My main contribution to this project was research and user testing with the doctors, to inform the design process. I also made the video submission for C-awards. I prepared the user story for the final presentation, and the presentation itself. I did some work on the HTML and CSS of the website (that we used to test with the visualization with the doctors) until we decided to use React, where I only contributed with some changes to the design.

• Preliminary research ~
• User testing and documentation ~ 10 hours
• Video submission ~
• Final Presentation ~ 3 hours
• Design process ~5 hours
• Internal meetings ~5 hours

We set up a slack channel where we communicated within the group and our partners at Karolinska and Jansen & Jansen. It did take me some time to remember to check slack everyday, because I can’t have the app on my phone, so my team mates had to remind me through Facebook messenger in the beginning of the project. Each of us did responsibly communicate what we have been working on and what we need from the others via the Slack Channel.

There were some ideas that arose from the user studies and research that did not make it to the final cut for several reasons - i.e. time frame of the project, not valuable to the user etc.

What I have learned in this project is that team and project management is the most important thing when working in a large group, a skill I need to practice more. Also the importance of understanding the user’s environment, practice and needs - which is also why I love HCI. We spent a lot of time in this project understanding the terms (PSA-value, Gleeson-score, comorbidities), how they are used in practice and how the doctors make sense of the all the data today, to be able create something that can support their cognition. The importance to be able to kill your darlings in behalf of the user’s needs. Further, I have gained some insight into React.

I worked in various phases of this project, from the design to the development. From planning to the onsite deployment, from working on code to meeting the users for user testing in later phasess. I also contributed by documenting our team meetings.

• User testing and documentation ~3 hours
• Backend ~6 hours
• Project and Resource Management ~8 hours
• Visualization of NPCR data ~10 hours
• Design process ~3 hours
• Internal meetings ~5 hours
• Onsite deployment ~6 hours
• Presentation ~ 3 hours

I am probably the most active member on slack, as I feel that communication is one of the core components of a team. I have cherished working with people on this team, as they were good at taking responsibilities at various phases of the project.

I worked on getting the backend and database right, as it should be done according to the best practices, unfortunately it did not make the cut to final version of the app, the time frame was small for this type of work to be done.

I learned that there are times when you need to manage the project individually and sometimes at the macro level. The key take away from this project is how to manage a lot of moving parts and make sure to keep moving things in the moving direction. In later stages I also realized again the very core tenet of software development(also applicable to information visualization some would say): Make it WORK, then Make it RIGHT, then Make it FAST.

I was working mainly with the actual development of the application, however I also have tried out the meetings with the actual users and I took a little glimpse in the designing process also. These are not my fields, as I have been studying computer science, but I found it interesting and I wanted to evolve my skills also.

• Development, coding (mainly PSA Chart and the prototype version for user evaluation) - 15 hours
• Internal meetings - 5 hours
• Meetings with users - 3 hours
• Coordination - 1 hour

We were using Slack system to support our communication, which I have found very useful. The team members were also quick, when it came to responding to critical topics. However, I do think that coordinating 7 people (8 in the beginning) is a huge task and as students we are only in the beginning of the path, to learn how to do it properly.

The PSA chart looked different, compared to the one in the final version. It was more cool and complicated also. This is because of the limitations of the React framework we are using. This is actually a typical case in programming. You have to make decisions, tough ones, about the used frameworks/tools. React is good, because it gives you many cool things already done, however on the other hand your hands are really tied. To be able to modify something, which seems to be a basic thing to the user, you might end up digging somewhere really deep. On the other hand, plain D3 is really powerful, gives you space to span your wings, however you have to take the rugged road. You have to make many things on your own, but if you manage, basically you can implement anything quickly. You have the whole view on the system. Which one is better? Hard to tell.

I have learnt a huge deal from this project. About D3, React, visualization I have learnt more during the individual project. This was not about it. The final assignment was more about communication and project management. I think in the future I would be able to prevent the mistakes we have made during this project. I do believe that on second try, we would be able to do it much better. Yet, who is capable of doing something perfect for the first time? No one. It is okay to make mistakes for the first time, important is not to repeat them. Project management is crucial. Especially with 7 people. There has to be someone, who distributes the tasks and have an overall view of the system and this person should be really great.

I was involved with many parts of the project: in the beginning I did a lot of the organizational work as well as research on prostate cancer, and on what visualization exist in the field. Moving forward I worked with sketching initial designs, conducting user testing as well as worked on the actual programming of one of the charts (the NPCR chart) together with Fanny. I also contributed to some of the presentations we have done and finally I took charge of the website for our project.

