FrontTee is a desktop application that allows clerks & other workers in golf pro shops to not only schedule clients for tee times, but also allows "operators to generate optimal yields based on a precise combination of rates and availability" from advanced insights into registrant behavior and management.

By nature & design, FrontTee is a highly complex piece of software with a plethora of functions that allow it to excel beyond competing software, but such functionality came at a price to its users. With a spreadsheet-based design, cluttered interface, and confusing navigation, FrontTee possessed a great number of usability issues that would immediately cause a user to feel lost, confused, and hopeless. These issues were further compounded when users attempted to install & use the software on their Point of Sales Systems, which utilized a touch-based, 1024x768 screen and were the center of the Pro Shop. As a result, clerks often had to expend a great deal of energy & focus on completing simple, everyday tasks with the software as opposed to providing top notch service to their customers and members.

To gain better insights to the product, I began by using the software to complete the tasks that are typically done by clerks on a day-to-day basis (setting up appointments, checking players in, etc. etc.) with heavy reliance on the software's User Manual to get me through. Ultimately, however, this proved futile and I chose to instead print out each screen of each step of every process and pin it to a wall. This allowed me to get an overview of FrontTee's flows, patterns, & functionality in a more tangible sense so that I could manually manipulate items, take notes, and draw connections. Combining this method with a Heuristic Analysis of the software led me to "toss aside" the existing product and to start thinking more out of the box in an attempt to revitalize a dated product & bring it into the 20th century.

Following my decision to completely redesign FrontTee from the ground up, I started with its end users; the clerks of Golf Pro Shops. I spent time visiting, following, and speaking with them to understand their needs and wants for the software to help me build more comprehensive user stories, task flows, and new functionality. The redesign attempted to break free from the "industry-standard" tee sheet in exchange for an interface that was intelligent enough to be contextually aware of the task the user was trying to complete. This approach removed extraneous navigational items and only showed buttons or functions that made sense to help the user complete the task at hand. This also removed clutter from the screen and allowed for maximum utilization of the space by the primary content - the tee sheet. The end result was optimized for touch-screens but was also usable on desktop computers and generated a great deal of excitement when demoed to potential new clients.