Lead from the fields: who and how applied qualitative methods in UX Research to develop IT products. Part 4 of 6
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We saw that qualitative methods allow us to obtain data on the needs, habits, fears and problems of users. They provide access to useful information about life situations and the environment for using an IT product designed for one or several user groups. These possibilities of qualitative methodology will be very important for us in the situation described below.
Let us return to the development of IT products for specific user groups. No, this is not about children. Consider a situation where a team needs to develop a professional interface.
Why did we take the development of professional interfaces into a separate category? Formally, this is a special case of creating IT products for a specific group of users. But the focus of our research is practical experience of using qualitative methods in various development situations. In this situation, work with qualitative methods, or rather, the purpose of their use and the choice of methodology, has its own specifics. In order to see this with a real example, we first consider the case that is not quite typical for our sample.
Stop. And where is the development of an IT product? Yes, indeed, in this case, it is absent, although the conceptualization of the employee’s work experience included the analysis of routine tasks for which he uses various professional and “office” software. This case demonstrates the quality of data in the development of professional interfaces - a deep and detailed study of the experience gained in the workplace. Any development of a good professional IT product begins with the collection of information on how the user's work day is organized. And here it is appropriate to recall all that we have already learned about the possibilities of qualitative methods, both about the study of various groups of users, and about life situations and the environment of use. All this is needed when qualitative methods are used to develop professional interfaces.
The main methods here are interview and observation. In the situation of developing professional interfaces, project teams almost always turn to observation. Especially to one of its variations - the method of "shadow". This is due to the fact that the possibilities of obtaining data through interviews are limited. It is important for researchers to describe in as much detail as possible with what and how the user interacts, what is the situation around, how does it affect his behavior, what problems arise and how they are solved. Interviews alone are not enough: the respondent simply cannot provide all the necessary information. The reason is that the majority of actions at work are routine, and therefore it is difficult to reflect and tell about everything in an interview. Seeing here is not a luxury, but a necessity.
Our sample got quite a lot of cases, where project teams turned to quality methods when working on professional IT products. Part of the fact is that - as with the development of products for children - researchers are forced to conduct research. Try to develop an on-the-go IT product for doctors or dispatchers. Of course, you can try, but the risks of producing a poor-quality product are very high. And we will not even talk about the risks of using such a product in the future. Only one conclusion: it is better not to approach the development of professional products without research. And now we will look at the cases of our colleagues.
In all the cases examined, the project teams carried out a very thorough research work, which required great efforts to collect data and serious financial investments from the client. However, it was impossible to abandon the study, and the reason is simple - the cost of the error is too high.
Summarizing what has been said: when developing professional interfaces, project teams turn to a qualitative methodology in order to understand how an employee’s work day is organized:
For obtaining detailed information, a combination of qualitative methods is used: interview and observation. If we confine ourselves only to an interview, it will not be possible to collect comprehensive data due to the specifics of routine operations in the workplace. The resulting information allows you to develop useful and convenient professional IT-products that fit perfectly into the daily activities of users.
All parts of the article: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
“Create a perfect day at work”: professional interfaces
We saw that qualitative methods allow us to obtain data on the needs, habits, fears and problems of users. They provide access to useful information about life situations and the environment for using an IT product designed for one or several user groups. These possibilities of qualitative methodology will be very important for us in the situation described below.
Let us return to the development of IT products for specific user groups. No, this is not about children. Consider a situation where a team needs to develop a professional interface.
Why did we take the development of professional interfaces into a separate category? Formally, this is a special case of creating IT products for a specific group of users. But the focus of our research is practical experience of using qualitative methods in various development situations. In this situation, work with qualitative methods, or rather, the purpose of their use and the choice of methodology, has its own specifics. In order to see this with a real example, we first consider the case that is not quite typical for our sample.
