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Redesigning a centralized digital resource to improve discoverability.
The Food Co-op is Olympia’s leading local foods grocer, Collectively owned and operated since 1977.
My involvement in this project stemmed from my love for local food systems and my desire to see this essential, community-based organization continue to flourish. As a Collective Staff member and Co-Project Manager, I had the opportunity to apply converging perspectives: A UX designer with first-hand knowledge of the Co-op’s intricate systems.
A four-person team completed this work. When I first met with the Staff Pages coordinators, I heard all about their frustrations maintaining the site. They had very limited ability to make changes to the layout, styles, or organization of content.
This is what staff have been using for 15 years.
My role: Information Architecture, Prototyping, Research Lead, and Co-Project Manager.
Our project began as a casual conversation between coworkers. But before we knew it, things evolved quickly into proposals, team assembly, and bi-monthly meetings to maintain our workflow. I conducted research, designed surveys, analyzed results, and created presentations. I also contributed to mapping exercises, iterative prototypes, and project management to keep us on track along the way.
My favorite moments were our group share-outs! I co-led presentations for all 85 of our coworkers, addressing questions and gathering insightful feedback. These collaborations made our project truly transformative.
Defining the problem.
Insight 1: Navigation is unintuitive, inconsistent, and even prohibits use.
The overwhelming majority of complaints about Staff Pages mention issues with findability.
Survey results also indicated that interactions with Staff Pages are generally low. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of workers only access Staff Pages on a monthly basis! Scroll through more results below...
Insight 2: Staff pages is not currently integrated with any document sharing systems.
While the Co-op’s Tech Team is updating file sharing systems to make "dynamic" working documents remotely accessible, the Redesign Team is ensuring that "static" archived documents remain organized in Staff Pages. This dual task of improving document sharing and archiving will significantly enhance the Co-op's overall digital work environment.
Throughout this process there have been some surprises, but we know one thing is for sure: Staff Pages will continue to be the one and only centralized place to access all Co-op digitally archived information. It is ultimately a home for collaboration―past, present, and future.
Insight 3: There is healthy skepticism among staff about scope, costs, and training.
In the hybrid competitive analysis/heuristic evaluation below, you can see a broad range of compiled user concerns addressed across potential platform options.
This is where healthy skepticism meets healthy research!
As the spreadsheet grew and grew I realized that the Staff Pages redesign was not merely about making documents and information more accessible. The big picture was about updating out-moded systems and implementing a sustainable digital work environment that could improve business operations for years to come.
Opportunity.
How might we redesign Staff Pages to improve discoverability and better meet the needs of the Food Co-op’s growing business?
Idea 1: Rebuild the navigation structure and add a search tool.
This is the intersection where abstract research gets turned into concrete solutions.
Our group got together for in-person mapping sessions to overhaul the information architecture of the site, beginning with open and closed card sort activities. Below is a first iteration of the redesign in Notion for part-time Flex Workers.
“Mega-menu” style formatting creates a scannable homepage according to categories. The familiar list-style feel is enhanced with icons for visual cues, and most viewed information located at the top of the page.
We also knew from our survey results that the addition of a search tool was most desired. Notion’s built-in search tool allows users to quickly find information according to keywords, and recently searched content populates the search window.
Idea 2: Create pages for all workers, including part-time staff, board members, and volunteers.
The Co-op’s expanding business operations now require multiple tiers of access. Part-time Flex Workers currently do not have access to any staff wiki for workplace information. This is a huge problem!
The redesigned Staff Pages must include access for all its users:
- Full-time Collective Staff
- Part-time Flex Staff
- Board Members
- Working Members (volunteers)
These pages will also need to include varying levels of permissions so that sensitive information is only shared with the working groups involved.
Idea 3: Affirm the iterative process, and solicit routine feedback.
Conducting user testing and incorporating feedback into each iteration has been integral to our consensus-driven decision making process. The Notion page designed for Part-Time Staff will be tested first, and I have created a usability testing guideline for when we are ready to begin.
Results from user testing will be cross examined with results from the survey. Qualitative and quantitative data will allow for an in-depth analysis of key performance indicators and overall better user experience.
For example: As noted in the survey, more than 40% of Co-op workers only use Staff Pages once a month. Can we increase the frequency of Staff Pages interactions to a daily basis for most users?
Final Recommendation.
A future-oriented Staff Pages that’s secure, searchable, and easy to maintain.
For Collective Staff:
- Create an intuitive navigation structure
- Ensure that viewing, downloading, and editing documents is easy and consistent
- Add a search tool
- Provide individual logins with varied permissions
- Design a homepage that displays most viewed documents
- Implement a process for archiving
For Staff Pages Coordinators:
- Simplify the work that coordinators do, i.e. make sure it is easy to design, manage, and make changes to content
- Ensure the security of documents and sensitive information
- Keep costs low
- Require less training to use than the current site
- Integrate available tech support
Process: There are 18,000 files stored on Staff Pages. Next step is document migration!
As we dive deeper into mapping and testing we will start nailing down the organization of content.
Regardless of which platform we decide to switch to, understanding our needs for information architecture and systems for archiving is crucial. In preparation for a huge aspect of this project, document migration, we will need to synthesize our work at various stages to share with Collective Staff and stay on track.
We are currently exploring our options for creating scripts to help us batch organize files for transfer!
Reflections: The iterative process is not linear.
I am so proud of our team and the vision we share. At times the work has been stop-and-go, but we have worked together to prepare, modify, and reharmonize. Looking back at our progress makes me excited to provide a long-lasting resource for the Food Co-op and its workers.