Co-Creation in Action: UX Workshop with Techem at slashwhy
Co-creation became tangible in our Hamburg office: Together with Techem and their customer Wankendorfer, we further developed the portal „Digitaler Heizungskeller“ in a UX workshop. This served as a hands-on demonstration of applying user-centered thinking to digital product development, showing how collaboration directly shaped the outcome.
Working towards a shared goal together at one table
How do you build software that truly works in everyday practice? By developing it together with the people who will actually use it.
That is exactly why our client Techem Energy Services invited their own customers from the housing industry to our slashwhy office in Hamburg. At the center of the workshop were the users of the „Digitaler Heizungskeller“. The platform enables remote monitoring and analysis of heating systems across a wide range of buildings. By implementing the measures suggested by the system, heating systems become more efficient and produce fewer CO₂ emissions.
Instead of discussing assumptions in abstract terms, everyone sat down together at one table. Developers, UX designers, product owners, and the people who work with buildings and heating systems on a daily basis.
Our goal: Making a strong product even more user-centered
Techem’s „Digitaler Heizungskeller“ connects heating systems in residential buildings and turns measurement data into actionable insights. The platform enables consumption analysis, detects malfunctions, and identifies optimization potential at an early stage. It is a crucial building block for decarbonization and climate-friendly building management.
Techem’s team follows a clear ambition. They aim to provide a solution that is not only technically sound but also enjoyable to use, and that noticeably simplifies users’ everyday work.
Our CleanTech Crew supports Techem in the user-centered evolution of this already strong product, with the goal of making it even more intuitive, efficient, and grounded in real-world practice. This requires one essential thing: genuine understanding. And that understanding emerges when you engage directly with the people who use the system every day.
That is exactly what the workshop in Hamburg was designed for. Together with Techem and representatives from the housing sector, we explored how the portal is used in daily work, where users encounter obstacles, and which ideas they have for future features. It was a day where knowledge, experience, and curiosity came together and where the foundation for the next development steps was laid.
What we truly value about working with slashwhy is the genuine partnership. The workshop showed that solutions are not simply implemented, but thoughtfully developed, challenged, and shaped together. You can feel that the team is just as passionate about the project as we are.”
Dr. Ing. Daniel Ghebru
Head of Energy Efficiency at Techem
Working with Techem means experiencing energy in two ways. In every conversation, it becomes clear that they do not just want to build software. They want to make a real impact. That conviction is present in every meeting, every piece of feedback, and every detail.”
Niklas Tüpker
Business Manager CleanTech at slashwhy
Co-creation workshops connect perspectives. They give users the opportunity to directly share their needs with the development team and actively contribute to shaping the solution. Developers and clients gain a deeper understanding of their users. This is how we build software that does not just work technically, but truly solves real problems and delights users.”
Winona Biber
UX Designer at slashwhy
A successful workshop starts with understanding, not ideas
In user-centered software development, we often talk about moving from the problem space to the solution space.
The problem space is about understanding the current situation. Who uses the software? Which tasks need to be accomplished? Where does friction occur in daily work? And what already works well?
Only once this understanding is established does the solution space open up. This is where ideas, concepts, and concrete improvements emerge that strengthen the existing product.
This is exactly the journey we took together with Techem and Wankendorfer. During the workshop, we worked on aligning the „Digitaler Heizungskeller“ even more closely with users’ needs and explored new approaches for future enhancements.
1. Understanding users
In the first phase of the workshop, the focus was not on discussing features, but on understanding context. Listening came first. Only when we understand how users’ daily work actually unfolds can we develop software that helps in practice and not just on paper. A key advantage here was that a strong digital solution already exists, which we were able to further develop in a user-centered way.
2. Developing proto-personas
Based on the conversations, we created proto-personas. These are fictional yet realistic user profiles that capture roles, goals, and needs. For example, the technical property manager who needs to quickly identify where action is required, or the property manager who needs to keep an overview of many buildings at once.
While proto-personas still need to be enriched through further user research, they create a shared understanding within the team from the very beginning, especially when insights come directly from users.
By personifying user groups, teams can discuss concrete tasks and challenges instead of vaguely referring to the users. This creates focus and prevents misunderstandings in later decision-making.
3. Structured idea generation
Using the creativity method "Crazy 8s", participants developed a wide range of ideas for the user-centered evolution of the portal in a very short time.
What made this particularly valuable was that the best ideas did not come from us alone, but from the collaborative work with Techem and the users themselves. This diversity of perspectives is the core of co-creation workshops. It makes solutions more robust, more practical, and often surprisingly simple.
4. Usability testing where reality meets concept
To conclude, things became hands-on. Participants logged into the portal themselves and worked through typical tasks. They thought out loud, described their expectations, pointed out what worked well, and where they hesitated. Within this single hour, insights emerged that often only surface weeks later. It became clear which features are intuitive and where users still struggle.
The result was honest, direct feedback from real usage situations. These observations now flow directly into further development, ensuring that the portal is not only technically strong but also pleasant and easy to use in everyday work.
Conclusion: A day full of insights and collaboration
Deep user understanding often develops over weeks, but sometimes it can emerge in a single day. The workshop with Techem was one of those days.
What made it special was that Techem brought their own customers from the housing industry. These are the people who already use the „Digitaler Heizungskeller“ every day. Their perspectives helped us make real challenges visible and think more precisely about how the existing solution could become even more intuitive and impactful.
Some hypotheses were confirmed, others were deliberately challenged. This is a clear sign of Techem’s high standards and their willingness to continuously question the status quo in order to create a product that not only works, but is genuinely appreciated by its users.
The atmosphere was equally remarkable. Open, collaborative, and solution-oriented. It quickly became clear that this was not about separate teams, but about people working together toward a shared goal.
For us at slashwhy, this workshop is a strong example of co-creation in practice. It shows what becomes possible when clients, partners, and users collaborate openly, empathetically, and on equal footing.
