PMI – Standards+ ToC Prototype

Project Management Institute (PMI) is a premier destination for project managers to learn and become certified. One of the most important books they offer is called the Project Management Book of Knowledge Guide (PMBOK Guide), which is used by project managers to keep up to date on the latest standards and study for certifications.

The Project

I teamed up with another UX Designer to help them build a prototype of the Standards+ table of contents (ToC) for user testing. There was an initial design by the time I came on to the project but I was also asked for my expertise in Interaction Design to make the experience the best it could be.

Project Goals

To design and prototype the table of contents for one of PMIs most important products so users could easily navigate several versions of the PMBOK Guide. The prototype needed to be functional enough to test a specific flow and allow the users to explore a few items.

Role

Ux Design, Prototype

Sktch

PrtoPi

pen + paper

Timeline

2 weeks

Ramp up

A List A Mile Long

I met with the UX Designer to review the current ToC and make a plan moving forward. I was surprised to see the current ToC was just a long list with no formatting or hierarchy. The PMBOK Guide is in-depth text so supplying only a list made it hard to find anything specific. On top of that, if the user selected a topic, a single card with only that topic appeared on the screen. There was no way to scroll or page to the next topic without going back to the list or resetting everything. Overall, it was extremely tedious to work with from a user’s perspective.

Design

UX Suggestions

The UX Designer and I brainstormed ideas for making the experience better based on the user testing feedback that we received from the researchers. We tackled the obvious, which was making all the cards accessible when the user started a search but also creating a hierarchy for the ToC. I suggested several updates to the design which involved color, font weight, collapsible sections, tabs, and dropdowns.

Prototype

I built the prototype in Protopie due to the ease of use and how elaborate it would need to be.

Some requirements were:

  • Ability to open/close chapters
  • Ability to swap between the book and articles (Standard and Guide)
  • Change publications (6th and 7th Editions)
  • Scroll positioning
  • Highlight current chapter and section
  • Freedom to explore