Workflow Steps Permission Control

Workflow Steps Permission Control

Empowering admins to approve with confidence by simplifying without sacrificing control

TEAM MEMBERS

1 product manager, 1 scrum team, 1 content designer

TIMELINE

Design time: 2 months; build time: 6 months

Background

Background

The Slack Platform team built toward the new Slack platform by introducing the New Workflow Builder, which allows regular business users to automate processes using steps created by internal developers and external tools.

The problem

The problem

We need to give administrators the control they need to protect their company, while still encouraging them to say more yes to the new Slack platform for user adoption.

The solution

The solution

The end solutions allow the administrators to have say "yes" to the entire apps, but with the ability to say "no" with more granular control to individual functions/steps within an app. For external apps, we intentionally make approving them easier.

SOLUTION 1: GRANULAR CONTROL ON STEPS AFTER APPROVING APP

SOLUTION 2: MAKE MANAGING STEPS BY EXTERNAL TOOLS EASIER

“Don’t make me think” iterations

“Don’t make me think” iterations

One of the Slack’s design principles is “don’t make me think”. It is all about how to simplify, simplify and simplify until everything just feels intuitive.

One of the Slack’s design principles is “don’t make me think”. It is all about how to simplify, simplify and simplify until everything just feels intuitive.

Clarify overall mental model for old vs new

Clarify overall mental model for old vs new

One challenge of designing the new administrator experience is to figure out how to represent the old versus new Slack platform capabilities. I pulled together a design review to consolidate the direction forward.

Collaborate closely with content design

Collaborate closely with content design

Once we have an aligned direction, I worked with content closely to figure out the best terminologies to represent the new concepts and way of working.

Once we have an aligned direction, I worked with content closely to figure out the best terminologies to represent the new concepts and way of working.

Once we have an aligned direction, I worked with content closely to figure out the best terminologies to represent the new concepts and way of working.

Impact

Impact

Reduce the app approval/denial decision time from 30 days to ~1 week, which proved the granular control with easy comprehension is an effective way for us to encourage the adoption of the platform.

Next project: AI Autofill