Workflow Builder
Creating a MVP to allow for form building and custom review processes
This work is under NDA, but I can speak to what I took away from this project and what it entailed at a high level.
BAM Technologies is a government contractor working primarily with the U.S. AirForce. Our clients needed a way to streamline the many forms and processes that are included within the human resources of the AirForce.
I took over the design of this project while it was already underway and moving toward its first release as an MVP. I worked in a multidisciplinary team as the sole designer, though I benefited from the input of the company's Design Community of Practice. I worked on completing the structure of the program which forwarded forms to officials for review. In doing this I worked with internal SMEs to dig into what types of tasks one may need to do when reviewing a form as well as the security restrictions that needed to be observed. To do this I led a number of exploratory workshops to think through our process and identify scenarios that we hadn’t thought of. From there I built out dashboards for those submitting forms and those managing them while prioritizing simplistic navigation and making relevant information glanceable at the beginning. This was no simple task given the amount of forms a government HR employee may need to review, share and return to over time. Another issue we faced was the large variety of potential forms that could come through this system, the differences in how they needed to be reviewed, and by what level of government personnel. With feedback from our clients we were able to launch the Workflow Builder with a small sample set of applications to allow AirForce employees and their families to submit their paperwork.
Being the sole designer on a team of about 6 people I had the opportunity to collaborate very closely with the developers on my team. Some situations would require me to plan ahead with my developers while others allowed me to pair-code with them.
While I worked on this project there were many times where I found myself needing to represent the needs of design, even when raising issues was difficult. This could be proposing changes to functions to allow for greater usability, digging in deeper when we didn’t have enough context or pushing for necessary design workshops to figure out a plan forward.
This being my first full time position, I was able to really get familiar with the design system of my company as it was being built. I also took it as an opportunity to critique the design system regarding accessibility and propose improvements to our Community of Practice which were later adopted.
The Workflow Builder needed to be able to support a number of AirForce processes which meant that I needed to set up systems that would enable enough functionality for specific tasks while still being flexible. This was a difficult need from both technical and political angles which made for many opportunities for design workshops.
Next steps for this product would be to begin user testing with our users in order to adjust as needed. This could potentially be difficult due to legal restrictions in speaking with active service members, but not impossible, so long as the proper process is observed. While connecting with users is being worked on it would also be necessary to look at the next set of forms deemed essential to add to the Workflow Builder order to begin planning for the next stage of production.
This was the first project I took on right out of grad school and it was a fantastic challenge. I truly was forced to grow as a designer and think in ways I had never considered given the complexity of the subject matter and the fact that I was the sole designer on my team. While working on this project I developed confidence as a designer and truly began advocating for the role of design and my needs in order to do my job. Working with the Design Community of Practice was also a great opportunity to learn from designers with a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience. It truly was a place that fostered a learning community and I am grateful for having had it for my first full time position.
