UX Research

This was an ongoing project to improve the software used by telecommunication engineers. We offered several rounds of findings to business owners and I helped organize another quarter of research before leaving for a better opportunity. We first identified the user groups and organized research by studying users within each of the user groups through interviews and contextual inquiries. We also conducted surveys.

The goal of the research was to improve software that was intended to help four different groups of engineers build and maintain a cellular network. The software had been recently changed to a new user interface and no user research had been done before doing so which resulted in dysfunctional software that was completely unusable in some cases.

Our primary goal was to correct visual items as quickly as we could and find long-term solutions and improvements to the software itself. 

• We wanted to better understand each user group and the function of their job and how the software could assist them in their roles. 

• Their pains and frustrations with the current software

• How they were using and interacting with the current software

• What other tools they were using to complete their tasks

• Focus Group Interview - Introductory sessions with participants and stakeholders

• One-on-One empathy sessions that included users screen sharing 

• We conducted 5 one-on-one sessions for each of the four user groups identified in the focus group interview. 

• SUS results and analysis which was sent to about 2,000 employees.

• Contextual inquiries of four to five workers within one user group

• 5 Joint Problem definition sessions with stakeholders and interview subjects.

• 5 Jobs to Be Done brainstorming sessions with stakeholders and interview subjects.

• 5 sessions where users ranked business outcome statements 

• The results of this research was shared with stakeholders so they could plan software improvements to their roadmap. 

Stakeholders had identified key groups and subjects to interview prior to my employment. We identified more subjects through SUS surveys where people allowed themselves to be contacted and asked managers for other employees to observe within our geographic areas.

“In this first part of the interview, I want to get to know you and ask you a few background information questions.”

• “What is your current job title?” 

• “How long have you been in this current position?”            

• “How long have you been with X?”

• “Describe a typical workday for me.

  • Where do you start your workday?”

• “Explain how you use X during your workday”

  • What do you use X for?”

  • “How much of your day is spent on the X?”

• “What other programs do you use?”

• “How does that use compare to using the X?”

• “How would you rate your comfort level and experience with X?”

Part 3: Screen Share (30 minutes)

“Could you begin sharing your screen now? 

Show me how you use the X starting by logging into the system. 

While you do this please think aloud: For example: I am navigating to X so that I can open the dashboard, etc. 

I just want to know what is going through your mind while you use the program. 

This will help me understand what works and what doesn’t work. Feel free to take a break or stop participating at any point. 

We are grateful for any feedback you can provide.”

Interviews were transcribed and notes were individually coded. I used notes from the interviews to create empathy maps for each user group. In the first quarter of the research, we focused on two types of engineers and mapped out their user journeys as well. Quotes and other deliverables were used to illustrate pain points in presentations to stakeholders.

Several presentations were created to update stakeholders about research findings. The team met with stakeholders to review research bi-weekly. The meetings aligned with the iteration schedule. 

The roles we studied were highly technical and it took some time to understand their jobs. The fact that we as researchers didn’t have experience in that realm was a frustration to some of the employees at first, but I think there was an advantage in having fresh eyes looking at the problem. Since travel had been cut during COVID we had to do most of our research remotely. 

We were allowed to do contextual inquiries within our region and some of the workers became suspicious because they wondered why we were studying them specifically. 

Feel free to contact me to discuss this project further at: 1JessicaMiller@protonmail.com