We pride ourselves on workstreams.ai's unique approach to design and how it impacts everyone using our product. We have always placed the needs and wishes of our users at the forefront of our design ethic, which is why the four pillars of our philosophy are referred to as the "USER" approach. Unity, Simplicity, Empathy, and Reflection.
Unity
Unity is what keeps our product both recognizable and reassuring to our users. When people interact with our product, they are not only interacting with one tool, function, or a new feature, but an entire ecosystem that encompasses our web app, our Slack interface, and our brand. As a workflow management tool, we owe our users experiences that bring context to their actions as well as clarity while organizing tasks. That's why we don't change our design without rigorously exploring and discussing how any change will impact what has already been created in our ecosystem. In any great design, the whole is always something far greater than just the sum of its parts. This is why we prioritize unity.
Simplicity
Ironically, making something elegant and simple can be a rather complicated affair. Mark Twain famously captured this conundrum with the line:
If I’d had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.
Simplicity is essential because it is critically entwined with functionality. We believe that most task-management tools complicate rather than simplify their users’ work lives. To be different (and in a good way), we have normalized the act of breaking down supposedly complex processes into simpler, clearer, and more purposeful steps that all flow together. Reducing what needs to be reduced and emphasizing what’s most important to pay attention to is how we guide users into a “workstream” that feels more like moving down a river than climbing up a mountain.
Empathy
All of the unity and simplicity in the world would be for nothing if we didn’t have empathy for the human beings who use our product. We have to know what people need, logistically and emotionally, to help them achieve what they need to. To that end, we include our users in our design process whenever we conceptualize, iterate, or test our latest features. We want to ensure that we have the right data and the right perspective to inform our decisions. For this, there’s no replacement for thoughtful user testing and regularly updating our user personas based on up-to-date feedback.
Reflection
There are plenty of approaches that don't always succeed when testing new concepts, and that's fine, but we want to figure out why. When something does work, we seek to understand what was integral to its success. That's why we always reflect on our work, keep track of successes and failures, and communicate ways to improve. We do this not only for the sake of our designs, but to exemplify good communication on workstreams.ai. Communication is an afterthought for every other task management solution, but not for us. We keep the discussion open after releasing new features and continue to inspect what can be adjusted, or what we hope to include in our next projects, iterations, and ideas.
Those are the essentials of the USER approach! Whenever we work on anything for our users, it’s these four pillars that help us keep our aspirations high and our priorities in perspective.
By the way, we are always on the lookout for daring people. If you want to work in Berlin, with an amazing team filled with emphatic and talented people from across the world, join us, we are hiring!
