Power BI is a cloud-based analytics service that gives you a single view of your most critical data. Monitor the health of your business using a live dashboard.
The service is made up of Power BI desktop - to create rich interactive reports, and Power BI mobile apps, to access your data on the go. I joined the mobile team shortly after the MVP version was released internally, and worked mainly on the iOS app.
###Communication
The team was spread across Redmond and Herzelia. Communication is crutial when working remotly and We held weekly skype meetings where everyone had a chance to show the rest of the team what he/she was working on and get feedback. We set up Slack channels for each major feature so anybody can join the conversation, review and share his ideas.
I try to share my work as much and as early as I can. Sharing with anybody who is willing to give feedback. I often found out that sharing with people outside the specific feature team you’re working with, can give you fresh perspective and raise issues you haven’t thought about or missed along the way. Share your work!
###Small Opportunities
Shortly after I joined the team, the brand was undergoing a major redesign and the iOS app needed to reflect those new values. I decided to use this opportunity and rethink some of the flows. It’s always a good thing trying to push your design agenda whenever possible. If a task calls for refactoring some backend code on one of the screens, check with your PM if the developers have the time to replace that icon that’s been bugging you.
###Alert!!!
One on the first major flows that were on my scope was the alerts feature. I know that you think the word ‘alert’ has a negative feel, I thought so too, but I learned it’s not the case for ‘data junkies’ - the app’s main target audience.
Alerts let users choose a data point that’s important to them, set thresholds to the min/max values and then whenever that threshold is reached, a notification is sent.
I decided to simplify this flow and improve the experience. We learned from our users that it’s not the actual specific value they cared about, but the fact that the data has changed. So why have them set the threshold manually?
We can remove this step and simply set the alert using the current data value as the threshold. It was now a matter of choosing your data point, tap the alert icon and continue with your work.
The alert feature is a great way to keep users interacting with the app. By removing the friction we increased user engagement in almost 30%.
###Workflow
I introduced the use of UI specification documents to the team. ‘Axure’ was used to create the user flows and define all the functionality requirements.
‘Framer js’ was used to explore and create the interactions and motion design. Developers had a single location to view the latest design iteration and we, the designers, saved a lot of time (and money) creating tedious redlines and tring to explain an interaction in words to a developer.
###Closing
Working on such a large scale is challenging and very interesting. One thing you learn quickly in Microsoft is that someone probably already did extensive work in the area your currently exploring. A company with such a long history of software development has a huge knowledge base, you just have to ask questions and research.
Microsoft is a great school for me in terms of working as a lead designer on a product vs. a department of developers, product managers and customers.
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