Improving File Management for Co-Working

Project Format: Semester long consulting project for SI 501: Contextual Inquiry and Consulting Foundations
Role: Background research, contextual interviewer, interview analysis, report writing, ideation, client communication
Time Span: September 2019 - December 2019 (4 months)
Task: Create a solution that optimizes employee work flows and tracks file management

This class offered students the invaluable opportunity to work with a real-world client and solve their information-based problem. I was randomly assigned to a group of 5, and we named our group Halcyon Consulting, since the term ‘halcyon’ refers to a time that brought peace, and our goal was to bring peace to our client’s information issue. Our client was MI-HQ, a co-working space based in Ann Arbor, MI that houses a professional community comprising of over 60 businesses, most of which are young biotechnology firms. MI-HQ’s problem was their outdated, unmanageable paper filing system. They needed more automation and tracking involved in their system, as employees struggle finding and updating specific files when need be due to the size and disorganization of the filing system.

Research Methods

The first thing done was conduct background research. I wrote a background research report arguing that co-working spaces are an advantageous environment for biotech start-ups due to the ease of creating alliances with other biotech firms, which fosters innovation, and due to the support given to obtain organizational integration, which is the formation of unity between internal and external factors of a firm.

The next step was to conduct contextual interviews with the employees of MI-HQ. We interviewed six employees as a team. I personally conducted one interview and took notes for another. My team followed the interview guidelines outlined in Chapter 4 of Rapid Contextual Design (2004) by Karen Holtzblatt, where we emphasized asking questions about specific instances of interacting with the filing and asking interviewees to walk us through these interactions rather than asking general questions about how they use the filing system. Once all interviews were conducted, we held interpretation sessions where we listened to our interview recordings and produced affinity notes, documenting important quotes, ideas, and problems from the interviews. We then clustered our notes by salient patterns to produce an affinity wall, where we were able to make key findings.

Need-finding

Once we began clustering, we were able to find other angles of the problem we did not see before. For example, we realized that a key source of the disorganization of MI-HQ’s files was the lack of clearly defined job roles. There are six total employees, but many responsibilities overlap, meaning that multiple people interact with the same files. The lack of a tracking system makes it impossible to know when files were taken out or updated, and this leads to confusion for the employees.

We also discovered that employees prioritize convenience over organization. They would create their own separate filing systems pertaining to the documents they use the most for easy reference. When this happens, their own personal files get updated, but the files in the main filing system don’t get updated.

After discovering this, we realized simply turning everything into digital form wasn’t the best solution. Many files such as leasing documents and emergency chemical binders have to stay in paper form for confidentiality or legal reasons. On top of this, most of the employees are relatively elderly, and have expressed concerns about having to learn how to use a new digital system.

Solution

Our solution was to bring structure to the employees’ work flows. First, a centralized protocol for organizing files is to be put in place. The CEO explained that they are planning on opening more buildings both in Ann Arbor and in other cities across Michigan. In order to foster a growth mindset, organization of the most important protocols are necessary when new employees are hired, and this will make the transition to a digital file management system much more smoother when the company chooses to do so. Next, it is necessary to clearly define job roles. MI-HQ gave job titles to their employees just five months ago, so solidifying responsibilities and file types that go along with those responsibilities are essential. Most importantly, a standard protocol for each job role’s file types are to be made as well.

Each job role’s protocol will follow the general format of ID → Store → Track → Dispose:
• ID - categorize files to facilitate file navigation
• Store - once new files are created, input them into the filing system under the appropriate category
• Track - once files are updated or change, mark these updates
• Dispose - once file expirations are implemented, dispose of files that have exceeded expiration to mitigate rapid file system growth
The diagrams below draws this process out further.

Discussion

What I gained most out of this project was the ability to conduct and analyze contextual interviews effectively. I learned that it is important to conduct these interviews in the interviewee’s own office to truly understand their work environment and see their work flow first hand. I also learned it is important to ask questions based on specific experiences rather than general questions. You get a lot more important details from “could you walk me through the last time you had a frustrating experience with the filing system?” than a simple question like “why don’t you like the current filing system?”.

I also learned the usefulness of affinity walls. It made finding patterns and pain points easy, and this provided a guide for designing our solution. It also served as an effective way of synthesizing our contextual interviews, providing a visual synthesis of our interview recordings.

Explore my other projects:

IHPI Recycle King Airbnb Design Jam

arycus@umich.edu | 734.926.6961