LogTAP Case Study

LogTAP

*The complete case study is best viewed on desktop or tablet. This mobile version is abridged.

Product Management

Product Design

Mobile App

Project Summary

My Role

Product Manager/Owner, UX Designer,

AWS Administrator

Skills

Agile product management, requirements handling, budgeting, hiring, data management, UX research, UI design

Team

Product Manager (me), Mobile App Development Team (Hedgehog Labs)

Client

Air Conditioning Solutions Inc.

Timeline

January 2019 - January 2021

Deliverable

Android/iOS Mobile Application

Key Takeaways

Problem

How might we improve the efficiency and accuracy of daily inspections for commercial and industrial HVAC equipment, which currently rely on pen-and-paper methods?

Solution

Design a mobile application that allows technicians to log equipment data and visualizes data that can be used to fine-tune equipment settings for optimal performance.

Impact

The mobile app MVP has been fully developed and launched. ACS Inc. is using the app as its primary data logging platform for skyscrapers and hospital job sites.

Personal Introduction

My first time applying my UX design and research skills also required me to manage product development from start to finish 😱

Driven by a genuine passion for learning and design, I began teaching myself UX/UI design in 2019. While wireframing my personal project, a video game, during lunch the company president noticed my work and was impressed with my ability to quickly learn new things. He proposed a digital product idea, leading a dedicated role in designing and developing LogTAP for building and field technicians.

This case study delves into my first foray into app development, product management, research, and design process, highlighting the mistakes and lessons learned throughout my first time delivering a mobile application.

Project Overview

My Role

Introduction

Problem

Solution

My Role

As a product designer and product manager/owner, I aimed to bring the stakeholder's business idea to life.

To realize the CEO's and president's vision, my role shifted from Controls GUI Designer to Product Manager/Owner. I took on multiple responsibilities, serving as:

UX Designer & Researcher
Product Manager/Owner
AWS Administrator
QA Test Lead
UI Designer
App Life Cycle Manager

Introduction

What is LogTAP?

A mobile application that streamlines utility equipment data logging and contributes to a database that analyzes trends by region and recommends values to fine tune equipment for optimal performance and energy efficiency.

Founded by Air Conditioning Solutions Inc, an HVAC construction and building automation company. LogTAP is a mobile application developed to address issues with current flaws in OSHA requirements regarding routine equipment inspection.

Problem

What does LogTAP aim to solve?

"Equipment inspections in the HVAC industry are becoming dated. Tons of equipment data is recorded on paper, stowed away, and forgotten. As businesses look to reduce energy costs, there is a wealth of recorded data going to waste. LogTAP aims to collect that data and provide consulting and analysis services to building engineers, owners, and technicians."

— Bret Ninomiya (President of ACS Inc. and Founder of LogTAP)

Solution

Develop a SaaS platform for android/iOS mobile

These three key steps were essential for designing, developing, and launching LogTAP:

Design Thinking Process & Software Development Life Cycle

This framework places a strong emphasis on empathizing with users, ensuring that the app addresses their specific needs and pain points. By fostering creativity and iterative problem-solving, Design Thinking results in more user-centric and innovative mobile app solutions.

Contract Development Team: Hedgehog Labs

The team included the following roles: senior systems architect, account manager, scrum master, QA engineer, android/iOS app developers, dev ops engineer, and lead product designer.

Iterative User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

To validate the extensive research and usability of the prototype and functionality of the MVP application, extensive UAT was conducted internally and with select customers and key investors.

View MVP Prototype

Empathize

Market Research

Competitive Analysis

User Interviews

Business Validation

Research Approach

Breaking down the problem and determining the scope of work

During the empathize phase, it was crucial to understand the industry the users worked in and understand where LogTAP could fit into their workflows.

Discover existing utility equipment data logging procedures

To address user needs effectively, it was essential to gain a deeper understanding of their daily workflows. To achieve this, I wore a hard hat and visited one of ACS Inc's job sites, where I shadowed building and HVAC technicians to gain insights into their daily lives.

Analyze competitor platforms that collect HVAC equipment data

Validate if the initial business idea meets user needs

Research

Understanding the procedures and requirements for building engineers/managers and field technicians

Primary Research

Front and center user interviews: putting on a hard hat, getting on site, and shadowing the users

Valuable insights gained from on-site technician shadowing, including:

Understanding the schedule of routine equipment log inspections.
Observing the process of logging equipment data.
Obtaining scanned copies of logs.
Accessing the file cabinets where data logs were stored.
Conducting informal user interviews with technicians.
An impromptu user interview with the chief building manager and engineer.

IoT frameworks offer basic trend data recording, but are often the root cause of most data leaks and failures.

Existing IoT frameworks are customizable solutions, meaning contractors have to program custom solutions for utilities. Many of these solutions are prone to going offline and crashing—hence the need to record data via pen-and-paper.

Contractors utilizing these frameworks are construction companies first. Research shows that most contractors develop solutions that do not manage data efficiently and only provide data analytics at the most basic levels.

