Balancing automation and control

Designing scheduling behavior that feels powerful without becoming unpredictable.

Work Delivered:

Product Strategy
Interaction Design
Workflow Systems
UX Tradeoffs
Visual Feedback Design
Information Architecture

Balancing automation and control

Designing scheduling behavior that feels powerful without becoming unpredictable.

Work Delivered:

Product Strategy

Interaction Design

Workflow Systems

UX Tradeoffs

Visual Feedback Design

Information Architecture

Balancing automation and control

Designing scheduling behavior that feels powerful without becoming unpredictable.

Work Delivered:

Product Strategy
Interaction Design
Workflow Systems
UX Tradeoffs
Visual Feedback Design
Information Architecture

Industry

Project Management SaaS

(SaaS) Project Management

Headquarters

Baltimore, MD

Founded

2010

Company Size

1-25 employees

Small (1-25) employees

Key Markets

1M+ users globally

Growth Stage

ARR $8M by 2023

Use case

Timeline planning, task scheduling, team coordination

Highlights

  • Balanced automation with direct user control

  • Improved clarity of dependency behavior

  • Increased trust in timeline interactions

  • Reduced confusion during schedule edits

Overview

Scheduling is a tradeoff. Users want speed — and they also want control.
Automation helps move faster. Control helps people trust what they are doing.
In TeamGantt, both existed. The challenge was how they worked together.

Understanding the Problem

The system supported two modes at once: direct manipulation and automated adjustment.

  • Users could drag and edit tasks directly

  • Dependencies automatically adjusted related schedules

  • Too much automation created confusion

  • Too little automation increased manual effort

The tension was constant: speed versus clarity.

Strategic approach

The solution was not to choose one. It was to align both.

Making automation predictable

Users do not reject automation. They reject surprises.

The focus shifted to making system behavior visible and understandable. Dependencies were clarified. Visual indicators showed how tasks were connected.

Interactions were refined so that drag and resize actions communicated their impact.

Automation remained, but it became legible. Users stayed in control because they could see what would happen.

Principle: Automation works when users can predict the outcome.

Key Initiatives

Dependency clarity and indicators

Users did not fully understand how tasks influenced each other.

What I did

  • Improved how dependencies were displayed

  • Made relationships easier to identify in the timeline

  • Aligned visuals with system logic

What changed

  • Users could see how schedules were connected

  • Automation became easier to follow

  • Less confusion during edits

Interaction refinement for predictability

Dragging or resizing tasks created unexpected changes.

What I did

  • Refined interaction behavior to better reflect system outcomes

  • Improved feedback during edits

  • Reduced ambiguity in how changes propagated

What changed

  • Users understood the result of their actions

  • Editing felt more controlled

  • Confidence increased when adjusting schedules

Additional improvements

  • Reduced friction in schedule editing

  • Lowered support issues tied to automation behavior

  • Strengthened user mental models

  • Maintained balance between speed and control

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Worked closely with product and engineering to align behavior, interaction design, and system logic. Ensured that improvements preserved technical integrity while improving usability.

Financial Impact & Business Enablement

The timeline became both powerful and understandable.

Users could move quickly without losing control. Automation supported them instead of surprising them.

  • Reduced support volume related to scheduling confusion

  • Improved retention through increased trust

  • Faster user adoption of advanced features

  • More efficient scheduling workflows

Takeaway

Automation is not the feature. Predictability is.

Role

Head of Product Design and Design Systems

Led UX strategy for scheduling workflows. Balanced automation and control through interaction design, improving clarity, predictability, and overall usability of the timeline system.

“Brandon is open to ideas from the dev team that influence design, and also responds well to the needs of the development team regarding design. I know that if I have a design need, Brandon will be able to respond even if it requires extra work from him. He has a willingness to help.”

TeamGantt Teammate

Development Team

“Brandon is open to ideas from the dev team that influence design, and also responds well to the needs of the development team regarding design. I know that if I have a design need, Brandon will be able to respond even if it requires extra work from him. He has a willingness to help.”

TeamGantt Teammate

Development Team

“Brandon is open to ideas from the dev team that influence design, and also responds well to the needs of the development team regarding design. I know that if I have a design need, Brandon will be able to respond even if it requires extra work from him. He has a willingness to help.”

TeamGantt Teammate

Development Team

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