TL;DR
Developed a portal for Innsworth stakeholders that centralises content, fosters communication, and streamlines workflows.
Project Outline
User Interviews & Research
- Interviewed various stakeholder groups (HR, Operations, Technology) to map out needs and identify barriers.
- Collected quantitative data on how often teams collaborate and which tools they currently rely on.
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Insight Discovery
- Found overlapping tools causing confusion and inconsistent processes.
- Identified critical gaps in knowledge sharing and a need for more intuitive onboarding experiences.
For Insight Discovery, creating a research repository using AI tools allowed me to surface and synthesise insights quickly and efficiently.
‘How Might We’ & Hypothesis Generation
- Example Hypothesis: “If we create a single sign-on feature for Inns365, then teams will adopt a unified process faster.”
- Encouraged creative brainstorming to ensure every idea was heard and documented for later prioritisation.
Defining & Prioritising User Stories
- Categorised stories by impact vs. effort to ensure the highest-value features were tackled first.
- Created a clear product backlog aligned with both user needs and strategic objectives.
Usability Testing
- Conducted quick, iterative tests on early prototypes to gather feedback on navigation, clarity, and design layout using interactive prototypes and wireframes in Figma.
- Incorporated fixes immediately, allowing the project to remain agile and user-focused.
From Ideation to Delivery: How Human-Centred Design drove impactful solutions.
Innsworth’s diverse teams and legacy tools were causing fragmented communication and inefficiencies in workflows.
Our goal was to simplify these complexities by centring on real user needs and aligning every internal and external stakeholder around a singular, intuitive portal experience.
Setting the Stage
To fully understand Innsworth’s operational landscape and the diverse needs of its stakeholders, we began with a series of PPOD (Project Point of Departure) Workshops—focusing on People, Processes, Obstacles, and Dependencies. By bringing representatives from across the organisation together, these sessions allowed us to:
- Identify Core Needs and Pain Points:
- Define Key Processes and Systems:
- Highlight Obstacles and Dependencies:
- Held a live workshop demonstrating how each stakeholder group influences or depends on another by passing a ball of string between participants in real-time.
- Visually revealed interdependencies and bottlenecks, prompting buy-in for a single, centralised portal.
- Helped unify cross-functional teams around the urgency of solving these pain points collaboratively.
- Align on Shared Objectives:
Capture the real-world challenges teams face—from overlapping communication channels to siloed knowledge repositories.
Map out how day-to-day workflows intersect, where handoffs occur, and where inefficiencies might cause friction.
Uncover critical barriers and interdependencies—both technological and human—that could stall progress or limit adoption.
Build consensus around the purpose and vision for the Innsworth 365 Portal, ensuring every stakeholder feels heard and engaged from the start.
These insights formed the foundational “why” behind the approach, ensuring that every subsequent design decision was grounded in real-world context and collaborative input.
How might we foster collaboration, streamline knowledge sharing, and drives meaningful stakeholder engagement at Innsworth?
A "How Might We" statement transforms challenges into positive, solution-focused questions that spark creativity while keeping user needs central to ideation.
Why developing ‘How Might We’ Statements matters
- Invites Collaboration: This open-ended phrasing prompts diverse teams to think creatively about potential solutions.
- Clarifies the Challenge: It pinpoints the core needs identified in our PPOD workshops—seamless processes, efficient communication, and aligned goals.
- Guides Solution-Building: By emphasising user-centricity, we ensure every idea and feature is anchored in genuine stakeholder requirements and real-world tasks.
The “How Might We” statement sets the course for ideation, keeping us focused on delivering a truly impactful portal that resonates across Innsworth’s unique ecosystem.
Human-Centred Design Overview
Approach & Mindset:
- Understand Users – Conduct interviews, workshops, and research to uncover real-world pain points and motivations. PPOD workshops revealed that EA’s spent up to 30% of their time manually compiling progress updates from disparate systems.
- Ideate Solutions – Convert findings into actionable “How Might We” statements, hypothesis testing, and “blue-sky” brainstorming to generate User Stories. As an Internal Admin at Innsworth, I want a consolidated ‘At-A-Glance’ dashboard so that I can quickly identify task bottlenecks and redistribute resources to keep projects on schedule.
- Prototype & Test – Create rapid prototypes and test them with real users to validate assumptions and refine features. I created a low-fidelity dashboard prototypes and flows in Figma to address the needs, including progress tracking, team assignments, and due date alerts.
- Iterate & Deliver – Continuously adapt based on feedback, then finalise and roll out the solution with stakeholder alignment. Early trials with key stakeholders led to enhancements such as colour-coded task priorities and one-click resource reassignments.
Through iterative testing and continuous feedback loops, this feature evolved into a user-centric, time-saving solution that directly addressed a critical bottleneck in Innsworth’s project oversight.
Overcoming Key Challenges
- Complex Stakeholder Landscape
- Challenge: Multiple departments each had unique processes, tools, and objectives, making it difficult to design a one-size-fits-all solution.
- Approach: Early collaboration sessions (PPOD workshops) and stakeholder mapping helped us prioritise features according to impact and technical feasibility, ensuring a balanced approach across departments.
- Securing Long-Term Buy-In
- Challenge: Enthusiasm can wane after initial rollout, especially if users don’t see immediate benefits.
- Approach: Fast, iterative wins—like the ‘At-A-Glance’ project dashboard—demonstrated tangible ROI early on. Regular demos, feedback loops, and visible success metrics kept excitement and commitment high.
- Adapting to Evolving Needs
- Challenge: As requirements shifted with ongoing feedback, maintaining scope and timeline became increasingly complex.
- Approach: Agile development sprints ensured the portal remained aligned with real-time user needs, allowing quick adjustments to maintain momentum.
Why This Approach Drives High-Impact Delivery
- User-Centric Lens
- Iterative Prototyping
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Value-Based Prioritisation
- Sustainable Change
Anchoring solutions in real user needs ensures relevance, quicker adoption, and higher stakeholder satisfaction.
Rapid, low-fidelity prototypes validate assumptions early, allowing you to adjust swiftly before committing major resources.
Inclusive workshops and ongoing feedback loops foster buy-in and alignment, reducing resistance during rollout.
By focusing on features with the highest impact for Innsworth, teams see tangible gains quickly, reinforcing support and building momentum.
A continuous improvement mindset keeps the portal evolving alongside user feedback, guaranteeing lasting ROI and stakeholder trust.
By combining Human-Centred Design practices with strategic vision, we de-risk major initiatives and deliver solutions that truly resonate with stakeholders. This approach isn’t just about building a portal—it’s about fostering a shared sense of purpose, driving efficiency, and supporting the evolving needs of Innsworth well into the future.
Thanks for reading. For more information or to set up a call to understand how Human Centred Design can support your Product Ideation, please reach out at eldonpickles@gmail.com