Developing a collaborative tool for mine scheduling
How might we improve the interactions between all employees and the tools and processes they use during the planning and scheduling process?
The Challenge
The challenge was to better understand employees’ frustrations across varying departments and levels when scheduling and planning mining activities
This mining company was implementing a new mining software that would be used by thousands of employees daily to help with execution planning and scheduling within the mine site.
The Approach
We conducted 15 ethnographic interviews with employees across production, maintenance, logistics and engineering
We also led over 20+ hours of observational research that included several key meetings and spending an entire day underground shadowing key employees to better understand how scheduling interfaced with the front-line.
The Result
The result of this work helped better understand the current challenges between varying roles inside the mine, and helped guide the implementation of a new scheduling technology
The project resulted in the creation of a current state process map with a set of specific pain points mapped to it; a set of overarching insights that covered behavioural and systemic context; and a set of design principles and speculative concepts that helped influence the implementation of the new technology.
