Overview
I worked on an AI-Powered Project Management platform called Graph Academy that enables greater efficiency of online collaboration. During the pandemic, people need to work collaboratively online reported issues like redundant work efforts, excessive meetings, and low efficiency. I created the solution for how the efficiency of team communication and task-tracking can be improved by an AI-Powered corporate online system.
My goal is to create a product which significantly increase efficiency within companies by creating a structured web of a note-taking system and knowledge that automatically updates progress and context.
Goal
Target
Users need to work collaboratively online
Timeline
September 2023 - November 2023
My Role
Product Design (User Research, User Interface Design)
Landing Page
The lack of efficient exchange and contextual understanding leads to redundant work efforts, excessive meetings, and crucial information getting lost in the shuffle. Overall, this poses a significant hindrance to productivity, ultimately leading to considerable cost implications for organizations, regardless of their size or industry.
Problem Statement
User Research
Primary Research
User Interviews:
Insights gained from personal in-depth interviews with five project managers further punctuated the struggle with managing tasks and communications effectively. They highlighted issues such as missed deadlines due to miscommunications, lack of real-time progress tracking, and time lost to duplicate work.
Quantitative User Surveys:
We ran a comprehensive user surveys with 200 respondents, primarily project managers and team leads, across various industries. Our research revealed:
80% of respondents admitted unnecessary meetings and redundant conversations significantly hamper their teams' productivity.
70% of the participants expressed that they believed AI could help streamline project management and cooperation amongst their team – but weren’t sure where to start.
Secondary Research
"A report by the Harvard Business Review revealed that only 35% of projects today are completed successfully due to inefficient communication and collaboration."
"As per a study by McKinsey, employees spend almost 20% of their workweek looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks."
"A recent Forrester study predicts that businesses who use AI, big data, and IoT technologies will take away $1.2 trillion per year from their less-informed peers by 2020."
Competitors
While there are established players in the market such as Salesforce and Microsoft along with newcomers like Asana and Notion, none have managed to create a pattern-shifting solution.
Asana: This tool is known for its user-friendly interface and strong collaboration features. However, its core function is work management, allowing users to write down and keep track of tasks among a team. It may not offer the intelligence that your tool can provide with AI capabilities.
Notion: Notion's strength lies in being a flexible and customizable app ideal for content creators and small teams. It offers an unlimited free plan, a collaborative workspace, page analytics, and automation features. It can be viewed as a well-rounded tool but again, lacks the AI-powered capabilities of your tool.
From this analysis, one could infer that while each of these solutions has its strengths, none offers the AI-powered, auto-updating, and context-filled project management that your tool provides. Thus, your tool could fill this gap in the market, offering innovative and efficient project management capabilities.
Therefore, how might we:
Increase the efficiency of team communication and task-tracking by corporate online system?
I tackled all three facets of the problem with their own unique solutions:
Note-taking
Collaborated with data visualization, applying note-taking interface for users. Easily reference past discussions or reuse text from previous documents to save time and effort.
AI Assistant
Applying AI agents assist in collecting and refining information, making it easier for users to focus on the daily tasks.
Backlink
Using backlinks to trace the origin of ideas or thoughts, deepening your understanding and thought process.
The process
I iterated through many versions exploring different note-taking method, emphasizing the functionality of adding team members, creating linked notes for collaboration, etc.
Solution 01: Note-taking
Step 1: General Setting
Step 2: Add Team Members
Step 3: Confirmation
Users can create the note title, add description of the daily task. The interface shows the status, members included for better project management.
Solution 02-03:
AI Assistant
The tool offers a solution by allowing users to configure your AI bot and summon them at will. Besides, users can have multiple bots working collaboratively within the same conversation, ensuring that your thinking process remains uninterrupted.
Backlinks
Backlinks are threads connecting different pieces of information within a digital note-taking system. They allow you to link related ideas, providing context and revealing unexpected connections.
Visual Second Brain
Visual Second Brain
Outcome
The solution helps minimize unnecessary meetings by prioritizing and structuring communication.
Offer smart automations to handle repetitive tasks.
Facilitate real-time progress tracking to reduce the risk of missed deadlines.
Provide data-driven insights to optimize team efficiency.
Make context sharing and understanding effortless, reducing the prospect of duplicated work.— Quote Source
Growth Opportunities
Sep 2023 - Nov 2023
I initiated the testing stage: MVP testing 1-5 teams
Sep 2023 - Nov 2023
200-400 active users: 10-30 teams can use it to collaborate. From the collected feedback, the system significantly increased the team communication efficiency and the ability for project management.
Knowledge Marketplace
Create a marketplace for contextual knowledge sharing among people with similar goals and tasks. This will open up new avenues for monetization in the future.
Target Market
Initial target market includes SMBs and fast-growing startups who are struggling with information overload and inefficient context sharing.
Expansion
We plan to expand our user base to include larger corporations and other types of organizations that could benefit from our solution.