Tiffany Ho
← Back

Nodabl: from feedback tool to career planner

Taking a new product from concept prototype to public launch in 10 months, by putting every idea in front of real users.

Role
First design hire
Company
Nodabl (startup)
Launched
2019
Team
Founder and engineering
Nodabl Goals page with progress rings for each goal, next to the Reports page showing goals achieved and how confidence changed over time.
Goals and Reports at public launch: progress on each goal, and how confidence changed over time.

Overview

Nodabl is a personal career planner. People set goals, plan what to work on, and track their progress, so they can grow in their careers. Its mission: enable every person to maximise their professional potential.

It started as a feedback hub for asking colleagues how you’re doing. Over 10 months of testing with real users, it became a goal-setting tool built around a weekly habit.

My role

  • Working with the founder, I designed the entire product experience
  • UX and UI for the web app, user research and usability testing
  • The marketing website and the design system

The problem

People who care about their careers know they should ask for feedback and track their growth, but it’s hard to keep up. Our first version made feedback easy to request, but people didn’t come back to it.

The first year

Concept to public launch in 10 months

Week 1

Hypotheses

Define what we believe, and the assumptions to test.

Month 1

Prototype

A click-through prototype for concept testing.

Month 2–3

Test and build

Concept tests, contextual inquiry, then design and build the MVP.

Month 5

Alpha

Alpha release to our first users.

Month 6–9

Iterate

Gather feedback and iterate, every week.

Month 10

Launch

Public launch for general access.

How I did it

Research first, then fail fast

We ran 20+ user interviews and recruited people for a month-long study using the product. The goal was to learn quickly, fail fast and keep putting new ideas in front of users.

Three personas emerged from the interviews. All of them were career-driven and saw their growth as their own responsibility.

Enthusiastic Ethan

Clear goals and a plan. Gets feedback often, and is open to tools that help.

Driven Demi

Knows her goals but has no structured plan. Wants help staying on track.

Conscientious Chloe

Motivated by challenges, but can feel overwhelmed about where to focus.

Design evolution

Four experiments to find what stuck

Each round of testing showed us a new problem, and the next design tried to solve it.

Experiment 1

Product stickiness

What we saw: as a feedback tool, people didn’t use it regularly.

What we tried next: a journaling habit, with a weekly check-in to log activities.

Request Feedback form and the feedback questions a colleague receives.
The first version: request feedback, and the form a colleague fills in.

Experiment 2

Reduce cognitive load

What we saw: people weren’t sure what to write. A blank check-in was too broad.

What we tried next: a curated growth plan, with competencies to focus on based on each person’s role.

Weekly check-in page and the Add Activity form.
The weekly check-in and Add Activity form.

Experiment 3

Quick wins to reach big goals

What we saw: people didn’t know when they were “done”.

What we tried next: the growth plan became a goal-setting tool, with a number of activities to complete.

Choosing competencies to focus on over the next three months, and the growth plan summary.
Picking competencies, recommended from each person’s profile.

Experiment 4

Benchmarking

What we saw: goals gave activities meaning, but a goal means something different to everyone.

What we tried next: a baseline and self-assessments, so people could measure their own progress.

The growth plan dashboard evolving into a Goals page with progress rings.
From a growth plan dashboard to clear goals with progress rings.

Public release

A loop of goals, activities and feedback

By launch, the product was a simple loop: pick a competency, set a baseline and a goal, add activities, ask for feedback, then assess yourself and choose what’s next.

Flow diagram: competency, set baseline, set goal, add activity and get feedback, reach goal, self assessment, then a new challenge, more feedback or another try depending on the result.
The core loop. What happens after a self-assessment depends on whether confidence went up, stayed the same or went down.
Set Goal dialog with recommended competencies, a number of activities and a date range.
Set a goal: a competency, how many activities, and by when.
Add Activity form next to a goal ring showing 2 of 4 activities added.
Add activities, and see progress with an encouraging nudge.
Request Feedback form using a public speaking template, and the feedback received.
Ask for feedback with a template for that competency.
Line chart of confidence in public speaking rising from not at all confident to moderately confident, with reasons for change.
Self-assessments show how confidence changes, and why.

After launch

What the data told us

In the first five weeks after launch (13 October to 20 November 2019), most people who signed up took action.

122

people signed up

103

took an action

101

set a goal

65

did a self-assessment

Goals had become the heart of the product, and public speaking was the most popular competency. Feedback, the original idea, was now a supporting feature: only 10 people requested it. We kept iterating to make the product quicker to use.

Three versions of the home page, from a list of activities to a dashboard with weekly progress, alerts, goals and history.
The home page, from a list of activities to a weekly progress dashboard.
Add Activity changing from a long form to a short form, with a prompt to add another activity.
Add Activity went from a long form to a short one.
A required onboarding wizard replaced by optional getting-started steps on the home page.
The onboarding wizard became optional steps.

Outcome

  • From concept prototype to public launch in 10 months
  • Evolved a feedback tool into a goal-setting product, through four rounds of experiments
  • Most people who signed up took action: 103 of 122 in the first five weeks

What I took from it: test early and often. Every experiment came from watching what people actually did, not what we assumed they’d do.

Back toAll work See all →