From discovery to delivery in four weeks
Case study: Stop The Traffik
The reality of human trafficking
Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery in which traffickers use deception or coercion to recruit victims for the purpose of exploitation. The cruel reality is that an estimated 50 million individuals are currently held in modern slavery.
Thoughtworks had the privilege of partnering with Stop the Traffik, a UK-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). The organization is fighting trafficking crimes on many levels, including a data-centric approach around an AI-gathered dataset. They hold the largest collection of available global information on routes and hotspots of human trafficking which they share with their network of partners, including Law Enforcement Agencies, NGOs and Financial Institutions.
Stop the Traffik built a tool, the Traffik Analysis Hub, to visualize their dataset and create reports from it. The tool itself had been complex to use due to the large size of the dataset and the many ways to interact with the data. This hindered usability, especially for users with a non-technical background. Thoughtworks was brought in to enhance the tool's usability and, therefore, effectiveness. It was our responsibility to ensure that each aspect of the tool could meet the diverse needs of its user base, which included 200 organizations.
High stakes, short timeline
Stop the Traffik needed us to identify UX pain points, implement the necessary enhancements, and complete an entire product delivery cycle within our short engagement. We faced diverse and sometimes competing demands from multiple stakeholders. To navigate these challenges, we employed strategic approaches that ensured both efficiency and effectiveness: we prioritized the most impactful quick wins, divided our efforts into two parallel streams, emphasized flexible processes, and maintained close collaboration with the client.
Recognizing the time constraints of our four-week engagement, we focused on what we could realistically achieve. Rather than aiming for a complete redesign, we concentrated on quick wins – targeted, high-impact improvements to enhance the overall experience.
Parallel tracks for fast delivery
Given the time constraint, we split our work into two parallel tracks: one focused on product and user experience and the other one on development. This approach allowed us to address both aspects simultaneously, minimizing dependencies and reducing delays.
Track 1 (Product and UX focus): We conducted a detailed UX assessment to understand pain points and features with improvement opportunities. It was important to prioritize the proposed actions with the client. From there, we engaged in rapid prototyping followed by user testing to validate our design ideas. This guaranteed that every change was aligned with user and business requirements with a continuous feedback approach.
Track 2 (Development focus): Parallel to our UX efforts, the development team dived deep into the existing codebase, providing estimations and preparing for implementation. The development strategy hinged on adapting to the latest prototypes, ensuring that the implementation was always driven by UX enhancements. By the time we reached the refinement phase, with just eight days left, 80% of the code was already completed.
Emphasizing fluidity over rigid processes
To maximize our productivity, we fostered a dynamic of people over processes, which is at the core of the agile mindset. Adopting a divide and conquer strategy, the “three amigos” – from Design, Business Analysis and Development – focused on their individual tasks while staying aligned and adapting quickly through frequent sync calls.
As a distributed, remote team, the key to our way of working was to break down the knowledge silos that typically hinder cross-functional teams. We built on each other’s ideas and freely offered opinions outside our traditional roles, which allowed us to think outside the box.
The Traffik Analysis Hub before our assessment
The picture shows the original version of the Traffik Analysis Hub, where users could view incidents on a map and filter the results by location, data source, etc.
The Traffik Analysis Hub after
During our assessment we identified several areas for improvement and quick wins, including optimizing the placement of interactive elements for seamless map navigation, refining the filtering process to more efficiently identify trafficking hotspots, and redesigning survivor story cards for greater impact.
The picture shows the Traffik Analysis Hub's current main view with our changes incorporated: simplified navigation bar, more user friendly map controls, legend on map level, redesigned survivor story cards, improved filters (not visible in the picture).
Results
compared to the same period last year.
heightened interest from two new prospective commercial partners who are now eager to utilize the tool.
By implementing subtle yet impactful UI enhancements, we significantly elevated the user experience.
Making an impact
Our collaboration yielded exceptional results, surpassing expectations and delivering a suite of features that delighted both Stop the Traffik and their users. This success is evident in the heightened interest from two new prospective commercial partners who are now eager to utilize the tool. Furthermore, we've observed a remarkable 34% increase in user logins compared to the same period last year, demonstrating the enhanced value and engagement generated by our partnership.
Stop the Traffik’s CEO, Ruth Dearnley, praised our UX improvements to empower individuals who might otherwise be hesitant to use such a complex data analysis tool. Ultimately, the more usable the tool, the greater the number of users combating human trafficking.
This project was not only a rewarding experience for our team, but it also underscores the profound influence that technology can have by amplifying the impact of organizations at the forefront of social issues.
Stop the Traffik is leading the disruption of human trafficking. We are seeing results. None of this is possible without the use of technology to work with data, stories of what we know, and creating insights for everyone to use to take action. Thoughtworks are a wonderful partner driving this agenda forward. We are thankful for the distance traveled and look forward to what is to come. When we ‘think’ and act together it ‘works
Stop the Traffik is leading the disruption of human trafficking. We are seeing results. None of this is possible without the use of technology to work with data, stories of what we know, and creating insights for everyone to use to take action. Thoughtworks are a wonderful partner driving this agenda forward. We are thankful for the distance traveled and look forward to what is to come. When we ‘think’ and act together it ‘works
Successful client feedback loop
We cultivated a continuous feedback approach with the Analysis Hub team, who were incredibly supportive – providing us with the freedom to innovate and execute fast. Stop the Traffik’s support was invaluable, reinforcing our ability to deliver the best possible outcomes.
Neil Giles, CEO of the Traffik Analysis Hub, told us they “have never seen such detailed and complete work before” with any other collaborators.
Since the Thoughtworks program to transform the UI and UX I have demonstrated the platform to a variety of potential user communities. From my perspective the changes give the platform a much more modern feel, improve usability and make the tool much more pleasing to use. Users achieve a meaningful visualization of the data they are interested in faster, and time is something no one has.
Since the Thoughtworks program to transform the UI and UX I have demonstrated the platform to a variety of potential user communities. From my perspective the changes give the platform a much more modern feel, improve usability and make the tool much more pleasing to use. Users achieve a meaningful visualization of the data they are interested in faster, and time is something no one has.