Case 12. Experientia: the perfect working day for an SAP employee
SAP turned to Experientia experts with an interesting task — it wanted to improve the experience that employees receive in the workplace. Something like creating ideal conditions for work, but somewhat deeper and more complicated. To solve this problem, SAP wanted to understand how the working day is organized at the moment. Who does the employee interact with and with what? What are the routine operations performed? What upsets him? Only by finding out could one improve the daily working experience of people.
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The Experientia project team decided that the methods used to study customers could also be used to study SAP employees. From a rich arsenal, contextual interviews (interviews in the workplace) and the “shadow” method were chosen (when the researcher observes the respondent, following him, becoming his “shadow”).
As a result, we received valuable information about how the employees' working day goes: what tasks they decide, what distresses them, and what tools they use - from notebooks, stickers, phones to specialized software. Were identified and the most critical points during the working day.
The collected data were summarized in the form of characters, models and maps that visualize the behavior of employees, while areas where the workflow was well organized or the existing system could not cope were noted. The customer received valuable information and went to think about how to improve the working experience of their employees.
Case 12. Experientia: the perfect working day for an SAP employee
SAP turned to Experientia experts with an interesting task — it wanted to improve the experience that employees receive in the workplace. Something like creating ideal conditions for work, but somewhat deeper and more complicated. To solve this problem, SAP wanted to understand how the working day is organized at the moment. Who does the employee interact with and with what? What are the routine operations performed? What upsets him? Only by finding out could one improve the daily working experience of people.
')
The Experientia project team decided that the methods used to study customers could also be used to study SAP employees. From a rich arsenal, contextual interviews (interviews in the workplace) and the “shadow” method were chosen (when the researcher observes the respondent, following him, becoming his “shadow”).
As a result, we received valuable information about how the employees' working day goes: what tasks they decide, what distresses them, and what tools they use - from notebooks, stickers, phones to specialized software. Were identified and the most critical points during the working day.
The collected data were summarized in the form of characters, models and maps that visualize the behavior of employees, while areas where the workflow was well organized or the existing system could not cope were noted. The customer received valuable information and went to think about how to improve the working experience of their employees.
* * *
Stop. And where is the development of an IT product? Yes, indeed, in this case, it is absent, although the conceptualization of the employee’s work experience included the analysis of routine tasks for which he uses various professional and “office” software. This case demonstrates the quality of data in the development of professional interfaces - a deep and detailed study of the experience gained in the workplace. Any development of a good professional IT product begins with the collection of information on how the user's work day is organized. And here it is appropriate to recall all that we have already learned about the possibilities of qualitative methods, both about the study of various groups of users, and about life situations and the environment of use. All this is needed when qualitative methods are used to develop professional interfaces.
The main methods here are interview and observation. In the situation of developing professional interfaces, project teams almost always turn to observation. Especially to one of its variations - the method of "shadow". This is due to the fact that the possibilities of obtaining data through interviews are limited. It is important for researchers to describe in as much detail as possible with what and how the user interacts, what is the situation around, how does it affect his behavior, what problems arise and how they are solved. Interviews alone are not enough: the respondent simply cannot provide all the necessary information. The reason is that the majority of actions at work are routine, and therefore it is difficult to reflect and tell about everything in an interview. Seeing here is not a luxury, but a necessity.
Our sample got quite a lot of cases, where project teams turned to quality methods when working on professional IT products. Part of the fact is that - as with the development of products for children - researchers are forced to conduct research. Try to develop an on-the-go IT product for doctors or dispatchers. Of course, you can try, but the risks of producing a poor-quality product are very high. And we will not even talk about the risks of using such a product in the future. Only one conclusion: it is better not to approach the development of professional products without research. And now we will look at the cases of our colleagues.
Case 13. Experientia: tablets for improving the work of medical staff
Oddly enough, doctors are very similar to "ordinary" people: they love their smartphones and tablets. But the experience of interaction with stationary devices at work leaves much to be desired. In that case, why not use mobile devices to solve work tasks? After all, they are much more convenient than stationary computers. That is how they reasoned at Intel. But reasoning is a hypothesis that needs to be tested. For this, Intel decided to contact Experientia.
