Every Monday, store managers were faced with a daunting task: spend 3 hours a day crawling through a 20-page spreadsheet and try to figure out the parts of the store operations that need the most focus. A key frustrating part of the situation was that the document was obsolete by the time it was printed because of a data lag.
For this project we interviewed over 25 store leaders and executives in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Tallahassee. In actively listening to their stories we began to see broad themes emerge during our one-on-one conversations. What metrics mean the most to them? How are they evaluated? What software do they love? Where are they when they are looking at the information they need?
Understanding the people and their ecosystem allows for a truly elegant and durable design solution that saves time and money. In fact, the completed app is estimated to save the regional, store, and department managers of The Home Depot's 2,248 stores an average of 20 hours of unproductive analysis every month. That's a total company savings of 539,520 hours or roughly $7 million every year.
In addition to the actual dollars saved, company leaders who were spending time nursing spreadsheets were now able to connect with their employees face-to-face and develop an understanding of their business beyond the numbers.
