Kaspar Kuus

• Slack integration for feedback implementation and the documentation of results in the everyday life of a designer during COVID-19 pandemic
• Tutor: Maido Parv

In this dissertation, I studied the most significant changes and challenges in the daily work of a designer affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working from home helps employees be more productive, but it comes with mental health problems and loss of team energy. Innovation is also less generated at home, as spontaneous conversations on non-work-related topics are less common. It is because they have been replaced by video calls, which do not replicate office interactions. Interviews showed that during work from home, people have started to communicate their work processes, as the home environment does not offer such daily communication as office did. Also, all the communication, collaboration and feedback happens online.

One of the findings was that communication is one of the biggest problems at work, and it has intensified while working from home. In addition, working from home brings more miscommunication than working in an office. Receiving and asking for feedback is one of the most important types of communication that has been forgotten when working from home.

To get effective feedback, I came up with a solution that conveniently provides, receives and documents feedback, and it integrates with the employee’s existing Slack communication application. The solution gives the designer feedback that can be used to learn and improve skills. There are several positive aspects to using this tool, as it helps to create team energy. Receiving feedback and documenting work helps a designer to analyze their work and learn from it. A designer will start building more confidence after routine use of the chatbot and the tools. If the feedback is frequent, it helps the designer to understand what is expected of them and learn some additional skills if necessary.

The offered solution helps to solve the problems arisen from Nielsen Norman Group survey which brought up the unsatisfactory tools for gathering feedback. Setting up a routine helps to give feedback at an early stage. The problem of having to deal with too many formal ways of giving feedback might mostly become present when giving feedback in a written form. That is why I chose the solution to have an emphasis on oral feedback.

Even though working from home was a challenge and a big change, it was clear from research and interviews that from time to time people would like to continue doing it also in the future when the restrictions don’t apply.