To transfer doctors to tablets is a good idea, but experts from Experientia understood that a detailed study of the daily working experience of doctors cannot be avoided. So, we need high-quality ethnographic work. The study was conducted in hospitals in four countries: in China, Germany, England and the United States. Researchers used interview and observation in the workplace. The focus was on daily practices, workflows and interaction schemes. Additionally, joint design sessions were held with doctors.
The research results were presented in the form of a set of basic principles for the development of equipment and software based on tablets. Created a prototype showed that a new approach to the use of mobile devices can significantly expand the capabilities of the doctor.
Intel received a detailed analysis of the data, maps of current use of mobile devices and their future development zones, key characters in the healthcare industry, as well as numerous conceptual ideas. The most promising and relevant concepts were designed as prototypes.
Case 13. Experientia: tablets for improving the work of medical staff
Oddly enough, doctors are very similar to "ordinary" people: they love their smartphones and tablets. But the experience of interaction with stationary devices at work leaves much to be desired. In that case, why not use mobile devices to solve work tasks? After all, they are much more convenient than stationary computers. That is how they reasoned at Intel. But reasoning is a hypothesis that needs to be tested. For this, Intel decided to contact Experientia.
To transfer doctors to tablets is a good idea, but experts from Experientia understood that a detailed study of the daily working experience of doctors cannot be avoided. So, we need high-quality ethnographic work. The study was conducted in hospitals in four countries: in China, Germany, England and the United States. Researchers used interview and observation in the workplace. The focus was on daily practices, workflows and interaction schemes. Additionally, joint design sessions were held with doctors.
The research results were presented in the form of a set of basic principles for the development of equipment and software based on tablets. Created a prototype showed that a new approach to the use of mobile devices can significantly expand the capabilities of the doctor.
Intel received a detailed analysis of the data, maps of current use of mobile devices and their future development zones, key characters in the healthcare industry, as well as numerous conceptual ideas. The most promising and relevant concepts were designed as prototypes.
Case 14. Experientia: Philip Morris International Corporate Platform
Philip Morris International, a large international company, needed a professional marketing network platform. Marketers need constant access to all documents on the markets where the company operates, and data on advertising activity. To stay on the same wavelength, they must be aware of the company's news, receive updates and communicate with each other in a timely manner. In addition, they are important to the ability to customize a personal profile. In general, there were a lot of tasks before the platform - it was necessary to streamline all this and understand what users want from the service in the first place. For this, representatives of Philip Morris International turned to Experientia.
Experientia employees conducted ethnographic research among the company's employees. It made it possible to identify the main tasks and needs at different levels of the structural hierarchy.
The results of the interview were arranged in the form of portraits of users. By analyzing the tasks and sorting the cards, the requirements for the service were determined. Research materials helped to determine the capabilities of the service and create a corporate platform that takes into account the needs and tasks of different users. Philip Morris International received a map of service capabilities, user cases and interactive prototypes.
Case 14. Experientia: Philip Morris International Corporate Platform
Philip Morris International, a large international company, needed a professional marketing network platform. Marketers need constant access to all documents on the markets where the company operates, and data on advertising activity. To stay on the same wavelength, they must be aware of the company's news, receive updates and communicate with each other in a timely manner. In addition, they are important to the ability to customize a personal profile. In general, there were a lot of tasks before the platform - it was necessary to streamline all this and understand what users want from the service in the first place. For this, representatives of Philip Morris International turned to Experientia.
Experientia employees conducted ethnographic research among the company's employees. It made it possible to identify the main tasks and needs at different levels of the structural hierarchy.
The results of the interview were arranged in the form of portraits of users. By analyzing the tasks and sorting the cards, the requirements for the service were determined. Research materials helped to determine the capabilities of the service and create a corporate platform that takes into account the needs and tasks of different users. Philip Morris International received a map of service capabilities, user cases and interactive prototypes.
