The Backstory

At dentsu multiple departments need certain services and projects to be done by internal teams. These teams have a certain list of services that they can provide as well as certain brief standards that need to be filled for the task to be executed.

Before this project, the process was being handled in Worksection which is a readymade solution for task tracking and management. But it had its limitations and inflexibilities in the interface for different departments to use it. So employees started inconsistently using multiple messengers and other communication tools which often led to miscommunication, distractions and missed deadlines. So the business department has asked our development team to create a product that would be used by multiple teams in various departments at dentsu.

What is Link.One?

A task assignment and tracking platform that connects clients and executors at dentsu The product speeds up interaction on a task by turning it into a process of submitting, receiving, and fulfilling an application.

<aside> 🥷🏻 Link.One’s competition Direct competitors: Mail client, External Messengers (Teams, WhatsApp, Slack, Telegram) Alternative solutions: Local PM tools (Trello/Asana/etc, G.Spreadsheets/ Excel/ Worksection)

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Link.One’s key features

The workflow in a nutshell

• It works as a "single entry point" for all types of requests, as well as cataloging all services in a single platform inside a company;
• Easy templating that fits all types of requests and selection of the most relevant executor by departments;
• Service execution tracking;
• Possibility of internal arbitration and a rating system for both parties (executors and clients).

You, as a client, submit a task to the selected department by applying according to a ready-made template, and then you can track its status of completion and evaluate the result of the execution at the end of working on an application.

The executor will share feedback with you on how easy it was to interact and how well the task was set, which will allow both parties to continuously improve the interaction process, constantly improving the result.

Talking to users

After conducting at least 7 user interviews it became clear that several departments needed a structured workflow that could be replicated and modified in other departments in the future.

User roles and needs that were reoccurring in all interviews were:

• 🧑🏻 The client → wants a certain service to be performed by an executor from another department, (ex. Creating a marketing strategy for a brand);
• 🤹🏼 A department manager → wants to assign the right person for the task and oversee the work processes to distribute the workload evenly across all employees and to see the statistics of how his/her department is performing;
• 👩‍💻The executor of the task → wants to finish the task as quickly as possible and not go back in forth with the client on the task’s details as well as get the positive feedback from the client.

The main pain points:

Clients were consistently filling the tasks briefs with mistakes and providing insufficient information

Managers of departments needed to see clear execution statistics and analytics

It was important for department managers to know how satisfied the clients were with the service

Executors had a problem of not being able to set a clear deadline

Understanding the workflow together with the team