Magnetize job management app users got what they needed, rather than what they wanted.
When users of the Magnetize job management app asked for a scheduling calendar showing a month’s jobs at a glance developer Company-X didn’t stop there.
Company-X senior software architect Luke McGregor questioned users of Magnetize’s job management app why they wanted a month view and what they got from it.
“The big problem with a month view is information density,” McGregor said. “If you have all your jobs showing it’s too high and you can’t see what’s going on. You can’t see the forest for the trees. There are a million things on the screen. That’s what I pushed back on, and it pushed us back towards a better solution.”
When McGregor and the software development team dug deeper with users they discovered they wanted both high-level visibility of scheduling capacity of equipment and people and to drill down into specific jobs.
Company-X build a scheduling calendar that gives a month view, to give users the high-level visibility of resource allocation they requested, but also drill down into the schedule with views for two weeks, one week and three days. User experience and user interface designer Briana Christey said the development of the resource calculator was “a good example of why Company-X is so good at what they do”.
SIMPLE- Magnetize’s scheduling calendar makes things simple
“We’re excited because it’s a really good example of how we dove deep to get to the core of what users
need,” Christey said.
“It’s a good example of thinking back to why this is important, rather than ‘we know we want to look at this at a month level’,” McGregor said.
“The questions we are answering at a month level are not the same questions we are answering at a week level. What’s hard to do in software is to take those steps back, but I think they are important steps to take.”
Magnetize chief executive Paul Lyons described the Company-X approach as a marvellous solution.
“It solves their pain point. We’re having quite a few eureka moments. It’s satisfying. It’s all credit to the company and its culture,” Lyons said. “It’s about filling gaps when you’re running a business. Where are the gaps? Where can I put people? It’s a calendar that tells you what’s available and you can click in and go to the action.”
Another challenge was finding the best way for users to quickly and easily log their time on jobs as other options are cumbersome.
“We needed a fresh approach,” Christey said.
“One evening, as I opened my iOS alarm clock app to set my waking time, I realised there was the inspiration for our solution: a simple spinner for workers to set their start and end time.”
Gamification
Gamification is being used to motivate and engage users of Magnetize’s new business
management app.
Gamification is about motivating users’ behaviour with game elements, such as challenges and rewards.
“Building the application from scratch, we were presented with an exciting opportunity to rethink how the user interface (UI) could motivate workers to log their time,” said user experience and user interface designer Briana Christey.
“We had a lightbulb moment – that if we enable Jase the worker to see who else has logged time on a job, we could appeal to his sense of competition, and motivate him to do the same.”
Company-X took an iterative approach to the project as it collaborated with Magnetize, industry subject matter experts and Magnetize clients and potential end-users.
“I have been in business in a variety of roles and Industries for 35 years. Partnering with Company-X and Briana Christy combined with a relentless focus on our clients and potential clients, I can honestly say this is the first time that I can say I have worked on a project that has been truly driven by the focus on its clients and their needs and solutions to their pain points” Magnetize chief executive Paul Lyons said.
