selects dates for their vacation / time off request
Afterwards, they select the type of request they'd like to make
Similarly to the desktop experience, all types of vacation, leave, and time off appear here.
After selecting the type of time off they'd like to submit, the associated required information appears below. Similarly to the desktop experience, the available time off is displayed at the bottom.
As the user enters information in the form, the remaining balance is calculated below.
The mobile team had slightly different patterns for confirmations versus the desktop experience. The information delivered to confirm the action is consistent.
The Work
Solutions to identified pain points
Define
Design
Discover
Deliver
Specifically, I compiled …
- Internal Research View Examples
- Competitive Research View Examples
- Market Research View Examples
I then…
- Explored Design Solutions View Examples
- Whiteboarded with Colleagues
- Created Hi-Fidelity Prototypes
Specifically, I …
- Collaborated with the Research Team
- Conducted 1:1 Usability Testing View Examples
- Synthesized the Findings for Stakeholders View Examples
When finalizing the project I …
- Collaborated with Developers to Implement Interactions
- Documented Guidelines for Other Teams View Examples
- Monitored Performance Metrics on Release
I leverage a four step iterative process. Define, Design, Discover, Deliver
When defining, I look to define the problem from the user, the market, and the business perspectives.
Depending on the stage of the project, I'll then make some designs. If its early, I'll be working on high level designs; if later, I'll create something higher fidelity.
I'll then test the solution with some users and synthesize the findings.
When delivering, I'll work cross-functionally to unblock edge cases, ensure success metrics are captured, and collaborate to implement delightful interaction.
The Process
The process I follow, and how I used it to deliver this project
When we started, there were a multitude of different types of time off and places to submit them.
Our user was understandably frustrated with the complexity. For them, why would we have different places to submit time off? Its all the same from their perspective, "no matter the reason, I need to get away from work"
Unifying vacation, leaves away from work, and other types of time off has improved the user experience, resulting in a 39% reduction in Time on task. Whereas before it took over a minute to submit requests on average, now that process takes 42 seconds.
I collaborated cross-functionally with Product Management and Engineering to understand the problem space and feasibility of different approaches.
And internally within the design team with Accessibility, Content Design, and Design Systems to deliver a cohesive experience.
The collaboration with Design Systems has resulted in a scalable solution.
Working with the systems team, we delivered patterns and components around a "Microtransactions" framework as it is called.
They delivered the detailed specs, we collaborated together on how different use cases could be resolved using the component.
Other teams, such as the Human Capital Management team, have used the framework to deliver functionality such as a job transfer, shown here.
It all sounds peachy, right?
Every project has its challenges and roadblocks, though, and this was no different.
In the next story, I'll discuss how I helped resolve conflicts, insure delivery within the timeline and scope, and set the stage for future improvements.
The Results
What came out of the work
Thank you!
I appreciate you taking the time to check out my work