Improving physician digital experiences for a healthcare staffing agency.
user experience - product thinking - information architecture
Role & Team
One of two designers on an 8 person team, working embedded within client team.
Last 3 months of year long project.
Key Skills
Interaction design & prototyping.
Client communication & collaboration with developers.
Learning & adapting swiftly.
My Impact
I worked in an equivalent capacity as the full time designers, which gave all of us the breathing space to produce properly thought-through designs, not just ones that were churned out quickly as possible to meet our tight deadlines. I also identified areas to improve the design system & workflow, saving many hours of future work.
TLDR
While working at WillowTree, my objectives were to reach the capacity of a full time designer and fundamentally understand the functions, strategies, and details of the company.
To do this, I onboarded as quickly as possible, spending my own time researching AGILE, design systems, developer terminology - anything I didn't yet understand.
Doing so enabled me to function as a full time designer, being the DRI for several features, collaborating with developers, and presenting to the client multiple times.
The Problem
Existing services were too effortful & static to be useful to physicians on-the-go.
Locums tenens physicians have a huge range of work conditions; detailed & live info is critical for them to be successful. CHG’s existing services were not usable on-the-go, revealing an opportunity gap for a mobile app.
The Solution
A personalized, up-to-date mobile app for physicians supporting them at all times.
The new app was designed to take advantage of existing opportunity gaps: quick high value generating moments where physicians needed information or to complete a short task.
Onboarding & Context Building (1)
Gaining context & integrating into the team during the last phase of a year long project.
I joined a combined team of 2 designers, 2 PMs, and 10+ developers from WillowTree and its client, one of the biggest healthcare staffing agencies in the country. The project had been going for nearly a year, so I had a lot of context to catch up on.
By asking effective questions and utilizing my learning science knowledge, I quickly onboarded despite months of missing context.
As this was my first time working at an agency, using AGILE, and designing for a medical field, I needed to learn very quickly in order to be effective on the team.
some artifacts I made to help learn quickly
I interviewed 19 different roles and mapped the agency from an organization to individual level.
As a naturally curious person and someone who needs to understand the "why" of everything to learn best, I sought to understand the underlying motivations for everything at the company. To ensure a deep understanding, I synthesized all the info I learned into a design artifact.
Designing & Collaborating (2)
Balancing scope & quality experience while minimizing tech debt for future versions.
Because the team was operating on a timeline months shorter than what had been recommended to the client, I learned to make every design decision with minimizing scope in mind while still ensuring a quality experience for our users. The client planned to significantly expand the app, so our designs had to enable easy expansion for future versions.
I met with developers every day to walk through feasibility and thoroughly understand the backend of the product.
At various points throughout each design sprint, I checked in with developers to get an idea of how many points a feature would take.
To minimize future tech debt, we first designed the ideal version of each feature, then pared down into a technically feasible MVP.
Gaining an understanding of the future version of the app helped us figure out how to preserve a quality experience while reducing technical effort.
Design System & Prototyping (3)
A fresh pair of eyes: identifying opportunities to improve workflows.
Coming into the project as a fresh pair of eyes helped me identify areas of opportunity that hadn't been considered or tended to. Despite being busy with sprint work, I made the time to document their design system & suggest improvements, build a more efficient prototype.
I revamped the design system & built guidelines on how to make designing for 2 brands x 2 platforms more efficient.
Due to lack of design bandwidth, the project with a haphazard design system spread across files, which I consolidated into a well-documented library.
It seemed inefficient to have to create 4 screens per design (2 brands x 2 platforms) so I built guidelines on how to implement Figma variables to reduce that effort.
In case the app wouldn't be implemented in time, I built a global prototype that could be used as backup during user testing.
Due to the tight timeline, we ran the risk of the app not being functional by the time user testing was scheduled, so I built a fully functional prototype to use as a backup. It also ended up being circulated among the client company to demonstrate our work.
Working with Clients (4)
Client communication: asking probing questions & presenting design work.
I interacted with the client on a daily basis, presenting during design reviews, product planning sessions, and developer handoffs. This involved navigating the various personalities in the room, and knowing when to push back vs. acquiesce while finding compromises.
I presented several features (as the DRI) to the entire WT & client team, facilitating productive knowledge transfer.
At various points throughout each design sprint, I checked in with developers to get an idea of how many points a feature would take.
While both full time designers were on leave / out, I took full responsibility of the design work, enabling a smooth transition.
During the last design sprint, both full time designers were out, so I worked as the primary designer for the team.
Learnings (5)
Being adaptable & knowing what questions to ask.
Working as a product designer in the consultancy environment exposed me to so much that I never knew existed! This internship helped build my confidence as a designer, ability to effectively collaborate and clearly communicate.
Learning #1 (out of like 50)
Communicate often & widely.
I learned that to be an effective team, communication has to be often, timely, and through multiple channels that allow different kinds of information to flow through.
Learning #2 (actually… more like out of 100)
Always have multiple options.
In school, you often only design the blue sky version. But in reality, you need to think through a wide range of options so you're prepared for anything that might come your way.
