Scheduler
A new feature for landscaping crew managers
How do we account for multiple organizations’ preferences?
As we built out the various features for our landscaping business management software, our users expressed the desire to better organize how they schedule work for their crews. However, we found that different businesses had very different approaches to scheduling. I worked to understand the different methodologies and create a design that accounted for their major needs.
Finding the common ground
I met with users to understand how they go about scheduling tasks for their crews. We found that most currently use whiteboards because no software or program provided the customization needed for their industry-specific approach. Other major discoveries included:
Most companies would focus on a single crew’s workload at a time
Managers wanted to account for travel time in their scheduling
The ability to easily re-order or reassign tasks is absolutely necessary
I used these common factors to lead the mockups I created, knowing we would add more specific features in future iterations.
Client example of a scheduling calendar
Focusing on basic functionality
My 1st iteration of this design had the user focused on a day at a time for any given team. By including a condensed version of the task list, users could drag and drop unscheduled tasks into a team’s workload for a specific day. They could also use filters or the search bar if they’re looking for a specific type of task.
This design covered a lot of the needed bases, but had a few issues we discovered through conducting some basic usability tests:
Most users wanted to see at least a few days at a time
Navigating to the scheduler within the product was a bit awkward
1st Iteration of the Scheduler
Implementing user feedback
My next iteration of the Scheduler screen combined the Task List and Scheduler as tabs on the same “Tasks” page, accessible from the global navigation. This gave the user a clearer mental model for where to find these two different (but related) experiences. Users were also able to see multiple workdays at a time and a breakdown of a crew’s estimated labor and travel time for any given day.
I am certain that the scheduler will continue to develop, but I feel very confident in the framework I established for Include GO through my designs.
2nd Iteration of the Scheduler