DÍGITO
Operations Module
UX/UI redesign of Dígito's operations module: I transformed time tracking from a forgotten chore into a natural part of daily workflow.
Context
Dígito is a Business Intelligence and RPA company. Its B2B SaaS platform included billing, reporting, and administration, but the operational module for consultants had low adoption.
This created daily friction for consultants and reduced the quality of operational data.
The goal was clear: make time logging a natural part of the work flow, not an additional task.
Scope: consultant operational module
The original brief included 8 areas of improvement. Redesigning the entire platform was not feasible in 3.5 months.
This enabled:
- Address the detected problem directly
- Propose a complete, testable solution
- Lay the groundwork for future integrations
Initial hypothesis vs. reality
Business impact:
Logging could take between one and three weeks. Leadership estimated that this lack of visibility could represent losses of up to USD 11,000 per project.
This delay cascaded into:
- Billing accuracy
- Operational visibility
- Capacity planning
- Early issue detection
Initial hypothesis vs. reality
— CEO's hypothesis "Users forget to log their hours."
Critical question: Are users forgetting, or actively avoiding?
Defined scope:
No changes to contracts, organizational processes, or internal structures.
Discovery: the real problem isn't forgetting—it's active deprioritization
I combined desk research, user interviews, and MVP auditing.
30%
of employees say time tracking feels like surveillance
26%
believe it adds stress or pressure to their day
Buddy Punch, 2025
Discovery: the real problem isn't forgetting—it's active deprioritization
I combined desk research, user interviews, and MVP auditing.
30%
of employees say time tracking feels like surveillance
Buddy Punch, 2025
26%
believe it adds stress or pressure to their day
Buddy Punch, 2025
Quotes that revealed the real problem
System perception:
"On a scale where 1 is control and 10 is a useful tool, I see it more as a 1."
- Usuario entrevistado
Active postponement:
"If an emergency comes up, tracking is left for later."
- Usuario entrevistado
System perception:
"On a scale where 1 is control and 10 is a useful tool, I see it more as a 1."
- Usuario entrevistado
Active postponement:
"If an emergency comes up, tracking is left for later."
- Usuario entrevistado
Emergent insight
Tracking isn't happening because it adds no value to actual work.
The system was built around data collection, not user action.
Design pivot:
From: "How do we make people remember to log hours?"
To: "How do we make tracking a natural byproduct of work?"
Design principles
Relevance:
Deliver immediate value to consultants.
User impact:
Minimize cognitive load and friction.
Differentiation:
Be an operational tool, not just a time logger.
Technical viability:
Integrate with existing MVP without a full rewrite.
Scalability:
Establish foundation for future capabilities.
Build a tool, not a burden.
5 critical frictions & design decisions
Each friction point mapped directly to a design solution.
Friction: Interface is complex and click-heavy
Solution:
Separate the operations module from the admin environment, surfacing only the tools relevant to the consultant.
Translated to design:
Dedicated operations module: consultants see only their tools, with no administrative noise.
Friction: No visibility into why tracking matters
Solution:
Surface real-time impact of tracking.
Translated to design:
Implementation: Dashboard with personal and team analytics.
Friction: System is rigid, can't handle interruptions
Solution:
Make tracking flexible and fast.
Translated to design:
Implementation: Quick-log with shortcuts and bulk edit.
Friction: Tracking feels like extra work
Solution:
Embed tracking into daily workflow.
Translated to design:
Implementation: FAB with smart suggestions and autocomplete.
Friction: Feels like surveillance, not a tool
Solution:
Give consultants autonomy and control.
Translated to design:
Implementation: Customizable calendar, progress-tracking views.
The three architecture axes
Each axis addresses a specific friction identified during research.
Unified Hub: Autonomy & Visibility
Pillar: Autonomy + Visibility
Problem identified:
Consultants juggle multiple tools to manage work.
Solution:
One centralized dashboard integrating tasks, projects, and time tracking.
Components:
• Pending tasks view
• Pending tasks view
• Personal & team metrics
• Personal & team metrics
• Integrated calendar
• Integrated calendar
• Quick access to active projects
• Quick access to active projects
Real-time sync:
All data updates instantly across views.
Smart Assistance: Speed & Context
Pillar: Speed + Context
Problem identified:
Manual time tracking is tedious and constantly delayed.
Solution:
Intelligent tracking that adapts to user behavior.
Key features:
• FAB with contextual suggestions
• History-based autocomplete
• One-tap quick logging
- •FAB with contextual suggestions
- •History-based autocomplete
- •One-tap quick logging
Social Layer & Transparency
Axis: Trust + Value
Problem identified:
Consultants perceive time tracking as a surveillance tool, not something that gives them value back.
Solution:
A system where each individual action visibly impacts the team, turning tracking into collaboration.
• Gantt view: group progress tracking per project, calculated automatically from actual task status
• Kanban view: each consultant manages their own tasks and updates team progress with every move
• General view: activity feed that records what was moved, who did it and when, without status meetings
• Consultant profiles: public and private notes visible to the team, with collaboration history and shared activity
- •Gantt view: group progress tracking per project, calculated automatically from actual task status
- •Kanban view: each consultant manages their own tasks and updates team progress with every move
- •General view: activity feed that records what was moved, who did it and when, without status meetings
- •Consultant profiles: public and private notes visible to the team, with collaboration history and shared activity
Result:
Tracking stops being an individual obligation and becomes visible team infrastructure.
Key trade-offs
Automate the problem (AI)
We initially considered incorporating AI to automate time logging, a common solution with strong business appeal.
However, research showed the problem wasn't friction in logging, but the lack of perceived value. Users didn't forget — they simply didn't prioritize it.
Automating would optimize an action users already considered irrelevant. Even if they remembered, there were no incentives to log — so AI alone wouldn't solve adoption.
We discarded AI and focused on integrating logging into the real work flow as a natural consequence of activity — a less 'sellable' solution, but more aligned with the actual problem.
Penalization
The business team proposed: enforce tracking through penalties.
Why we rejected this approach:
- Forces compliance, not genuine adoption
- Degrades data quality through gaming
- Punishes users for unresolved friction
- Contradicts the autonomy-based culture
Conclusion: The sustainable path is making tracking fast, useful, and seamlessly integrated.
User testing & validation
Moderated usability testing with Dígito consultants.
Participants:
4 consultants: PM, Developer, UX Designer, Analyst.
Method:
Moderated sessions with 4 core tasks.
Objective:
Validate ease of use and identify friction points.
Issues discovered:
Issue 1: Can't find archived projects
Users needed to access project history, but the filter was buried.
Iteration: Added 'Show archived' toggle · Surfaced filter controls
Issue 2: Unclear task states
Visual distinction between "in progress" and "pending" was ambiguous.
Iteration: Distinct icons for each state · Contextual tooltips on hover
Hi-fi prototype
Qualitative impact:
Before:
"Time tracking is a necessary evil."
After:
"Now it’s much faster. The suggestions save me time."
Methodological reflection
The redesign addressed clear interface and flow frictions. But the core problem of time tracking is deeply tied to real-world behavior, and that demands a different kind of validation.
Testing in real context
Instead of designing directed tasks, I would test with real work scenarios.
The main issue is not point-in-time interface usability, but how time tracking integrates into everyday workflow.
Testing the product in that real context would allow us to observe actual behavior.
Behavioral metric
Today, logging often happens weeks late, so very few hours are recorded within the first 24 hours. If I were to tackle this project again, I would track the percentage of hours logged within 24 hours as the North Star metric.
That would have guided design decisions more directly toward the behavior the redesign aimed to change:
integrating time tracking into the actual workflow.