• Reading of relevant literature ~2 hours
• User testing and documentation ~6 hours
• Coordinating meetings ~2 hours
• Visualization of NPCR data ~10 hours
• Design process, sketching ~5 hours
• Internal meetings ~5 hours
• Proposal presentation and presentation at KI ~ 2 hours
• Website for the project ~ 8 hours

As I was the one setting up Slack and I am personally a big fan of Slack I was quite active on our communication channel. Still, coordinating with a team of this size remained a challenge even if everyone was quick to respond.

A lot of the initial visualizations did not make it to the final cut. Fanny and I had at least 3 different versions of the integrated NPCR statistics (3 coded versions - not to even mention the number of different sketches we made). I also worked a lot on the initial sketches and designs - a big part of them could unfortunately not be implemented.

I learned an incredible amount from this project both in terms of technical skills and organizational/management skills. In terms of technology of course D3 and react as well as just practicing front end techniques. In terms of project management I learned a lot about how important it is to clearly split up tasks between the members when we have such big team (and such limited time). I also learned a lot about having to balance between learning new skills and doing what one is already good at - I believe in this sense we did a good job because everyone was challenged and exposed to new things but also able to contribute significantly thanks to skills we have acquired in the past. Coming from a biology undergraduate program I also appreciate the new things I learned related to prostate cancer research!

I mostly worked on the development part of the project. I was the one to propose we setup the project using React Js for the core purpose of maintaining a responsive and clean interface for developing the platform. I took part in the initial setup and the worked with the team to get up to speed with the platform. I also took part in the initial phase of the design and feedback loops to understand the requirements.

• User testing and documentation ~2 hours
• Backend ~1 hours
• Project Coding and Project Management ~ 21 hours
• Visualization of NPCR data ~5 hours
• Design process ~6 hours
• Internal meetings ~ 5 hours
• Onsite deployment ~ 8 hours
• Presentation ~ 1 hours

The team communication was made using Slack that we also connected with the team at KI. We scheduled meetings and the if required necessary communication over the platform.

Initial design of the charts based on the feedback from the doctors we designed a bubble chart model to distinguish patient details. We later decided based feedback that we should aim for simple charts for clear decision making.

Other than the knowledge about prostate cancer that was eye opening literally I was able to gather requirements, clean data, produce visualizations that were meaningful and the realizations that generating simple visualizations even though seems like an ordinary task but it is actually the most difficult to achieve the right balance between meaningful and flashy visualizations.

I mostly contributed in user testing, coordinating meetings with doctors and developing the visualization of NPCR data. Although the visualization with donut charts were relatively easy to develop, we spent quite a lot of time on it because we changed the design rather late in the project since we realized that the previous design was not understandable for the doctors. In the beginning I was also part of designing the overall design of the website, then we changed to react and I did not participate in the design process anymore.

• User testing and documentation ~10 hours
• Coordinating meetings ~1 hours
• Visualization of NPCR data ~10 hours
• Design process ~5 hours
• Internal meetings ~5 hours
• Proposal presentation ~

All group communication was through our Slack channel. When contacting specific persons, we tried to directly contact that person through Slack or preferred way, e.g. Facebook messenger.

In the donut chart we were supposed to be able to change the values in order to see how the probability of death would change depending of different factors, e.g. if you were in the age between 60-60 or 50-59 at diagnosis. However, in the current design, only the probability of the current patient will be shown and it is not possible to change.

Since our project is very much about to create something that was suitable for the doctors and the context of use, therefore I learnt a lot about user-centered design. But I also learnt to work in bigger groups and about React. .

We divided up the various coding parts of the project early on. I was in charge of working on the medication chart. This took way longer than I anticipated since there were problems with the integration of the code onto the server.

• Design ~ 3 hours
• Coding (front-end) ~ 25 hours
• Presentation ~ 2 hours

I found it difficult to keep up with the communication in the general slack channel. I’ve never used it before but it was highly praised by the rest of the team. I can understand why we wouldn’t want to communicate through Facebook Messenger, there is too much activity there already. In retrospect I wish we had divided the team into smaller parts and eventually connect up the pieces and finalise the project. A shared Google Calendar could’ve been a good addition as well, it was pretty difficult to find a good time slot for everyone to meet up.

I worked on the Gantt chart (medication chart). The first version of it wasn’t compatible with react which we decided on using a while into the project, so it was scrapped. The second version took some time writing up but the real trouble with this one was, again, making it work with the server. The good aspect of react is that it is easy to update values in elements, this wasn’t a huge benefit to the medication chart but in turn caused a lot of problems for me in the implementation phase.

Coding in a new language is difficult. Balancing the time between all the different courses is very difficult. What I’ve learned from this project is that I need to be more on point with my communication with the rest of the team. I enjoyed working with this team and I’ve learned much from them, I’ve gained insight into technologies I haven’t used before but also design, evaluation, presentation and team management. The most valuable thing I took from this project however was the importance of time and team management, it has improved during these past few months but I still have much to learn!