Collapsible Workflows

The second quarter of 2022 was very heavily focused on achieving security accreditations that enable institutions to purchase the Gecko product - but while it was a worthwhile exercise, feature releases and improvements slowed down.

We wanted to release a series of quick wins that would delight our customers. So again we turned to Pendo. We evaluated our most requested feature improvements, number one on the list was that workflows are difficult to manage when there are a lot on the list.

What's the problem?

Workflows are a powerful tool within Gecko, and used extensively across our customer base. Our customers are creating complex forms, which require equally complex workflows to trigger depending on the users actions. And as such, the number of workflows on a single form can easily reach 50+.

With the more complex workflow set ups, this can quickly get out of hand and become quite difficult to manage.

Our hypothesis

"If we come up with a method of reducing page clutter, we can make workflows more scannable on the page, and also reduce scrolling for the longer workflow set ups."

How did we solve the problem?

I wanted to better understand the problem so I set up some calls with customers who had requested the feature improvement - I found this extremely valuable as I got first hand insight into the less than desirable experience of our users. It was also eye opening just how many workflows they are setting up per form or event.

After taking some time, and exploring ideas with the wider team, I wondered - would collapsing all workflows by default make the page more manageable? Not only would this be a very quick win from an engineering standpoint, it would also involve minimal impact to the users from a UI point of view.

I felt this could be a win based on:

• Little disruption to the users with minimal UI changes
• The set up and management of workflows won’t change
• Users can still search for workflows

The outcome

Armed with a prototype I set up further calls with the customers I’d interviewed and demonstrated the collapsible workflows and how it makes the workflows more scannable and reduces the amount of scrolling. The feedback was hugely encouraging.

This has since been released and the feedback has been brilliant. It even got a big round of applause at our client Forum* when announced as a new release. It just goes to show that the smallest of changes can make a huge impact with users.

*We run our yearly Gecko Forum where we host our clients, update them on the product, where it’s headed and have various guest speakers. You can view the highlights of our 2022 Forum here - Gecko Forum 2022.