Simplifying team work with Jeanie
At Friend Software Labs, we’re building a great collaboration platform we call Jeanie App. Its aim is to make collaborating online in teams easier and less complex for users of all backgrounds. But to really get to the reason for even creating Jeanie, we first need to take a step back in history.
The pandemic really accelerated the deployments of collaboration spaces in the Cloud. And it set in motion a new digital lifestyle that is transforming work as we know it. A huge portion of us now won’t let go of our home office. We’ve become accustomed to interacting with colleagues across the Internet, but now, we’re in a different modality. We’ve moved into the Digital world, spending time there around the clock.
It’s a big world out there, and it is full of choices. Ads across social media try to catch our attention. But we don’t have a surplus of time. That’s probably why most of us are attracted to the same apps, from the same large companies. We all have different needs, but not many moments available for risky exploration. We want safety and commonality. And we have work to do!
Depending on the different type of project, teams have different needs in terms of functionality and scope. For developers of web apps, this has lead to an organic growth of features. Buttons and gadgets pop into existence — spontaneously — all over the place. For users, even though they pay for all this, they probably feel best when walking in the middle of the road. Most users interact with the bare minimum of functionality to get things done. In a way, they pay for other people’s favorite features.
Could it be any other way?
At Jeanie, we believe that complex needs should have simple solutions. Most consumer products that have been around for more than a few decades, seem to find a way into a simplified form. This is also the path for software. Computers used to be highly complex, but now you can use a PC with your wrist watch.
One of the reasons that cloud web apps keep getting so much clutter is the sheer rate of innovation that is happening. The terrain isn’t settled. As each new technology becomes part of our assumed toolkit, the app developers need to make space for them. But isn’t it true that we’re starting to find a layout with which users can stay in the familiar, without stifling the growth of new features? We think so.
With Jeanie we are forming a methodology for simplifying the work space, based on a neat and familiar user interface. Having built highly complex user experiences for years, our team is experienced with the challenge of reducing a big user story into small tasks. The engine that Jeanie is based on is quite powerful and feature-rich. It would be tempting to simply unleash it onto the screen. But that would limit our customer base to technology professionals only. We want to cater to a wide range of individual users.
Growing Jeanie
Right now, we’ve focused on providing users with features that cover communication, team storage and co-editing in office apps. But this is only the beginning. We’re building a simple app store where users can add new functionality to their account. Over time, this will make a Jeanie user quite equipped to achieve most tasks from within the Jeanie dashboard. But we don’t want to clutter the basic user interface. That’s why we’re making sure the apps don’t grow outside their space, such that they don’t lead to chaos for the user.
As users, we want our tools to be effective. We want to be able to quickly perform a task. We don’t want to spend much time learning. That’s why it’s very important for our development team to stay vigilant on the simplification track. We are trying to reduce the amount of buttons and boxes in each space where a user needs to interact with the system.
We think we’ve come up with a good solution for this, but you — the user — will surely let us know!
Please check out Jeanie.app and get a free trial.
