Collab Pro
Primary Research:
Research Focus
To better understand the needs of freelancers, their behaviour, needs and motivations, proper observations and feedback is important. the study explores how they structure their workflow, what tools they use to maintain productivity, and the challenges they face. This research aims to uncover gaps in existing tools and identify opportunities for innovation in supporting freelancers' unique work styles.
Questionnaire preparation
To gain a deeper understanding of productivity among freelancers, a detailed questionnaire was developed following secondary research. A discussion script was created to guide the inquiry, focusing on the nature of freelance work, the challenges freelancers face, and their behavior patterns, motivations, and more. The questionnaire underwent several iterations to refine the questions and incorporate necessary nudges.
Seven freelancers with diverse work routines were selected for personal interviews conducted over calls. During these sessions, responses were transcribed in real-time, providing rich qualitative data. This approach, centered on open-ended questions, allowed participants to share detailed, unstructured responses, offering insights into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
This phase was crucial for empathizing with the user group and uncovering their true pain points. Interestingly, the responses did not fully align with expectations or the findings from secondary research, offering new perspectives on the challenges freelancers face.
Forming insights
Just like the saying "Focus on the user and else will follow", synthesing user requirements and forming isights were helpful in providing viable solutions to the user problems.Therefore insights served as a starting point for finding a solution based on the actual needs of the users.
Primary Research:
Research Focus
To better understand the needs of freelancers, their behaviour, needs and motivations, proper observations and feedback is important. the study explores how they structure their workflow, what tools they use to maintain productivity, and the challenges they face. This research aims to uncover gaps in existing tools and identify opportunities for innovation in supporting freelancers' unique work styles.
Questionnaire preparation
To gain a deeper understanding of productivity among freelancers, a detailed questionnaire was developed following secondary research. A discussion script was created to guide the inquiry, focusing on the nature of freelance work, the challenges freelancers face, and their behavior patterns, motivations, and more. The questionnaire underwent several iterations to refine the questions and incorporate necessary nudges.
Seven freelancers with diverse work routines were selected for personal interviews conducted over calls. During these sessions, responses were transcribed in real-time, providing rich qualitative data. This approach, centered on open-ended questions, allowed participants to share detailed, unstructured responses, offering insights into their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
This phase was crucial for empathizing with the user group and uncovering their true pain points. Interestingly, the responses did not fully align with expectations or the findings from secondary research, offering new perspectives on the challenges freelancers face.
Forming insights
Just like the saying "Focus on the user and else will follow", synthesing user requirements and forming isights were helpful in providing viable solutions to the user problems.Therefore insights served as a starting point for finding a solution based on the actual needs of the users.
Secondary Research:
To understand the problem space and scope of the project, secondary research was carried out. Starting the project with secondary research helped me to identify the important questions and form insights leading to an informed design approach.
Understanding Productivity
To address user challenges in productivity, the preliminary research started with an exploration of the concept of productivity.This included researching its history, impact on human behaviour, and the various methods people use to stay productive, all aimed at improving user decision-making and design thinking. Additionally, market trends were analysed to align these insights with business objectives, guiding the wise use of resources, better product development, effective marketing strategies, and overall performance improvement.
Understanding Freelancers
Who are Freelancers?
Freelancers are individuals who work independently, taking on projects for various clients without committing to full-time employment. They are drawn to the freedom of setting their own schedules, choosing where and when they work, and the potential for personal and professional growth.
Why is Freelancing growing?
Freelancing has become a significant part of the global workforce, with nearly half of the world’s workers engaging in freelance work. As of February 2024, an estimated 1.57 billion people globally are freelancers. The rise of remote work and technological advancements have fueled this growth, with many freelancers now operating on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal..etc
The Challenge for Freelancers
While freelancers enjoy flexibility, managing tasks within an unstructured day can be challenging. Many productivity tools are designed for traditional work environments, leaving a gap for tools that support freelancers who juggle multiple roles—such as service provider, manager, and financial advisor. These roles, combined with personal tasks, can make maintaining productivity difficult. Research indicates that project acquisition, communication skills, and motivation are key challenges for freelancers.
Affinity Mapping
Affinity mapping helped to organize and make sense of the information and feedback from various freelancers. Given the challenge of identifying specific pain points from their responses, repeatedly sorting, grouping, and filtering the interview data through affinity mapping helped clarify user requirements and prioritize key insights. This process ultimately revealed the core issue of ineffective communication between freelancers and clients.
Affinity Mapping
Affinity mapping helped to organize and make sense of the information and feedback from various freelancers. Given the challenge of identifying specific pain points from their responses, repeatedly sorting, grouping, and filtering the interview data through affinity mapping helped clarify user requirements and prioritize key insights. This process ultimately revealed the core issue of ineffective communication between freelancers and clients.
