Recently I ran a one day research mini-marathon which actually left me more energised than tired, and with a lot of findings in a short space of time.
The method I used was a bit of an experiment but it worked, so here’s the approach in case anyone else wants to try it.
What was the problem?
We are redesigning an app used by colleagues in a particular location. It’s locked to a device. It contains and uses customer data so only the colleagues have access to it.
e.g. I’m redesigning an app I can’t have access to myself.
The colleagues are time-poor.
We don’t have long to deliver the first redesign.
But the app is specialist and the task is specific, so we’re not redesigning the whole world.
Nevertheless, we needed to know how the app was used, what the problems were with the interface, how it was impacting the customer journey and what service level challenges it was creating in its current form - to inform this and future iterations of design.
Oh, and we had one day.
What we had
2 design researchers
6 participants (+1 random bonus attendee)
8 stakeholders
One day
What the day looked like
08:30 - Set up the space and recapped the plan with core stakeholders
09:00 -10:00 - First group
10:00-10:30 - Speedy debrief
10:30 - 12:00 - Second group
12:00-13:00 - Speedy debrief & lunch
13:30- 15:00 - Third group
15:00- 15:30 Pack up & Stakeholder debrief
How we got the most from each session
We ran each session the same, and every time from a blank sheet. Literally.
Each session ran as follows:
30 mins - Journey workshop
We had a roll of paper, pinned a length of it to a wall, and drew a single line down the middle with a sharpie. Then both designers together with both participants workshopped a ‘typical’ journey within which this tool was used. Bearing in mind we knew in advance that this was a colleague going into a physical space with a customer using the tool.
What this gave us
We were aiming to achieve specific things with this exercise.
Get participants into the mindset of thinking about this journey specifically
Get participants comfortable with the topic and the designers asking them questions
Generate ‘top of mind’ pain points
Understand the
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