Designing an AI-powered performance review feature for better feedback
We helped Culture Wheel improve their product with a UX audit and the design of a new AI-powered performance review feature.
UI Design
UX Audit
AI
1. Project Overview
Culture Wheel was founded by two leaders from the accounting industry. Their mission was to make one-on-one meetings between managers and employees more meaningful.
They used the DiSC framework to help each person communicate in a way that encouraged feedback to be heard and understood. They also wanted to improve the performance review process by making it faster and more useful for both sides. Their solution was to use AI to help create the review documents.
This was a return engagement with Headway. A colleague had already completed the branding. They came to me to focus on improving the product experience and adding new features.
2. Users and Research
I began with a full UX audit of the product. This uncovered usability issues and areas where visual and interaction patterns could be more consistent. These findings became the foundation for our improvements.
I worked with the founders to better understand how managers and employees approached reviews and one-on-one meetings.
3. Defining Success
Our goal was to design a performance review feature that was simple, valuable, and easy to integrate into the existing product. It needed to use AI in a way that felt helpful and intuitive. We also wanted to identify other improvements from the audit that would make the product more consistent and user-friendly.
4. Design Process
We ran a series of collaborative working sessions. In these sessions we mapped out how the AI integration would work step by step. I designed flows where AI could draft review content while allowing managers to add personal context. This reduced the time spent on writing while keeping the feedback authentic.
5. Final Solution
We delivered development ready screens for the new performance review feature. We also provided a prioritized list of recommendations from the audit to improve the product as a whole. Culture Wheel now had a clear path to launch the feature and a plan to make the entire platform more consistent.
6. Reflection
The final result was a tool that helps teams have more meaningful conversations while reducing the burden of administrative work.