Challenges identified related to effective communication
Challenges identified related to Communication
Challenges identified related to Communication
Personas
Personas are fictional characters created from research to represent different user types. They provide insights into users' needs, behaviors, and goals, helping you step outside your own perspective and empathize with diverse users. Personas helped to simplify the design process and created more understanding.
User personas were created to ensure that the design decisions were grounded in a deep understanding of the target users ie the freelancers. By defining these personas, I was able to address the design to meet the specific behaviors of freelancers and their needs ultimately leading to a more user-centered and effective design solutions.
Personas
Personas are fictional characters created from research to represent different user types. They provide insights into users' needs, behaviors, and goals, helping you step outside your own perspective and empathize with diverse users. Personas helped to simplify the design process and created more understanding.
User personas were created to ensure that the design decisions were grounded in a deep understanding of the target users ie the freelancers. By defining these personas, I was able to address the design to meet the specific behaviors of freelancers and their needs ultimately leading to a more user-centered and effective design solutions.
Secondary Research:
To understand the problem space and scope of the project, secondary research was carried out. Starting the project with secondary research helped me to identify the important questions and form insights leading to an informed design approach.
Understanding Productivity
To address user challenges in productivity, the preliminary research started with an exploration of the concept of productivity. This included researching its history, impact on human behaviour, and the various methods people use to stay productive, all aimed at improving user decision-making and design thinking. Additionally, market trends were analysed to align these insights with business objectives, guiding the wise use of resources, better product development, effective marketing strategies, and overall performance improvement.
Understanding Freelancers
Who are Freelancers?
Freelancers are individuals who work independently, taking on projects for various clients without committing to full-time employment. They are drawn to the freedom of setting their own schedules, choosing where and when they work, and the potential for personal and professional growth.
Why is Freelancing growing?
Freelancing has become a significant part of the global workforce, with nearly half of the world’s workers engaging in freelance work. As of February 2024, an estimated 1.57 billion people globally are freelancers. The rise of remote work and technological advancements have fuelled this growth, with many freelancers now operating on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Toptal..etc
The Challenge for Freelancers
While freelancers enjoy flexibility, managing tasks within an unstructured day can be challenging. Many productivity tools are designed for traditional work environments, leaving a gap for tools that support freelancers who juggle multiple roles—such as service provider, manager, and financial advisor. These roles, combined with personal tasks, can make maintaining productivity difficult. Research indicates that project acquisition, communication skills, and motivation are key challenges for freelancers.
Detailed Case study
Arriving at the problem statement
To effectively communicate the scope and focus of the project, it was essential to develop a clear problem statement. This Problem statement helped to clearly identify and frame the problem and solved.
1.Who are you solutioning for?
Freelancers who work in creative fields.
2.Why are you solving the problem?
Freelancers find it difficult to communicate to client about the effort and process they go through to give desired deliverables.
3.What would be the ideal state when the problem is solved?
Client-Freelancer communication will be more transparent and will reduce work pressure on both parties.
“Freelancers who work in creative fields, struggle with effective communication with clients. Implementing a collaborative platform with a transparency feature, to their task completion apps, by providing effective communication aids, would help both parties to work in a proactive workspace.”
Arriving at the problem statement
To effectively communicate the scope and focus of the project, it was essential to develop a clear problem statement. This Problem statement helped to clearly identify and frame the problem and solved.
1.Who are you solutioning for?
Freelancers who work in creative fields.
2.Why are you solving the problem?
Freelancers find it difficult to communicate to client about the effort and process they go through to give desired deliverables.
3.What would be the ideal state when the problem is solved?
Client-Freelancer communication will be more transparent and will reduce work pressure on both parties.
“Freelancers who work in creative fields, struggle with effective communication with clients. Implementing a collaborative platform with a transparency feature, to their task completion apps, by providing effective communication aids, would help both parties to work in a proactive workspace.”
Approach
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit.
Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
Google Workspace stands out as a top collaboration tool
○ real-time collaboration,
○ seamless integration with other apps,
○ Top-grade security
Approach
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit.
Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
Google Workspace stands out as a top collaboration tool
○ real-time collaboration,
○ seamless integration with other apps,
○ Top-grade security
Approach
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit.
Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
Google Workspace stands out as a top collaboration tool
○ real-time collaboration,
○ seamless integration with other apps,
○ Top-grade security
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit.
Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit. Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
The Bird in Hand Principle is one of the 5 principles of effectuation. Originating from an ancient Greek proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” the phrase states that a readily available benefit is more valuable than some possibly larger future benefit.
Therefore this approach make use of existing google workspace where most of the communication happens between a freelancer and a client, and adding on the collaborative feature to enhance communication are added to it.
Task flows
Task flows
Wireframes
Wireframes
Existing G Chat structure
Existing G Chat structure