Problem Definition:

People that work from home are not taking relaxing breaks which causes burnout.

 

12 BIGGEST CHALLENGES OF WORKING FROM HOME:

1. Managing Your Own Schedule & Time

2. Blurred Line Between Personal & Professional Life

3. General Distractions

4. Reduced Supervision & Direction

5. Communication & Coordination Challenges

6. Unclear Performance Metrics

7. Social and Physical Isolation

8. The “Work in Your PJs” Trap

9. Failing to Run Your Business Like a Business

10. Lax Billing & Invoicing Practices

11. Motivation & Long-Term Vision

12. Failing to Network, Communications, Personality

 

 

Screen Rest App:

Homie cook is an application designed to let users get a real off-screen break when they work from home remotely. This will also give people a healthier option based on their physical and mental needs. This application has integrated with their work schedule calendar and helps users to plan all their break times.

 

 

Competitors Analysis:

Research Plan

Product + Feature

Exploring possible paths toward a solution.

Problem Statement/Research Question

People that work from home are not taking relaxing breaks which causes burnout.

Goal

Understand the problems and successes people have working from home

Research Methodology

• Recruiting users/participants through screeners based on our initial research plan
• Conduct 7 interviews between 30 mins to 1 hour. Then gather major insights and findings
• Develop personas and a journey map based on information gathered from interviews
• Competitor Analysis – Learn about other companies that offer similar services. What does and does not work?
• Develop wireframes and low fid prototypes. Conduct a usability test. Add or adjust any features based on feedback from usability testing. Develop high fidelity prototypes.

Users / Participants

People that work from home part-time or full time – complex dynamics that are based on people’s lives (internet access, accessibility, etc.) We are learning more about our users so that we can define them.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

WARM-UP

• What is your occupation?
• Do you have dependents?
• Do you live in an apartments houses?
• Can you describe your daily routine working from home? Is it consistent?

 

COMMUNICATION

• Let’s talk about communication with your coworkers. Please share a story of a time when you were satisfied with the communication and another story of when communication failed because of working from home.
• Describe how your supervisor and teammates communicate work expectations each day/week.
• How many times a day do you communicate with work and what communication channels work for you?

 

ENVIRONMENT

• What do you feel can improve your remote work experience?
• How have you set up your home office or the physical space where you work from home? How have you prepared to maximize yours at-home productivity? Is it successful

 

MENTAL HEALTH

• Please describe how you feel about your work-life balance. Including how to take breaks, what do you do during breaks
• Have you experienced social isolation since working from home? If so can you describe that experience?
• How do you limit stress and distractions?

TECHNOLOGY

• Please describe your technical difficulties and support policies. Please share an example?

 

PERFORMANCE

• How have you grown professionally working from home (is there supportive software)? Or how have you faced obstacles to professional growth since working from home?

 

TIME-MANAGEMENT

• Please describe how you manage work emails after hours.
• How do you prioritize tasks and deadlines?
• How do you “turn off work mode” at the end of the day?
• What do you do to balance work and personal life?

 

FINAL QUESTIONS

• Is there anything new you think I should be aware of?
• What is your biggest WFH struggle?

INTERVIEW Data:

Interview Takeaways

• Smaller accomplished goals
• Transitions from WORK to HOME is abrupt
• Healthier diet choices
• Frustrations of too many meetings
• Daily expectation and accountability meetings
• The trend towards home office culture

 

 

USER JOURNEY:

HMW Statement

How might we provide opportunities to experience relaxing breaks?

 

SWOT Analysis:

HMW Storyboard:

USER SCENARIO:

Set up the scenario. To begin, break your written scenario down into pieces. Write the persona, motivator, and intent at the top, to serve as guiding context. Then break the rest of the scenario down into smaller parts across 4-6 sticky notes placing them horizontally across the wall.

 

IDEATION Based on USER SCENARIO:

Janelle is about to prepare her family meals. She needs a way to find different recipes that fit her family’s schedule so that it won’t repeat with the same dish ideas. She wants to plan for warmed-up meals that she can pop into the microwave. Variety matters to her. Reza is searching for breaks that are similar to the experience he had with his team in the office before working from home.

TASK FLOW

WIREFRAMES

 

Usability Test Scenario 1 – Task 1

Scenario 1:

You have a few meetings today and you want to schedule a break after your meeting

Task 1:

Schedule a 15-minute break in your schedule today.

Follow Up Questions:

How was this process for you, overall?

Did it perform the way you expected?

 

Usability Test Scenario 2 – Task 2

Scenario 2:

You want some help managing anxiety so you decide to take some deep breaths

Task 2:

Show us how you would set up a breathing exercise.

Follow Up Questions:

1. Where is the first place you looked to prepare the breathing technique?

2. How do you feel about how the order of the breathing technique options?

3. How long do you want to use the technique?

Considerations:

Does the user look at the screen or follow the audio?

 

Usability Test Scenario 3 – Task 3

Scenario 3:
Your friends sent you two new affirmations.

Task 3:
Check out these affirmations and record a reply affirmation to share with them.

Follow Up Questions:
Did it perform as you expected?

 

Usability Test – Post Task Questions

• How did you feel about the onboarding process?
• Were the qualifying questions something that you expected to answer?
• Would you have rather the screens been separated or all on one screen?
• How do you feel about the color scheme?
• Was the text easy to read for you?
• How did you feel about the audio?

 

Prototype:

 

 

Our Team:

Mary Morekas • Jen Stanton • Suasan Aldrige • Alferedo Capps • Ali Hoss

 

My Role:

– UX/UI designer

– Motion Graphics Designer