Next Generation Project Management Tool

Timeline: 8-week engagement

Project Objectives

As a multinational mass media that has been continuously growing acquiring new franchises, Disney was looking to streamline the complex process of distributing all their films worldwide. The goal was to define and design a user-centric project management tool that teams in Disney can use for their production and distribution needs.

My Role

I joined the team as an interaction designer (UX). I worked closely with the Avanade team, and the client to bring their vision for the product to life. Being part of the design sprints that included the creation of the IA, low fidelity wireframes, prototyping, visual design, wireframe iterations, QA the design working closely with developers as well as presenting the solutions to stakeholders and clients.

The Challenge

The main challenge of the project was to transform a legacy tool that had cumbersome systems and intricate processes that caused inefficiency and added pain points to the main users.

The Approach

I joined the team in the second engagement after the research phase was completed. The first engagement shadowed employees and conducted workshops with users and stakeholders, in partnership with our tech team. From the research they identified key personas and created an interactive user journey that would be the north star for the design phase.

User Journey

This user journey showcasing the product was used to create the features for the first release of the platform and help us stay grounded and true to our research. This led to our final recommendations for key system functionality and a visual design system built using Microsoft Dynamics.

User Journey example

Initial Wireframes

After prioritizing the user stories we were tasked with creating low-fidelity wireframes. Based on our research, journeys and personas we selected the user stories we wanted to bring into visual design and development. We also started building a robust design system that could be scalable and used by developers to create new pages.

The Result

Our deliverable included a robust design system, features, key screens, and annotated wireframes for Disney’s new project management tool. Together with Avanade and our tech team we were able to successfully develop and launch the first release. The stakeholders and client were very pleased with the results and nominated this project for an Academy Scientific and Technical Award.

Final Product Key Features Overview

The final design made it easy for different users to create titles, see the current project workload, view key milestone, issues, risks, lists of tasks and more. The platform’s content would be tailored to the the type of user they are when logging in. For example, a planner would only be able to see their department’s projects and milestones but the master planner would be able to have an overview of everyone’s distribution schedule, milestones, issues, delays, and nudge them to complete the delayed tasks.

Key Milestone view

An easy view to see distribution and production milestones for each title. They can also see if there are any delays through the color indicators, in this case red means that a milestone has not been completed and is behind in schedule. This view allows the planners to effectively see any issues and plan ahead.

Issues and Risks Table

Users can quickly see details on any issues and risks that any title in production is having and find out if there is a delay. They can also see who created the risk/issue, who owns it and its status. Additionally they can access any past reports for reference.