Delta Crew Management App

UX Architect & Designer - Slalom Consulting

Activities - Wireframing, visual design, mocks, user research and journey maps

Two of the primary views in CMA - The daily timeline and the calendar schedule view

Design Brief

Delta Airlines employs a fleet of crew members that is 30,000 strong. They needed an app that would be as mobile as their employees to handle scheduling and on-rotation duties.

We had access to tons of information and insider knowledge about crew behaviors and habits which was a boon to understanding our users. Enthusiastic and engaged subject matter experts provided the team with a wealth of valuable insights and feedback throughout the project.

One of the biggest challenges was meeting users where they need the app. Crew members are always on the move, working varying schedules from diverse locations and managing highly technical data on a daily basis. We set out with the goal of easing some of the pain points of performing administrative functions on a mobile device while on the go.

Two of our journey maps that highlighted the activities and pain points of a crew member’s rotation.

User Research

One of the key pieces of research performed on the CMA project was a shadowing opportunity at the Delta crew lounge located at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. The crew lounge is one of the main hubs of crew activity before, after and between flights. The ability to observe crew at work helped me piece together journey maps that depicted where crew members were interacting with Delta apps and software throughout their rotations.

In addition to shadowing, we had the opportunity to meet with and interview a number of other employees who make use of crew scheduling apps such as managers, IT, scheduling center employees and flight leaders.

Through the research and interviews, we were able to get a clearer picture of where, when and how users were currently engaging with apps to help us identify pain points and see where they would want to engage with apps in the future.

With the information gained via the research, I created journey maps to document where users touched on Delta technologies and their common pain points throughout a rotation and their administrative routines.

Initial user flows, timelines and wireframe sketches

App Concept

After analyzing our research and interviews, it became clear the app needed to adhere to four key tenets:

  1. Flexible

    Give users a great experience across platforms and allow them the flexibility to interact with the app where they want.

  2. Scalable

    Design the app in such a way that future features and iterations can be added easily.

  3. Intuitive

    Make the users’ job easy to do by focusing the design around the flight crews’ needs.

  4. Vital

    Surface was it most pressing for crew members depending on where they are in the rotation. Give them their next activity without overwhelming them with information.

Final screens from the app showing the various views and functions

Final Design

The main functions of the application revolve around a daily timeline view and a more long-term calendar view. From these screens, crew members can perform all scheduling and administrative functions quickly and easily.

On the timeline view, a user’s next activity appears at the top of the screen, helping flight attendants and pilots easily see what is coming next for them during a hectic rotation. They can look ahead to see where their day is headed, or by looking at the calendar view, see what the next three months hold for them.

Crew members can quickly swap flights, bid on rotations and book a jump seat to get them to work on time, all while on-the-go.