Technical Maintenance Training
HTM's mechanics needed two hours of hands-on training for one procedure. I led the project from the sales talks to delivery, and the training now takes twenty minutes.
- Client
- HTM
- Team
- 1 developer, 1 3D artist, and me on design and lead
- Duration
- About 2 months, shipped on time
- My role
- Project lead, Product decisions, Concept, Interaction design, Client contact
Challenge
A long, technical maintenance procedure that took two hours to teach, with someone guiding on the work floor.
What I did
Joined during the sales talks, cut the procedure into clear steps that anyone can follow, and kept HTM involved at every stage.
Result
2h → 20 minShipped on time after about two months. Training time went from 2 hours to 20 minutes.
The problem
HTM runs public transport in The Hague region. One of their maintenance procedures is long and technical, and teaching it took about two hours with someone guiding on the work floor. They wanted a VR training that teaches it correctly, faster, and to people without prior knowledge.
My role
I joined early, during the sales talks, which meant I knew the reason behind the project before anything was planned. Once it moved to production I was the project manager and did the design myself, with one developer and one 3D artist. I met with HTM every two to three weeks.
The decisions that mattered
The procedure had to stay technically correct, but feel simple. So the product decisions were about the learner:
- One step at a time. I split the procedure into small, logical steps. Each step has one clear action, so you always know what to do next.
- How you move and interact. The same choices as in our other trainings: the way of moving and grabbing that asks the least of a first-time VR user, so all attention goes to the procedure itself.
- Showing, not explaining. The part you need next lights up, so you don’t have to read a manual inside VR.
Working with HTM
Every two to three weeks I showed HTM where we were and turned their feedback into concrete tasks for the team. Because they saw it grow, there were no surprises at the end, and the project stayed on schedule.
Outcome
We shipped on time after about two months. With the VR training, HTM brought the training time for this procedure down from 2 hours to 20 minutes, and they were very happy with both the result and how the project ran.