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Leave request
Role
Product design consultant
Team
2 designers, 1 PM, 1 team lead, 4 developers
Timeline
August 2021 - January 2022
Leave Requests simplified:
One Clear System for NHS Doctors
🤦♀️ Problem
The problem was two-folded: NHS doctors and their managers struggled to request & manage annual leave due to the absence of a standardized system. With requests scattered across email, WhatsApp, and face-to-face conversations, tracking approvals was difficult, often leading to lost requests, confusion, and delays. This fragmented process adds unnecessary stress, making it harder for doctors to take essential time off.
🎯 Goal
The goal of this project was to create a standardized, transparent leave request system that would work both for the NHS doctors and for their managers, reducing lost requests, improving visibility, and minimizing administrative burden.
✨ Solution
For the doctors we designed a mobile app where they could request and manage their leave
on the
go with as few clicks as possible.
For managers, we implemented a desktop app
to
provide a clear overview of pending leave requests, organizing them into actionable tabs
based on priority and required action.
75%
...of RMs time freed up for other tasks
42%
Cut in average approval time of leave requests
100%
Happy customers in the first months of the launch of the
FEATURE
All the essentials in one page
Doctors are busy humans - they work 12hr shifts and are always on the go. We gathered all the info that's pressing to know to the first page. The easier recall, the better.
FEATURE
Manage submitted requests
Edit/cancel the request, see the dates/shifts in questions as well as their message. We notify them of other leave requests for that date, helping them understand approval chances and fostering empathy for the rota manager balancing entitlements fairly.
FEATURE
Overview at a glance
We figured a colour coded calendar would be an easy way to get a quick overview of their work/leave schedule as fast as possible.
FEATURE
List or calendar
Some of the rota managers prefered a list to a calendar view and we wanted to make sure we catered to both groups.
FEATURE
Enough staff?
We tell the RM how many people are working that day which is the deciding factor on whether they can approve the leave request it or not. If there are less than 3 people working the shift, they'll need to move people around to make it work before approving.
Understanding why it was so hard
In the research phase we were really keen to start a conversation with the users and find out everything we could about why it was so hard for doctors to take leave. We started interviewing doctors from all over the U.K. via zoom to hear what they had to say and gathered their needs and pain points on post its.
Iterations
Working closely with
the RM & doctors
My team was working in two weeks sprints to divide the design into digestible milestones. I would meet with a rota managers and doctors weekly to get feedback on our direction. This hands on approach resulted in a genuine relationship between us and the doctor and we were able to get candid feedback to improve the product even further. The RMs would give feedback before the design was developed as well as after once they actually put it into practice. As a designer this was a dream for me as the feedback was constant and very useful.
