Project Management Plan

Project Overview

The Bakery Cake Ordering System Redesign was a collaborative instructional design project completed by a remote team of four designers. The client, The Bakery, was experiencing significant productivity loss, food waste, and reduced profits due to inconsistent cake ordering procedures.

Employees were spending excessive time clarifying orders, fixing mistakes, and managing customer complaints. With no standardized process in place, communication breakdowns were frequent and costly.

Our team partnered with The Bakery to design a streamlined, uniform cake ordering system using a structured two-phase iterative development model: Silver Cycle (prototype) and Gold Cycle (refined final deliverables).

Goals & Objectives

The primary project goal was:

To implement a uniform cake ordering system that improves communication, increases productivity, reduces waste, and maximizes profitability.

Specific objectives included:

Identify performance gaps through stakeholder analysis

Develop standardized order documentation tools

Increase order accuracy

Reduce time spent clarifying and revising cake orders

Improve employee accountability

Enhance customer satisfaction

Resources & Tools Used

Google Forms (Digital Initial Order Form)

Google Docs (Consultation Form)

Canva (Cake Design Mockup Template & Flowchart)

Google Drive (Shared remote collaboration)

Milestone Spreadsheet (Project Management)

Learner Personas for Stakeholder Alignment

Iterative Review & Status Reports

Process & Implementation
1. Performance & Needs Analysis

The problem analysis revealed:

Employees spent 1 hour taking orders

2 hours clarifying details

2 hours fixing complaints

Only 3 hours producing cakes

This imbalance directly impacted profits and production capacity.

We conducted persona development to better understand stakeholders:

Lead Baker (technology capable, efficiency-focused)

Cake Decorator (creative but limited structure)

Cashier (tech-forward, customer-facing)

Owner (legacy-driven, limited tech fluency)

This analysis ensured our solution addressed real human workflow challenges rather than surface-level symptoms.

2. Silver Cycle (Prototype Phase)

June 21 – June 27, 2023

During this phase, we developed first-draft versions of:

Problem statement

Goal statement

Learner personas

Project scope

Initial deliverables

Midpoint status report

We conducted structured team meetings and gathered internal feedback to evaluate artifact quality against defined criteria.

3. Gold Cycle (Refinement & Finalization)

June 28 – July 2, 2023

During this iteration, we:

Refined all deliverables

Incorporated quality improvements

Added allergy/dietary restriction fields

Linked all tools within the flowchart

Added billing address to order form

Created blank and example design templates

We finalized documentation ahead of schedule and submitted a comprehensive status report.

Final Deliverables

Digital Initial Order/Contact Form

Captures essential customer details

Establishes documentation consistency

Reduces clarification calls

Customer/Decorator Consultation Form (Hard Copy)

Structured design requirements

Sketching space

Accountability fields

Cake Design Approval Protocol

Digital mock-up template

Customer approval process

Lead baker sign-off

Signature accountability

Cake Ordering Procedural Flowchart

Clearly defined employee roles

Logical step sequencing

Embedded links to supporting tools

Each artifact included measurable quality criteria to determine effectiveness.

Outcomes & Impact

The redesigned system aimed to:

Reduce food waste

Decrease free cake replacements

Increase production hours

Improve communication among employees

Establish accountability checkpoints

Increase customer satisfaction

By standardizing procedures and documentation, The Bakery could shift time back toward cake production — directly impacting profitability.

-Why I Am Highlighting This Work-

This project demonstrates my ability to:

Conduct full performance gap analysis

Develop learner personas grounded in stakeholder realities

Collaborate in a remote team environment

Define project scope with clarity

Use iterative design cycles (Silver/Gold)

Create measurable quality criteria

Design job aids and process documentation

Align instructional solutions to business outcomes

Most importantly, this work reflects my ability to think beyond “training” and focus on performance improvement and systems thinking — a critical competency in both higher education and corporate instructional design environments.

This project positions me as a designer who understands that instructional solutions must drive operational results, not just knowledge acquisition.