Prototype Walkthrough · Tab & Shift EngineeringFloor 16 Technologies
Build
Prototype Walkthrough: Project Register
Tab & Shift Engineering Ltd. · The first prototype, click by click, and what four sessions changed
| Prepared for | Prepared by | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Chen Chief Operating Officer | Floor 16 Technologies | Sep 28, 2026 | v1.0 · Live |
Summary
Tab & Shift's project list lived in a 14-tab workbook that three people edited and nobody trusted. In the first session, leadership clicked through a working register built on their own 142 projects. Four sessions later the workbook went read-only.
142live projects loaded from the workbook before the first session
4weekly working sessions, 45 minutes each, over Teams
11 / 3changes made, and features cut, between session 1 and handover
4 minfrom a project's approval to a ready project site
What we started with
Loading the workbook into the register was the first test. It turned up these problems before anyone had clicked anything.
| Found in the workbook | Rows | What the register does instead |
|---|---|---|
| The same project number used twice | 9 | Issues the number itself. Nobody types one |
| No project manager named | 23 | Requires one, chosen from the staff directory |
| Dates that do not exist, such as September 31 | 6 | Date fields that only accept real dates |
| Status shown only as a cell color | 142 | Stage and Health are columns you can filter |
| Budget retyped from accounting each month | 142 | Reads it nightly from the accounting system |
Session 1: the register, on your data
Week one, September 3. In the room: Marcus Chen, Elena Rossi, Daniel Brooks and Priya Shah. Everything shown was live in Tab & Shift's own SharePoint, on the 142 real projects.
Tab & Shift · Project RegisterElena Rossi
All projectsMine1At risk2Closing soon
Search projectsNew project
| Project | Client | Stage | Health | Budget used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P-2214 Highway 9 Interchange | Macro Transportation | Delivery | On track | 62% |
| P-2231 Riverside Pump Station 3 | Track Changes Construction | Delivery | At risk | 88% |
| P-2240 Northgate Warehouse | Copy of Copy Logistics | Design | On track | 35% |
| P-2247 Elm Street Retaining Wall | Autosave Developments | Design | On track | 21% |
| P-2253 Depot Fuel System Upgrade | Copy of Copy Logistics | Proposal | On track | 0% |
- 1Mine. Elena sees her 11 projects and nothing else. The default for every project manager.
- 2At risk. The 7 projects whose managers marked them at risk, each with the reason they gave.
- 3Open P-2231. The project record opens in the same page.
P-2231 · Riverside Pump StationDelivery · At risk
OverviewBudgetTeamDocuments
Open project site5Update health4
ProposalDesignDeliveryCloseoutClosed
ClientTrack Changes Construction
Project managerDaniel Brooks
DivisionMechanical and Process
StartMar 2, 2026
FinishDec 18, 2026
Budget used88%
Health
On trackAt riskOff track
Reason (required unless on track)
Pump delivery slipped four weeks. Commissioning moves to November.
- 4Update health. The project manager sets On track, At risk or Off track. A reason is required for anything but On track.
- 5Open project site. Straight to the project's SharePoint site and its five libraries.
"Health should be my call, not a formula. A formula would have said this one was fine until it wasn't."Daniel Brooks, session 1
Sessions 2 to 4: shaped by the people who use it
Each week opened with what had changed since the last session, then one new part of the register. Sam Okafor joined from session 2, once project setup was on the table.
New projectNumber issued on approval
Project name *
Westgate Culvert Replacement
Client * 6
Lit
Macro Transportation
Macro Utilities
Division *
Civil and Structural
Project manager *
Elena Rossi
Contract value
$410,000
Start and finish
Jan 11, 2027 to Aug 27, 2027
Submit for approval7Save draft
- 6Client. Typed ahead from a client list. The workbook had 61 spellings of 38 clients.
- 7Submit for approval. Goes to the division lead in Teams. No number yet, so abandoned requests never use one up.
P-2262 · Westgate Culvert ReplacementApproved by Elena Rossi
- Project number issuedP-2262
- Project site created, joined to the Projects hubDone
- Five libraries, folders and columns from the standardDone
- Owners and team groups, project manager addedDone
- Total time4 min 10 s
Leadership viewUpdated by PMs, Friday noon
Projects by stage
Needs attention
| P-2231 Riverside Pump Station | At risk |
| P-2198 Harbor Road Lift Station | At risk |
| P-2205 Mill Creek Crossing | Budget 94% |
| P-2177 Station 4 Electrical | Closing in 9 days |
What each session showed and decided
| Session | Shown | Decided |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sep 3 | Register home and project record, on all 142 projects | Stage cut from 9 values to 5. Health set by the project manager with a reason, not calculated. One project manager per project, a person rather than typed text. |
| 2 Sep 10 | New project form, approval in Teams, site built in four minutes | The number is issued on approval, not on request. Client chosen from a list. Every project site gets a Field library, which went into the folder standard. |
| 3 Sep 17 | Budget from accounting, permissions, the old workbook's history | Contract value and budget visible to project managers, division leads and Finance only. Budget read nightly and never edited here. 96 closed projects imported as Closed. |
| 4 Sep 24 | Leadership view, the Friday update, the role guides | The workbook goes read-only on September 28. Project managers update health by Friday noon. The leadership view replaces the Monday status email. |
What changed between week one and handover
| Change | What | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Added | Client list: 38 clients, cleaned from 61 spellings | 2 |
| Added | A reason required whenever health is not On track | 1 |
| Added | Budget used, read nightly from the accounting system | 3 |
| Added | Leadership view | 4 |
| Added | A Teams reminder to project managers at 10 AM on Fridays | 4 |
| Added | 96 closed projects from the workbook, kept as history | 3 |
| Added | A Field library on every project site | 2 |
| Changed | Stage values, from 9 to 5 | 1 |
| Changed | Project manager, from typed text to a person | 1 |
| Changed | Project number issued at approval, not at request | 2 |
| Changed | Budget used shown as a bar against contract value | 3 |
| Cut | A Gantt chart per project. Schedules stay in the scheduling tool, linked from the record | 2 |
| Cut | A weekly email digest to all staff. Nobody wanted another email | 3 |
| Cut | Timesheet hours. They stay in the accounting system | 3 |
Why cut anything. Each cut feature had a home already, or nobody would use it. Cutting them kept the register to one job, the list of projects everyone works from, and kept the build inside four weeks.
Where it stands
- Live on September 28. The workbook is read-only and linked from the register's home page for reference.
- Next job: the register builds the 142 project sites for the Move, starting with the pilot on October 15.
- Guides: one page each for project managers, division leads and Finance, plus a 30-minute live session recorded in Teams.
- Support: Floor 16 stays on call and stands behind the register, alongside Tab & Shift's IT provider.
Sample on a made-up company. Figures are scenario numbers, rounded. Real prototypes are built on the client's own data in their own SharePoint.