Role:
User Experience Manager
Team:
No other team members
Methods used:
Metrics, Passive Feedback, Usability Tests, Interviews, Heuristic Evaluations
The Challenge
A product team at HP had been established with software engineers and a Product Manager. As the team matured and determined that they needed designers, 4 UX designers were hired to execute on UI design. However, designs were only being made based on product requirements and best practices, and they were still missing the voice of the user. I was hired to establish UX research practices for the team and guide the team in their adoption of them into their process.
The Approach
Assessment
I first evaluated what channels of feedback were currently being used or were available. The team's product consisted of both a website and an app. From a metrics perspective, very few actions were being captured in either and none of this information was being used. No primary research was being done with users and there was no pool of potential participants to recruit from. There were also no mechanisms in place for users to provide feedback to the team in context of use.
Metrics
I sat with a developer and worked on how to programmatically capture relevant metrics consistently across both the app and the website and make them available. I worked with the Product Manager on a strategy to get these implemented.
Passive Feedback
I had a feedback module added to both the website and the app, allowing users to volunteer feedback in context on their own schedule. I also began tracking ratings and reviews received in the app store, and created and distributed a weekly one-pager report with feedback received from these two passive feedback sources.
Participant Recruiting
I set up a participant database to track potential participants for research studies, as well as any studies they were later recruited for or participated in. I sent targeted email blasts to current users allowing them to opt in to seed the database. In the on-site feedback module I set up, I included an option that allowed site visitors to opt in to join the participant pool that way.
Primary Research
I integrated myself into the the designers' process, planning and executing on usability tests, interviews, and heuristic evaluations related to their current work in order to inform and evaluate their designs.
Training and socializing
I ensured that the designers were aware of all aforementioned channels of feedback, and how they could best be used, and their importance. I held readouts for the team to review all of my reports from research and testing conducted, and answered any questions.
The Outcome
The team began to move from making decisions solely on product needs to making decisions informed by concrete user needs and behaviors. Most of the team members had not previously worked in a design or development process that was user-centered, but a culture emerged where designers would approach me to request research be conducted for features they were designing, or an expert review when this was not possible. The team was able to position themselves into a new mindset and pursue a new level of goals for their users.