Send welcome message
7 days before start
Order keys from reception
3 days before start
Book first week feedback session
On start date
Book Cybersecurity training
3 days before start
Send offer letter
When signed
Send tool ordering form
14 days before start
Collect tax information
7 days before start
Invite to Global Onboarding Day
1 day before start
Book orientation meeting - Sales
3 days before start
Prepare work station
7 days before start
Introduce new joiner to #general
On start date
Book 1-3-6 checks
On start date
Invite to Friday Breakfast
3 days before start
Book 1-on-1 with CEO
On start date
Prepare work station
7 days before start
Get suitable company merch
On start date
Discovery
To understand the problem better, I had a chance to look at the process checklists of companies interested in the solution.
These checklists were incredibly lengthy, detailing numerous tasks that were low in complexity and high in frequency. This substantial investment of time in routine activities was not only inefficient but also prevented HR professionals from dedicating time to more strategic and impactful aspects of their roles.
The pain points
By analyzing the checklists and interviewing HR managers, three clear pain points about the current situation were identified:
Error-prone
Resource intensive
HR people are drowning in busywork
Identifying the scope for the MVP
When mapping the problem it was clear that MVP won't entirely solve the HR managers' pains, as it still required substantial manual work to start the workflow and fill in all the necessary information. However, this was fine because we were measuring the time and effort saved after the process started.
Orchestrating all the communications and scheduling orientation meetings were one of the biggest frustrations for HR managers.
Enroll employee manually
Start workflow manually
Personalised email messages
Assisted calendar scheduling
MVP flow
Employee data from HRIS
Start workflow automatically
All repetitive tasks
Manage enrolled employees
Desired flow
User persona
HR managers or specialists who are well-versed in the processes but may lack technical expertise. The UI should highlight the primary use cases to avoid cluttered screens filled with configurations and advanced settings.
Two values we decided to stick with it when building the product:
It should be simple to use
It should not compromise the quality of the HR process
Prototyping v1
Managing communications via Gmail and scheduling Google Calendar meetings automatically were the only types of steps covered in the very first version. Adding more step types wouldn't make a big difference at this stage. However, it would significantly extend the shipping schedule due to the required integrations.
Improving the overall experience
Our goal was to provide an automated process after a manual start, aiming to attract more pilot users. We gradually added more step types based on 'must-have' feedback from our pilot customers, and also improved the editor's layout to support different sequences beyond just steps related to a single target date.
Empowering the HRIS integration
Building a tool to create custom HRIS triggers for customers was a necessary homestretch for this project, allowing them to create their own triggers that start workflows automatically once certain rules are met in the integrated HRIS.
Outcome
Tasks automated
Sean Ellis score
New use cases / Customer
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