Energinet Control Center. Helping Energinet own its design.
Operators balance Denmark's electricity in real time. I designed the screens they work in, and helped Energinet go from contracting design to owning it.
The problem: a mission-critical system built around its technical requirements
The platform had been built around technical requirements first. The work was to bring the operators' view in, and design methods into the product teams.
Research where the work happens
Designers were embedded in the product teams. I designed the screens for the teams I worked in, with research built into the process rather than run as a separate phase.
Shadowing and interviews with operators, focused on the tasks behind each screen.
Prototypes tested on location in a simulated control room, on 50-inch screens matching the real ones. Operators completed set tasks in the new flows.
High volumes of incoming and outgoing data, reduced to what each task needs, while keeping the overview.
The work: one dense view instead of a detour to Excel
When an operator spotted a deviation, there was no way to compare in place. Values were copied out by hand, compared in Excel, and the picture rebuilt in the software before anyone could act. Now the live value, the history and a second source sit on one axis.
The scope grew
Later the work included Viking Link, the world's longest onshore and subsea interconnector, between Jutland and Great Britain. It went live ahead of schedule.
My part: getting a new design team settled, then stepping back
Each of us sat in a different product team, while working as one design team. I helped with the process, the design system and the weekly meetings where we planned how to approach what was coming. The job was to get Energinet's new designers settled into the team, its dynamic and its workflow, then step back as they took over.
Designers of Energinet's ownWhen I started, every designer on the platform came from Trifork. When I left, Energinet had six designers of its own, running their own designs and processes instead of contracting them.
How I measured this
Each number above comes with where it's from, and what it can't tell you.
A count, not a design metric
0 → 6 is a count of Energinet's own designers on the platform, from my first day to my last. It's the outcome the work aimed at.
The whole team's numbers
Four major go-lives with zero downtime, including the largest IT launch in the organisation's history, and Viking Link ahead of schedule. These are the organisation's figures, shared by a whole delivery team. I don't have usability numbers I can share.
Looking back: plan for adoption
Changing how an organisation works takes time. Trust follows visible results, so the first phase needs patience and a clear long-term direction.
Access to operators. Operator time was scarce early on. Access grew with trust, until operators took part in testing.
Alarm behaviour. How alarms are prioritised and how they notify, across many types and severities, took long alignment across the organisation.