Case 15. Cooper: Practice Fusion application
The doctor needs to record conversations with patients, but do it quickly and in the most convenient way to give patients more time. How best to do this? Obviously, doctors should not be "chained" to personal computers. What then? The developers of Practice Fusion decided that the iPad application could be the way out. It remains only to make such an application really convenient and useful for doctors. But without talking with the doctors and monitoring their working day, this is impossible. The developers came to Cooper to help them do research and develop prototypes for a future digital solution.
Employees of the company talked to the developers and went to the field to talk with the doctors and observe their work. They saw that doctors spend a lot of time talking with patients. In addition, they take notes, interact with other specialists and hospital staff, keep records and discuss working moments with colleagues. And with all this multitasking, they should remain as focused as possible. It is obvious that in such conditions they need support.
Close communication with the customer and prompt discussion of the results allowed Cooper specialists to move from interface sketches to a working prototype for a month and a half. As a result, an application was created that was recognized as the best professional IT product in the “Optimization” category at the 2013 Interaction Awards competition.
Case 15. Cooper: Practice Fusion application
The doctor needs to record conversations with patients, but do it quickly and in the most convenient way to give patients more time. How best to do this? Obviously, doctors should not be "chained" to personal computers. What then? The developers of Practice Fusion decided that the iPad application could be the way out. It remains only to make such an application really convenient and useful for doctors. But without talking with the doctors and monitoring their working day, this is impossible. The developers came to Cooper to help them do research and develop prototypes for a future digital solution.
Employees of the company talked to the developers and went to the field to talk with the doctors and observe their work. They saw that doctors spend a lot of time talking with patients. In addition, they take notes, interact with other specialists and hospital staff, keep records and discuss working moments with colleagues. And with all this multitasking, they should remain as focused as possible. It is obvious that in such conditions they need support.
Close communication with the customer and prompt discussion of the results allowed Cooper specialists to move from interface sketches to a working prototype for a month and a half. As a result, an application was created that was recognized as the best professional IT product in the “Optimization” category at the 2013 Interaction Awards competition.
Case 16. TecEd: interface for controllers at the Public Safety Console
ShotSpotter supplies sophisticated systems that capture the firing sounds and transfer location data to the dispatchers - so that they can contact the police. The key element of the system is the interface through which the dispatcher receives alerts about firing. The requirements for these interfaces are very high: the dispatcher must immediately receive the necessary information and pass them on to the police. The company wanted to improve the interface in order to improve the usability of the system and improve the experience of dispatchers. For this, she turned to TecEd.
TecEd employees needed to solve four key tasks:
To solve these problems, TecEd specialists organized interviews with dispatchers and senior staff of ShotSpotter. To analyze the work of dispatchers, their routine actions conducted a series of observations.
The obtained data was transformed into specific design solutions for the development of the interface:
Conducted research work has improved the usability of the card. Laconic interface, not overloaded with details, made it possible to quickly get the maximum information on the incident. A large screen with a map appeared in the control room, which is clearly visible from anywhere in the room.
Case 16. TecEd: interface for controllers at the Public Safety Console
ShotSpotter supplies sophisticated systems that capture the firing sounds and transfer location data to the dispatchers - so that they can contact the police. The key element of the system is the interface through which the dispatcher receives alerts about firing. The requirements for these interfaces are very high: the dispatcher must immediately receive the necessary information and pass them on to the police. The company wanted to improve the interface in order to improve the usability of the system and improve the experience of dispatchers. For this, she turned to TecEd.
TecEd employees needed to solve four key tasks:
- improve the integration between the police call center and the system dispatcher's working environment;
- develop multiple user scripts;
- better meet the needs of new and existing customers of the system;
- make the interface visually appealing.
To solve these problems, TecEd specialists organized interviews with dispatchers and senior staff of ShotSpotter. To analyze the work of dispatchers, their routine actions conducted a series of observations.
The obtained data was transformed into specific design solutions for the development of the interface:
- access to the details of the incident in one click;
- convenient to read the data block on the incident;
- full integration of the map and the incident data block;
- zoom in maps at the scene.
