💼WeWork: Cross-Departmental Collaboration Platform
Subtitle: Bridging Teams, Accelerating Results.
Date: December 12, 2024
Role: Jinbo Shen – UX Strategy, Research, Systems Thinking, Product Design
🧭 Project Overview
This platform was conceptualized to address operational inefficiencies in large organizations, where cross-departmental collaboration is often hindered by unclear responsibilities, personal-network reliance, and misaligned goals. The system formalizes communication, clarifies roles, and aligns team efforts toward shared outcomes.
🔍 Problem Definition
As organizations scale, communication often breaks down. Employees shared frustrations such as:
“I spend more time chasing down people in other teams than actually doing my job.”
- 75% reported delays due to unclear communication and responsibilities
- 100% noted resistance or lack of cooperation from other departments
- Departments blamed each other when conflicts arose—fostering a blame culture
Tackling The Problem
🎯 Design Goals
- Reduce reliance on personal connections
- Clarify cross-departmental roles and responsibilities
- Create transparency and accountability in task tracking
- Align departmental tasks with organizational goals
🔧 Solution
We proposed a three-part platform for enterprise workflow transparency:
| Feature | Impact |
|---|---|
| Assistance Request System | Removes dependence on informal channels |
| Feedback Collection Module | Surfaces recurring organizational inefficiencies |
| Goal Alignment Dashboard | Connects task output to strategic goals |
📊 Outcomes & Reflections
- Helped visualize interdepartmental dependencies
- Reduced delays caused by lack of clarity
- Improved collaboration by standardizing workflows
- Fostered psychological safety through transparent processes
🚀 Next Steps
- Integrate task flow with existing tools (Slack, Jira, SAP)
- Enable OKR syncing via the Goal Alignment feature
- Deploy analytics dashboard for leadership oversight
- Conduct live user testing in a pilot environment
Final Thought:
Designing for systems is about more than fixing interface problems—it's about building the communication architecture that lets people thrive together. This project proved the power of research-driven strategy in shaping scalable enterprise solutions.