An employee development platform used by 3,000+ people to create and manage Personal Development Plans, track progress and collaborate with mentors.
The PDP experience was difficult to use independently: employees relied on external instructions to understand the process, the mentor–mentee approval flow was unclear, and an unintuitive interface made key actions and next steps hard to understand.
Create a clear, self-service PDP workflow for 3,000+ employees that supports goal setting, progress tracking, and mentor approval while reducing reliance on instructions and manual support.
— New workflow simplified goal planning and improved collaboration between employees and mentors
— Reduced reliance on external documentation and manual support
— 20% fewer support tickets after launch
Review of existing workflows, documentation, and internal tools to identify key usability issues.
Conversations with the T&D team to understand expectations, requirements, and pain points.
Designing the PDP workflow and user flows to ensure clarity and efficient navigation.
Developing the structure and layout of the PDP editor and key interaction patterns.
Creating the visual interface, UI components, and interaction states.
Collaborating with developers during implementation and testing.
An audit of the existing platform revealed structural and interaction issues that reduced usability and made the PDP workflow harder to understand.
Unclear labels and navigation forced employees to rely on external instructions to understand where to go and what to do.
Inconsistent components and interaction patterns reduced predictability and increased the effort required to complete common tasks.
Key actions, statuses, and next steps were difficult to scan, making the PDP workflow harder to understand.
The workflow did not clearly communicate stages, responsibilities, or next steps between employees and mentors, creating uncertainty around review and approval.
We interviewed 10+ users to identify key usability issues in the PDP interface.
Communication with mentors was limited — the interface only supported one-way feedback for specific goals.
Introduced two-way communication with mentors through built-in comments and messaging in the PDP interface.
Users could not edit PDPs after approval, making updates and adjustments difficult.
Introduced an editing mode allowing updates after approval, with changes reviewed by mentors or managers.
Information overload and unclear structure made it difficult for users to focus on key elements.
Redesigned the information structure and interface to clarify hierarchy and simplify interactions.
Users struggled to track progress due to the lack of clear visual indicators.
Introduced goal sections, progress indicators, and visual tools to track achievements more clearly.
Employees create and manage their Personal Development Plans independently, while mentors provide feedback and guidance when needed.
The workflow was designed to balance employee autonomy with mentor supervision during goal planning and approval.
Progress management
The PDP is locked for other users during editing to prevent conflicts in the approval process.
Employees can update the PDP type, mentor, and timeline while editing.
Employees can add skills and create goals within each skill directly from the board.
Key learnings
Making employee and mentor responsibilities explicit helped simplify the review and approval process.
Users need to understand not only what they can do, but what happens next and who is responsible.
Reusable interaction patterns and clearer hierarchy made the platform easier to navigate without relying on external instructions.