Case management for early childhood

Acorn is a new case management tool for in early intervention programs funded by Washington state

Acorn is a new case management tool for early intervention programs in Washington state. My team worked closely with the state’s Department of Children, Youth and Families to understand the problems faced by early childhood case managers and develop a vision for an improved digital experience.

💯

Through research, digital product strategy and ongoing community engagement, we reduced the amount of time wasted on data entry to allow for more hands-on time with children and families.

My role included intensive field research and discovery, developing a product strategy based on what we learned, designing key features and early usability test. The best part was traveling all over Washington state to see how this program meets the unique needs of each community and family.

Visiting an early learning center in Spokane

Research and Discovery

We interviewed staff in seven counties, and learned about how much stress and extra work was produced by the shortcomings of the existing software. Across the state, these issues had a real impact on the day-to-day life of staff who were already overburdened and underpaid.

We coded and and analyzed data from field interviews using card sorting and thematic analysis.

Summary of learnings and recommendations that we presented to the team that leads the state-wide program

Strategy and Planning

I took on a Project Lead role as we moved out of the research and discovery phase. In this time, I worked with the development team to define core concepts like case and referral to ensure thoughtful system design and improve team communication.

I also created user flows to break down the complex process into well-defined and appropriately sized steps for UI design and development.

Design

I designed a few key features to define the style and structure of the new tool, with a focus on saving time for case managers. I also created an organized, powerful design system and component library.

An overview of child’s intervention plan for case managers

Our research showed that supervisors struggle to get the information they need on referrals, caseloads and outcomes. I pitched and designed an agency-level dashboard to provide this missing link.

Finally, I led usability testing on the first core feature that was completed. This gave critical early feedback on interaction patterns we planned to use throughout the site, and helped us to continue community engagement beyond the initial discovery phase.

Takeaways

This project is one of my all-time favorites. It was a dream to work with such a dedicated, passionate community and user base. Folks were so excited to share their work, challenges and ideas with us — and to be part of designing something better.

Completed at Substantial in close collaboration with Brit Zerbo (design) and Adam Pearson (development lead).