Conducted research work has improved the usability of the card. Laconic interface, not overloaded with details, made it possible to quickly get the maximum information on the incident. A large screen with a map appeared in the control room, which is clearly visible from anywhere in the room.
Case 17. RMA: VisualEyes meteorological monitoring service
Clients of the meteorological office use weather forecasts to make important business and security decisions based on predetermined thresholds. To improve the service, the weather bureau turned to RMA: it was necessary to replace the six-page faxes with a pdf-file, which is automatically sent to the clients mail. The RMA decided that pdf-files, of course, will improve the availability of data, but it is necessary to make the presentation of information more efficient and provide recommendations with forecasts. This will increase the competitive advantages of the weather bureau. But how to achieve this?
The company Scottish Power, one of the clients of the weather bureau, offered its help for a pilot launch of a new service. Scottish Power needed to know exactly what to expect from the weather in order to plan the maintenance of wind power plants. It was important to get a forecast in time for the whole day, and for the next hours. In general, the company was very interested in the development of the service. RMA experts worked together with control experts to understand how they use weather data. In fact, conducted surveillance and interviews.
The data obtained during the observation and interviews made it possible to critically rethink the original idea and create a web-based tool that does all the data transformation work. It visualizes data and supports fast recognition of impending weather phenomena in real time.
Scottish Power is very pleased with the new digital tool that saves time and money. Now employees can plan maintenance precisely, creating scenario models for forecasts for different periods (from two to five days). The safety of wind farm maintenance in the field has also increased. The HRC immediately sees potential problems, which are indicated on the map by colored markers, carnations. This allows you to make timely changes in the schedule of work or warn the teams in the field.
Case 17. RMA: VisualEyes meteorological monitoring service
Clients of the meteorological office use weather forecasts to make important business and security decisions based on predetermined thresholds. To improve the service, the weather bureau turned to RMA: it was necessary to replace the six-page faxes with a pdf-file, which is automatically sent to the clients mail. The RMA decided that pdf-files, of course, will improve the availability of data, but it is necessary to make the presentation of information more efficient and provide recommendations with forecasts. This will increase the competitive advantages of the weather bureau. But how to achieve this?
The company Scottish Power, one of the clients of the weather bureau, offered its help for a pilot launch of a new service. Scottish Power needed to know exactly what to expect from the weather in order to plan the maintenance of wind power plants. It was important to get a forecast in time for the whole day, and for the next hours. In general, the company was very interested in the development of the service. RMA experts worked together with control experts to understand how they use weather data. In fact, conducted surveillance and interviews.
The data obtained during the observation and interviews made it possible to critically rethink the original idea and create a web-based tool that does all the data transformation work. It visualizes data and supports fast recognition of impending weather phenomena in real time.
Scottish Power is very pleased with the new digital tool that saves time and money. Now employees can plan maintenance precisely, creating scenario models for forecasts for different periods (from two to five days). The safety of wind farm maintenance in the field has also increased. The HRC immediately sees potential problems, which are indicated on the map by colored markers, carnations. This allows you to make timely changes in the schedule of work or warn the teams in the field.
* * *
In all the cases examined, the project teams carried out a very thorough research work, which required great efforts to collect data and serious financial investments from the client. However, it was impossible to abandon the study, and the reason is simple - the cost of the error is too high.
Summarizing what has been said: when developing professional interfaces, project teams turn to a qualitative methodology in order to understand how an employee’s work day is organized:
- with whom and what interacts;
- where this interaction takes place;
- what are the routine operations;
- what are the problems and difficulties.
For obtaining detailed information, a combination of qualitative methods is used: interview and observation. If we confine ourselves only to an interview, it will not be possible to collect comprehensive data due to the specifics of routine operations in the workplace. The resulting information allows you to develop useful and convenient professional IT-products that fit perfectly into the daily activities of users.
All parts of the article: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/307440/
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