Discovery-led redesign of MindForge’s core platform, enabling scalable hierarchy, tiered permissions, and flexible organization for construction workforces.

MindForge’s SaaS platform had outgrown its original structure. Lacking hierarchy, suffering from technical debt, and constrained by a rigid permissions model, the system was difficult to scale across large construction teams. Admins couldn’t efficiently manage content, roles were unclear, and users lacked the flexibility to organize their information in meaningful ways.

Create a more scalable and flexible hierarchy system
Redefine permissions to support large, distributed teams
Enable better content organization without adding complexity
Future-proof the platform to support rapid expansion

Introduced three flexible platform architecture options to suit varying organization sizes and needs

Designed a customizable, tiered permissions system with clear content access roles (Admin, Contributor, Member)

Delivered foundational IA and feature prioritization plans to drive the next phase of product development

Established a phased migration roadmap to transition from legacy systems without disruption

The discovery phase spanned eight weeks of collaborative workshops, stakeholder interviews, platform walkthroughs, heuristic audits, and prioritization exercises. Key steps included:

Mapping current pain points and unmet user needs

Conducting deep dives into permissions, roles, and structural limitations

Exploring multiple IA models (from flat to fully adaptive)

Prioritizing features through card sorting and ecosystem mapping

Delivering visual explorations and planning documentation to align stakeholders on future direction

To lay the foundation for scalability and platform growth, we recommended a fully adaptive organizational model. “Workspaces” were redefined as the core unit where meaningful work takes place, replacing rigid job site and location structures with a more modern, flexible framework. Within each Workspace, users could create Groups and Sub-Groups to mirror their real-world team structures. At the organizational level, clients were given the ability to define custom hierarchy layers, enabling them to tailor the platform to their specific operational needs. This direction aligned with current project management conventions and positioned MindForge for future expansion into adjacent markets.

Pros
Maximum flexibility, organizations define and structure content as they see fit
Custom naming and hierarchy, each company can tailor their setup to match their internal workflows.

Cons
Lack of enforced consistency, each organization must take responsibility for structuring their content in a way that works
Potential for disorganization, without predefined layers, maintaining consistency across large teams may be challenging.

To support clarity, control, and ease of management across complex organizational structures, we designed a tiered permissions model inspired by familiar systems like Google Drive. Admins can be assigned at any level of the hierarchy, whether at the organization, workspace, group, or sub-group level. Once assigned, they automatically gain visibility and control over all nested spaces beneath their designated level, streamlining access management across teams and projects. Crucially, they are restricted from accessing or viewing anything above their permission tier, ensuring secure boundaries between roles and departments. This granular, cascading permission model empowers organizations to delegate ownership effectively while maintaining tight control over sensitive information.

To establish a clear and scalable foundation for content organization, we developed detailed sitemaps that outlined the full hierarchical structure and navigation flows of the platform. These sitemaps served as both a strategic planning tool and a visual blueprint, enabling stakeholders to understand how users would move through the system and how different types of content would be structured and accessed. By mapping out the information architecture in this way, we ensured the platform would support intuitive navigation, reduce user friction, and scale gracefully as the product evolves. The result is a navigational framework that aligns with user expectations while accommodating future growth.

​W​e added low-fidelity wireframes to this scope to help visualize some of the recommendations we were proposing.

The foundational changes implemented during this discovery phase position MindForge for meaningful, measurable growth—both in platform performance and user impact. By redefining “Workspaces” as the central hub of activity, introducing a fully adaptive hierarchy model, and implementing a flexible, tiered permissions system, we’ve created a scalable architecture that mirrors how modern construction teams actually work.

This strategic evolution doesn’t just solve current usability issues—it opens the door for future expansion into new verticals, simplifies onboarding for distributed teams, and empowers organizations to organize people and content on their own terms. With streamlined navigation, clearer content structures, and reduced technical debt, we anticipate improvements in user engagement, administrative efficiency, and overall platform adoption.

While quantitative results will emerge in future phases, these structural and architectural decisions lay the groundwork for a more intuitive, powerful, and future-ready MindForge, one that can grow with its users and adapt to the ever-changing demands of the field.