Feedback Was Honest

 March 3,2026

Day 7 where we Presented Design 1.0 and the Feedback Was Honest

    Today was the day. We finally presented Design 1.0 of the Document Management System to the Engineering Department, and I will say this standing in front of the Dean, with her secretary and walking them through something you designed yourself is a completely different experience from a classroom demo. These are the actual people who are going to use the system. Their questions are not hypothetical. Their concerns are real.

    Overall, the presentation went smoothly in terms of delivery. We were able to explain the layout, the intended user flow, and the core features we had designed. But as expected with any first design, there were comments. Several, actually. Some were minor — wording choices, button placement, the way certain forms were structured. Others were a bit more substantial and made us rethink a few screens entirely. The department has specific workflows that we had not fully accounted for, and that showed up clearly once we started going through the design with them page by page.

    We took notes on everything. No one was harsh about it, and I appreciated that the feedback came from a place of genuinely wanting the system to work well for their department. Still, there is no sugarcoating on the experience, we are going back to the drawing board on a few parts. Design 2.0 starts.

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