Sharing Excess
Improving Warehouse Feature To Reduce Food Waste
Project
03
Role
UX Designer (1 of 2)
Platform
Mobile
Timeline
June - August 2023
Team
Product Owner, Tech Lead
Overview
Sharing Excess rescues surplus food and redirects it to communities in need. Behind their operations is an internal web app — and at the heart of that app is the Warehouse feature, used by workers to log every pound of food coming in and going out.
However, prior to this project, workers had not been able to utilize the Warehouse feature efficiently.
Understanding the problem
To thoroughly understand why the Warehouse feature was underutilized, I spearheaded the research to investigate the working process of the workers, and to gather data that can drive our design decisions.
- Heuristic review of Warehouse feature
- Field study and direct observation
- Interviews with warehouse workers
Issues with warehouse feature
- 01Missing input fields for tracking incoming dataFor each donated food item, workers needed to record more than just the total weight. The app didn't account for this, forcing them to use the notes section to keep track of the extra data.
- 02Inflexibility in food distributionThe app only allowed one form per food item. When various food items were distributed to the same organization, workers had to fill out multiple forms.
- 03Lack of a reminder for undistributed foodsIt was common for food items to remain undistributed and had to be set aside for later. However, the app didn’t have a reminder for such cases, often resulting in workers forgetting about them.
The Warehouse feature was impossible to use in real-time, and dependency on workarounds added unnecessary complexity to the workflow.
Setting goals
With the findings from our research, the objectives for this project were now clear:
- 01
Real-time usability:Make the Warehouse feature seamless enough to use during operations
- 02
Operational efficiency:Improve data integrity and reduce food waste as a direct result
Design Solution
Our design process was an iterative one that lasted four weeks. Four rounds of in-person testing with warehouse workers sharpened the design before we arrived at the final solution:
- 01Expanding the entry formBy adding individual input fields for each data point, workers no longer needed to use the notes section to record data. This sped up the entry process and improved data accuracy.
- 02Combining distribution formsWorkers only needed to fill out one form per recipient organization, regardless of how many food items they were picking up. This shortened the distribution process significantly.
- 03Reminder for undistributed foodItems that had yet to be dispatched now had their own page, giving workers a clear view of remaining food in the warehouse. This reduced the chance of food being forgotten.
Results
The redesign allowed workers to utilize the Warehouse feature efficiently in real-time — eliminating the manual data transfer step at the end of each shift entirely.
- 33%Warehouse efficiency increased
- 90%Food waste reduction due to errors