Introduction

Democracylab is a nonprofit organization where they connect skilled workers with nonprofits. Hone your skills in a tech project.Currently on Democracylab’s platform, Project Owners and Volunteers do not have a place to visualize and track the progress of their ongoing projects. We need to make a solution for that. The feature will define the roadmaps and milestones of the projects for better collaboration between project owners and volunteers.

Time line

Jun2023- present

Stakeholders

Mark Frischmuth(Project lead)
Gregor Kalfas(Design lead)

My role
‍
competitive analysis
interviews
wireframes
visual design

Problem Statement

"How might we design a roadmaps for DemocracyLab's platform to provide a clear visibility into future and ongoing project  and milestones?"

Deep dive into the problem

Competitive analysis

In the research process , I explored various software programs used for managing and tracking projects, including Jira, Trello, and Aha. Notes were taken on the features, limitations, and learning curves of each program, which served as a valuable guide in designing the roadmap.

Comparing and taking notes about programs that are used for management and tracking

Interview

Then interviews were conducted with Democracylab participants to better understand their pain points. This helped in improving collaboration between project owners and volunteers, especially in working on milestones and tasks for the projects. These insights were crucial in aiding the design of roadmap features.

The findings of our research led to a major insights and those are :

key insight 1

Desire for Progress Tracking:  volunteers have expressed a strong desire to observe and track the progress and accomplishments of their previous peers' work.

key insight 2

File Accessibility Issues: volunteers are facing difficulties in locating the files they need promptly, both for their current tasks and when referencing past work.

key insight 5

Conflict Avoidance: The need to ensure there are no conflicts with their own efforts suggests that a roadmap could serve as a tool to clearly define roles, responsibilities.

key insight 3

The lack of easily accessible, accurate, and comprehensive housing guides and resources underscores the need for reliable information.

key insight 4

Flexibility and Easy Access:  volunteers are interested in establishing a more flexible roadmap that could offer a visual representation of projects, allowing project leads manage volunteers more efficiently.

"It's not just about knowing what to do next, but also about making sure we're not stepping on each other's toes. Clearly defined roles and a visual overview of the project would really help streamline our efforts and avoid any confusion.-participant1

"I really wish we had a way to see how much progress we've made over time. It's so motivating to look back and see the actual impact of our work. Plus, it would be great to learn from what previous volunteers achieved and how they did it."-particicant2

Persona

Following our research and insight collection, I created this persona that presents the volunteers, ensuring my decisions are aligned with Democracylab users' desires and expectations.

HMW statement

I reframed the problem statement based on insights to share with stakeholders about design development.

Redefine the  Statement

Redefine the problem Statement

“How might we enable volunteers to efficiently track and collaborate on each other's progress, while also providing easy access to relevant files and a flexible schedule, through a designated roadmap ?.”

Design Process

User flow

The userflow was then created, outlining the steps volunteers need to take to complete tasks. This included document viewing, file sharing, and milestone creation, ensuring a comprehensive and user-friendly design.

Wireframes

Then the wireframes were created to evaluate the ideas and presented them to stakeholders. This was an important step to ensure that the requirements and expectations of all parties involved were met.

Final Design

After the iterative process of researching, designing, and engaging with stakeholders, I aim to create a functional and efficient solution that enhances the experience of both project owners and volunteers on Democracylab's platform in terms of ongoing project experience.

This is very important, you can show prototypes or testing documentations here

Documenting for tracking the progress

Volunteers can document their progress by uploading files to show the project lead and other volunteers each milestone and step they complete.

This is very important, you can show prototypes or testing documentations here

Volunteers & project leads are able to download and view

volunteer and project leads can download and view in order to keep on track on the project progress and avoid conflict  

This is very important, you can show prototypes or testing documentations here

Accessibility or on going and finished projects

All the members involved in the project have access to view both ongoing and completed projects.

Reflection & nextsteps

This is an ongoing project and a great learning experience where I worked with limited resources. Despite the limitations, I delivered insightful information to stakeholders about the roadmap feature for the Democracylab platform for ongoing projects.

I would like to conduct user testing to determine whether the volunteers on the platform are satisfied with my design solution. Then, we can move forward with the development process and continue measuring our progress by ensuring that the team meets predefined milestones. These milestones should be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. Checking off these milestones as they are achieved will serve as a clear indicator of our progress.

Next steps for the project?