Lukas Schubsda !
Sample of a Recent UX Research Project
“The core Intuit Demandforce product helps small businesses manage their appointments in an efficient way. I led this research project to evaluate and iterate prototypes aimed at improving the UX of crucial user interactions.�
Process
Kick Off Prep
Summative Formative
Synth &! Next Steps
Kick Off! ! Gain an holistic understanding of the project goals in order to deliver practical results that matter.
Business Goals
Design & Product Vision
Previous UX Research
Kick Off Action! Met with the director and product managers to understand the business goals for the project.
Business Goals
Design & Product Vision
Previous UX Research
Outcome! Defined business goal: Improve customer retention by enhancing UX of crucial tasks.
Kick Off Action! Reviewed the state of the design assets with the design team.
Business Goals
Design & Product Vision
Previous UX Research
Outcome! Identified and familiarized design assets: Prototype based on previous design research.
Kick Off Action! Revisited previous research relevant to the project.
Business Goals
Design & Product Vision
Previous Research
Outcome! Created activity / task analysis from contextual inquiry, showing user goals and tasks.
Prep! ! Thoroughly prepare the study to gather relevant data.
Study Purpose
Research Questions
Research Methods
Prep Action! Defined the purpose of the study with a deep understanding of the business, design & product vision gained during kick off.
Study Purpose
Research Question
Research Methods
Outcome! Study Purpose: Assess if users can successfully manage appointment requests and unconfirmed appointments in refreshed prototypes.
Prep Action! Defined research questions addressing the study purpose.
Study Purpose
Research Question
Research Methods
Outcomes:! Sample Question • How easily can user find a new appt. request? • How easily can user reach out to patient? • How easily can user confirm appt. request?
Prep Action! Picked a research method that would be most suitable to answering research questions.
Purpose
Research Question
Research Methods
Outcome! • Activity analysis - to define goals, tasks, and success criteria for tasks targeting research questions. • Behavioral analytics - to gain precise understanding WHAT users are doing in current product. • Task-based usability testing - to evaluate designs via crucial tasks and find out WHY users are behaving in certain ways.
Formative Research! ! To provide understand current product use and design the most relevant user goals and tasks.
Activity Analysis
Behavioral Analytics
Formative Research Action! Utilized the data from a previous contextual inquiry to define crucial user goals and tasks (observed 6 users in their natural work environment).
Activity Analysis
Behavioral Analytics
Outcome! • User goals. • List of tasks users carry out to achieve goals. • Success criteria for tasks, bases on user goals. • Pain points users experience in the process. ! !
Activity Analysis: Managing Unconfirmed Appointment
Task Sequence:
Goal
Info! Need
Look Up
Find Out Why
Identify possible “no Gather information in shows”. Avoiding “no order to reach out to shows” is a primary focus client. of appointment-based businesses.
Reach Out & Confirm
Communicate with client to avoid a “no show” & confirm that client will come in.
Date & time, client name, Communication history & Is this client “online” (no service, provider. personal knowledge email) or “offline”? Best about client. reach contact information.
User can identify unconfirmed Succes! appointments in Criteria schedule.
User can audit communication & appointment history for unconfirmed appointment.
User can find necessary info within one click from starting location.
Formative Research Action! Tracked user behavior and analyzed the results for crucial tasks.
Activity Analysis
Behavioral Analytics
Outcome! • Detailed knowledge of tasks sequence and clicks in current product for tasks that stay the same in new prototypes.
Behavioral Analytics: Example The appointment schedule is a key destination for managing unconfirmed appointments, accounting for 20% of total traffic. By tracking user clicks on the appointment calendar within the schedule, I was able to determine that today, tomorrow, and dayafter-tomorrow receive ~80% of interaction. Managing Unconfimred Appts. for the Week, starting on Mon Today
2785 17%
Today +1
6319 39%
Today +2
3950 24%
Today +3
1879 12%
Today +4
842 5%
Today +5
133 1%
Today +6
245 2%
Summative Research! ! Test new design by observing relevant behavior to make impactful recommendations.
Refine Test Design
Prepare Prototype
Usability Test
Formative Research Action! Based on screening criteria derived from the activity analysis I pulled a filtered customer list from salesforce and recruited 9 users for a remote, moderated usability study.
Recruit
Usability Prepare Prototype Testing
Usability Test
Outcome! • 9 participants scheduled for 60 min. sessions over a period of 5 days.
Formative Research Action! I met with the designer for the project and prepared an interactive prototype based on the test scenarios and tasks developed in the activity analysis.
Recruit
Usability Prepare Prototype Testing
Usability Test
Outcome! • Prototype that supports horizontal, end-to-end interactions so that test participants can achieve task success.
Formative Research Action! I moderated remotely using Webex. Each participant was asked to carry out tasks for two scenarios that incorporate all important subtasks identified in the activity analysis.
Recruit
Usability Prepare Prototype Testing
Usability Test
Outcome! • Assessment of major and sub - task success for crucial tasks. • Identification of usability issues for tasks. • Identification of additional information needs.
Synth and Next Steps! ! Identify key insights and patterns and deliver the results in influential ways.
Synthesize
Report Usability Research Testing Findings
Next Steps
Synth and Next Steps Action! I synthesized the usability test findings and am currently reporting the results to the product team.
Synthesize
Report Usability Research Testing Findings
Next Steps
Outcome! • Test results and recommendations for improvement.
Research Findings: Example
Communication status is easily found, but doesn’t completely fulfill information need. Task: manage your unconfirmed appointments.
• •
8 out of 9 users successfully identified communication status for individual message. 7 out of 9 users needed additional information about message before reaching out to client: send AND opened.
Recommendation: Change status from “sent” to “opened” when client opens message.
Research Findings: Example
New Design vastly improves understanding of Daily Drill Down Widget. Understanding Columns in Daily Drill Down Table on Dashboard
Old
New
D3 (Total / New)
0 / 6 participants 0%
UXO (Unconfirmed / Total)
Recommendation: Adopt new design for Daily Drill Down Widget.
8 / 8 participants 100%
Next Steps Action! In the next week I will meet with the designer to make additional changes to the prototypes. I already scheduled a follow-up study evaluating these changes on the same crucial tasks via a remote usability test.
Synthesize
Report Usability Research Testing Findings
Next Steps
Outcome! • Rapid iteration of prototype based on quantitative and qualitative data. • (2.5 weeks from research planning to prototype iteration) • Evaluating iterations in a follow up study. !
Thank you.