A central area of the product had grown and changed over the years. This area featured “feedback records” which we named documents: they were typically call center recordings, emails, chats, and surveys.
My product managers knew the years of adding “one more feature” in this area of the product had cluttered the experience with issues. When attempting to prioritize how to address the problem we were finding it hard to approach. In this case, it was time for a new perspective.
Whenever heading into the unknown it can be a good idea to start by doing quick audits and inventories of current functionality. We identified existing patterns of visualization, data access and enrichments, and actions users can take at each point in the user journey. This step proves invaluable later in the design process as permanent fixtures and sources of truth for the rest of the design process. We specifically needed to understand the user’s flow and our own assumptions about what we thought their goals were.
As a learning resource the current solution lacks basic functionality that enables learning and application of its content. Adding highlights, taking notes, and bookmarking features are non-existent. Users digest and absorb in different ways, the ability to customize, curate, and personalize is lacking today.
Users are seeking unauthorized digital copies, creating a market for pirated content. Customers experience a long, unnecessary and outdated password security process. Download ability is fragile, hindering the access users are entitled to and does not support seamless cross-device access.
The current solution does not support easy access and distribution for our B2B customers, a giant missed opportunity. Finally, the current experience is not ADA, WCAG or Section 508* compliant.
PMI’s intellectual property spans content types, from books and magazines to videos and podcasts, their content is siloed across products and teams creating a disjointed user experience.
Because our customers had diverse needs—changing from industry to industry—we had to focus on building a flexible solution instead of an optimized solution.
When focusing on an adaptive solution, we ran the risk of overwhelming users. We approached the solution space with a strong principle of sensible defaults: deliver the insights we can up front but allow the user to deviate on their terms when necessary.
90% of the time leveraging consistent patterns will help in your product’s overall understandability. However, an inconsistent/novel experience is sometimes warranted if for interactions that are highly specialized.
Through customer interviews we uncovered six specific user types across two different industries. We were also able to gain validation on assumptions the team had made around future features. We gathered information about these roles while focusing on the jobs + outcomes that were critical to each user type.
Through customer interviews we uncovered six specific user types across two different industries. We were also able to gain validation on assumptions the team had made around future features. We gathered information about these roles while focusing on the jobs + outcomes that were critical to each user type.
Combining the upfront discovery with each user persona’s “job to be done” allowed us to clearly understand the problems they faced when trying to accomplish their goals. Armed with this information we were able to move through the redesign process with confidence. The “prioritized nebula” became a set of important problem statements that we were able to validate and implement. Ask me about how I lead this next phase of the design process.
