Role: Sole UX Designer · Methods: Internal user research, workflow analysis, stakeholder management, product analysis and design, development collaboration and operator training

The Challenge

New Zealand's traffic control centres needed a system to manage incidents and roadworks in a complex, time-sensitive operational environment.

Operators were working across disconnected systems, manually transferring information and switching between tools. The challenge was not simply to improve the interface. It was to understand how operators worked in practice and design a solution that reduced unnecessary effort while remaining feasible to build and use in a demanding environment.

Research approach

I conducted in-depth interviews with operators across different roles and levels of experience, including:

• Team leads

• Senior and newer operators

• Traffic light operators

• Management

This helped uncover both day to day operational challenges and larger systemic issues across the control centres.

What I learned

The research revealed that operators spent significant time manually transferring information between disconnected systems.

The issue was not a lack of functionality. It was constant context switching, duplicated data entry and cognitive overload during high pressure situations.

This shifted the project direction entirely.

Rather than designing a more polished interface for existing workflows, the focus became reducing operational complexity and unnecessary mental load.

My role

I worked closely with operators, developers and delivery teams throughout the project lifecycle.

My role extended beyond interface design into:

• Research and workflow analysis

• Requirements gathering

• User story development

• Product and delivery collaboration

• Ongoing validation of usability and technical feasibility

A large part of the work involved translating operational realities into practical product decisions that could work within delivery constraints.

Product direction

The research shaped two core priorities:

1. Reduce cognitive load

   Every design and product decision was evaluated against one question:

   “Would this simplify the operator’s mental workload during critical situations?”

2. Reduce manual system work

   Instead of improving fragmented workflows visually, we focused on reducing duplicated data entry and unnecessary system switching.

This led to a more focused product with fewer but more meaningful features aligned closely to real operational needs.

Outcome

The project helped align product decisions around actual operator workflows rather than assumptions about what users needed.

For me, it reinforced the value of research as a tool for reducing complexity and helping teams avoid solving the wrong problem.

It remains one of the most meaningful projects I have worked on because the impact extended far beyond the interface itself.