Seconday Research

Scoping out the competition

With no direct competition to be found, research focused on the largest indirect competitors in the industry: Honeywell and Siemens.

Both companies own the IoT frameworks that control most building automation systems found in commercial, industrial, and medical buildings in the USA.

Findings revealed an opportunity to provide a service with features that the major IoT frameworks failed to provide.

User Interviews

Getting to know the needs of technicians, building engineers, and building managers

At this stage in my product design journey, I conducted user interviews in high volume but had a poor documentation methods and lacked in-depth knowledge of how to conduct proper user interviews. Because the stakeholders expressed great enthusiasm for the future of the product, I asked leading questions and introduced bias into research findings.

Despite the confirmation bias present in my findings, insights gained from user interviews provided information that would be invaluable during the define stage of the design process.

Sample size

10 users

Participants from

2 companies

With experience from

Working In

3 roles

Technicians say that logging equipment data is a tedious and undesirable task and building engineers confirm that they are too busy to analyze the data stored in file cabinets

All 8 technicians interviewed agreed that the equipment data logging procedure was tedious and felt outdated. None of them had considered other means of logging the data. All technicians viewed the task as a miscellaneous chore compared to their other job duties.

Building engineers and building managers confirmed that they are always trying to optimize utilities to keep property owners happy by minimizing operation costs.

Interviews with a building engineer and building manager revealed that utility operation costs are often hot topics during meetings with commercial property owners. Both participants stated that they rely on building automation data and bills from utilities companies to present during meetings. Neither had considered processing the data recorded in the utilities data logs, since both participants viewed the logs as a standard procedural task (rather than an opportunity to analyze more data).

Due to the nature of construction and engineering, many participants said they would only adopt a new technologies if it made their jobs easier.

While all interview participants showed excitement and interest in a digital data logging method, many expressed concerns regarding the replacement of a traditional method with technology. The building engineer stated "the reason why we log the data on pen-and-paper is because our building automation systems go down often—sometimes when we need them most."

The pressure to validate client expectations and aspirations for the product introduced bias into the interview and research process.

In my first role as a product designer and manager, I faced the challenge of navigating a high-stakes environment without prior UX education. Regrettably, I caved to the pressure of aligning too closely with client expectations. Reflecting on this experience, I've learned that my interview questions may have unintentionally biased user research findings in favor of the client's perspective. Given another attempt at this project, it would be ideal to approach research with a neutral stance to gain more accurate insights.

Business Validation

Analyzing the business potential of LogTAP

While similar products and services exist, there are no direct competitors in the building automation sector

Research indicates that LogTAP has the potential to function as a profitable SaaS platform, offering substantial benefits to users.

User interviews validate the existence of the problem LogTAP aims to solve, establishing it as a current pain point for the target audience.

Defining The Product

Business Proposal

Problem Statement

User Personas & Stories

Prioritization & Sprint Planning

User Personas & Stories

Defining the needs of the business and the end user

To ensure the LogTAP MVP's functionality for both end users and administrators, user stories were crafted to outline essential features, including the required administrative CMS for core analytics and operations.

The user stories revolved around 3 user personas:

The building/field technician
The chief building engineer
The building/property owner

Prioritization & Sprint Planning

Determining the order of development

Sort features via a priority matrix and kanban category cards

For this project, we utilized Monday.com as the chosen project management system. Features were categorized by priority and grouped based on their relativity, streamlining the organization and management of tasks.

Coordinate with SCRUM Master to create development schedule

Prioritizing features into high, mid, and low categories, close collaboration with the development team's Scrum Master was crucial to align technical tasks with a timeline within the team's agile framework.

Assign tasks and review processes with dev team

Project tasks were outlined on a timeline, and specific assignments were delegated to the development team members. Simultaneously, routine meetings and communications were established to ensure effective collaboration and progress tracking.

Ideation

Business Proposal Revision

Opportunities Lost

Business Proposal Revision

Revising the product's initial business plan

LogTAP will replace existing data logging methods and address existing user pain points

Following user research, the business proposal was updated to include logging data for multiple job sites and various equipment types. While the initial problem statement centered on HVAC equipment, user interviews unveiled the potential for LogTAP to benefit a broader range of utilities for building engineers and technicians.

Revised

The data will be analyzed to provide energy efficiency insights to customers

During the discovery phase, a new issue emerged: data idling in storage cabinets, and existing building automation systems providing limited trend data. User interviews affirmed the significant value of this data for property owners. Upon sharing these insights with the clients, comprehensive data analytics was added into the business proposal.

New

Opportunities Lost - Brainstorming, Challenge Assumptions, Etc.

Ideation was expedited in favor of development speed

During the discovery phase of this project, the emphasis shifted towards validating stakeholder expectations and integrating them into existing user journeys. This focus unintentionally took precedence over exploring opportunities to address new pain points.

Since research validated the client's expectations both the client and development team were eager to move forward with the project, leaving assumptions unchallenged.

