Boosting Office Efficiency: Design Strategies from 58’s Cloud Collaboration 2.0

1. Optimization Object

Cloud Efficiency is an internal R&D platform that supports employees in product development. The optimization focuses on its project collaboration capabilities, primarily the functions of creating/managing projects and driving online project flow.

2. Design Basis

Because the platform is built for internal use, there is limited data validation. Interviews with staff across roles identified workflow pain points, leading to the conclusion that overall efficiency is low. The optimization goal is therefore to improve project collaboration efficiency.

3. Efficiency Core

Project collaboration consists of two fundamental components: “flow” and “role.” The system is likened to a factory where a project moves through a production line (flow) and each workstation is a role that must complete its task to advance the project.

Office efficiency = role task‑completion efficiency × flow smoothness

1. Project Flow Full Coverage

The previous version only covered product and development roles. The new design expands coverage to the entire product lifecycle, including product managers, designers, developers, and testers. Workflow steps from requirement planning to launch are mapped, and each role’s tasks and flow nodes are clarified.

Current flow remains primarily manual: a product creates a requirement, passes it to a designer, who then updates the status to “Designing,” and so on until launch. Future plans include automated transitions, such as auto‑moving to the next stage when a designer uploads the final design.

2. Messaging Reminder System

Interviews revealed delays in information transmission. Leveraging widely used tools (Meishi and corporate email), a unified reminder system was designed, covering both pending tasks and exception alerts. Examples include automatic notifications when a requirement is created and assigned, and system‑driven alerts for overdue items.

1. Concept Efficiency

The old system had overlapping concepts (e.g., “project” vs. “product”) and non‑standard terminology, causing high learning costs. The redesign flattens concepts, merges similar ones, and aligns terminology with industry standards, thereby reducing user comprehension effort.

2. Build High‑Efficiency Pages

Work items are the core UI components, but the previous page structure was fragmented and required frequent navigation. The new design uses a card‑based layout, consolidates components, and replaces page jumps with drawer displays. Information density is controlled, a sticky creation entry is added for quick actions, and a left‑hand quick‑frame navigation bar enables fast jumps to desired sections.

3. Multi‑Dimensional Display

To support varied management needs, multiple visualizations are introduced:

Hierarchical relationship: Tree diagrams show parent‑child relationships of requirements.

Progress tracking: Gantt charts display start/end dates and durations, with drag‑and‑drop editing.

Flow status: Kanban boards represent the current state of each work item, allowing users to drag items between columns.

The efficiency formula is reiterated: Office efficiency = role task‑completion efficiency × flow smoothness . Optimizations across both “flow” and “role” dimensions aim to achieve precise office productivity gains.

In conclusion, by covering the full product lifecycle, establishing a robust messaging system, simplifying concepts, building high‑efficiency pages, and providing multi‑dimensional displays, the redesign seeks to substantially improve office efficiency for B‑end enterprise products.