Brainstorming was done before conducting research and excitement to develop the product led to the avoidance of revisiting the brainstorming stage.

Prototype

Low Fidelity Wireframe

High Fidelity Protoype

Ideation

Visualizing a concept

From sketches to digital wireframes in Adobe XD

With rough wireframe sketches in hand, it was finally time to apply weeks of research to a visual design. As the development team began to lay the framework for the data architecture, I got to work on creating low fidelity wireframes to present to the development team's senior UX designer.

The main lessons learned from my first time wireframing a real end-to-end mobile application were:

Prioritizing user and task flow diagrams drastically improves wireframing speed and quality: Due to time constraints, I dove into wireframing without thorough user and task flow maps, which led to crucial UI elements being overlooked and incomplete task flows within the hierarchy. These had to be addressed through iteration.

Focus on functionality over styling during wireframing: Straying beyond the scope by focusing on color schemes, UI kits, and non-essential elements for presentation added unnecessary time and resource costs, emphasizing the need to prioritize functionality.

View Low-Fi Wireframes

*Wireframes were exported from Adobe XD (discontinued) to Figma. Some components and wireframes may not accurately represent the designs for the project. The original .xd file may be provided upon request.

High Fidelity Prototype

From concept to high fidelity prototype

Creating polished, high fidelity, screens for an interactive prototype

After months of research, wireframing, and brand development, an interactive MVP prototype was crafted for stakeholder presentation and usability testing. The prototype tests all features and user tasks outlined in user stories from the define stage, with particular emphasis on the primary task: logging entries for utility equipment.

View Hi-Fi Wireframes

View MVP Prototype

*Prototype and wireframes were exported from Adobe XD (discontinued) to Figma. Some components and wireframes may not accurately represent the designs for the project. The original .xd file may be provided upon request.

Test & Implement

Usability & User Acceptance Testing

Iteration Woes

Usability & User Acceptance Testing

Putting the design to the test

Usability and user acceptance testing were conducted concurrently in order to expedite product delivery and ensure that the project stayed within the established budget and timeline.

The problem: Technical debt was accrued. Conducting usability testing after the product was developed meant that iteration was not possible without creating new contracts and increasing the project budget.

Sample size

14 users

Participants from

3 companies

With experience from

Working In

4 roles

Can users navigate the dashboard and log unit data?

86%

12 out of 14 users

Successfully navigated the dashboard to the unit log creation screens

These results confirm that the bottom navigation bar, with primary action button, was an effective design decision.

Is unit log creation and data entry intuitive and quick?

92%

13 out of 14 users

Were able to create a new unit, assign parameters for the unit's logs, and log data

A step by step unit creation task flow that led into logging unit data proved effective, with only 1 participant struggling to complete the process within a reasonable amount of time.

Are users able to access previous units and logs and modify data?

42%

6 out of 14 users

Were able to quickly add new entries, edit previous logs, or edit unit data

While most users were able to easily create new log entries for units, more than half the participants struggled to modify or edit previous entries or unit information. Many users were frustrated and said that the options were not clear.

Iteration

Conducting Usability Testing and UAT at the same time led to technical debt

Due to budget, scheduling constraints, and pressure to launch the project, technical debt was assumed when usability testing was conducted in tandem with UAT.

Simultaneous usability and UAT facilitated the on-time development and launch of the app, adhering to the proposed timeline and budget.

Technical debt was incurred, and usability testing uncovered two significant design issues: the dark color scheme of the UI hindered screen visibility on rooftops in sunlight, and users encountered difficulties editing existing units and data logs.

Usability testing exposed more significant challenges than anticipated, necessitating additional contracts, expenses, and development time for iterative design improvements and implementation.

Stakeholders opted to disregard usability testing findings to avoid incurring extra costs and extending development time.

Product Launch

The Outcome

Impact

The Outcome

LogTAP was developed and launched!

Following extensive product research, design, sprints, and numerous meetings, LogTAP has been successfully developed and launched for both Android and iOS! The app is presently in use by Air Conditioning Solutions Inc. and key partners to gather data and enhance prediction algorithms.

Conclusion

Takeaways

Navigating the dual roles of a product designer and manager was both challenging and immensely rewarding, amplifying my analytical and research capabilities. This experience also marked my introduction to managing agile methodologies and collaborating seamlessly with a complete development team.

Designing and managing the development of LogTAP significantly enhanced my skills in:

Product Design: As a self-taught UX designer, taking on this high-stakes, real-world project propelled my ability to research, learn, and adapt rapidly. This invaluable experience accelerated my growth as a product designer, surpassing the pace of traditional UX design bootcamps.
Product Management & Ownership: Spearheading LogTAP's development provided a firsthand understanding of product management intricacies and the sense of ownership required for successful project delivery.
Learning to Work within the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle): Completing the LogTAP project provided me with valuable insights into the structured and methodical approach of the SDLC. Through this experience, I gained an understanding of the importance of thorough planning, documentation, and sequential phases in ensuring the successful development and deployment of software solutions.

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