From the Experts: Planning Implementation - User-Centric Decision Making

[Arnold Yoon]

Planning an implementation can be challenging, to say the least.  Whether you're an internal team or a partner working with a customer, the rules are the same when configuring and customizing a ServiceNow implementation (or building an application from scratch): The user's needs must be considered alongside the business' needs and technical requirements.

Talking to (and if possible, observing) users is one of the best ways to understand their needs and pain points.  User testing, surveys, observation and interviews are some ways gather feedback. 

> What methods are you using, and are there any tools that you love? 

Also, we know that it can be challenging to be the user advocate in product design and development - especially when business needs and leadership voices dominate the conversation.  While these are both important factors to be considered during the product development lifecycle, they cannot be the only ones.

> How do you have conversations with your stakeholders about the importance of gathering real world feedback from your users to drive product development priorities?

Feel free to post below, and if you want to learn more, check our our "Value of UX" course on Now Learning

[John Alexander2]

I like to speak to at least 5 users anytime I am doing gorilla research, that's based on this study by Nielsen Norman https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/

[j36648]

I'm an analyst in charge of developing enhancements to improve the enterprise experience. What are some questions to ask myself and stakeholders to get them what they need to be efficient, effective and enjoy the experience?

[KKrabbenhoft]

I like to observe both corporate users and field users to get a real understanding of the pain points not only those voiced by the user but also what I see as PAIN POINTS. 

While the user may think the page load is fine, I may see an opportunity to reduce page load times.

Some things I consider when observing. 

1. Is the user new or a seasoned team member? If so, what part of the page design gave them a moment of pause?
2. How many clicks did it take to go from task start to task finish?
3. I ask questions about the starting point for using the application. 
   1. Timeouts of pages?
   2. Will the page (if closed) re-open where they left off? 
4. I explain the value they bring to the design and implementation process.
5. I ask for examples of when the application failed to deliver the level of service they expected.  

[AJ Siegel]

Karen, thanks for weighing into the conversation. We hope you found the course useful.

I love the curiosity in the users' needs your questions explore. Do you ask these questions as an intro to the usability study, or while they are completing specific tasks? Or, are these questions you'd ask in a survey or general interview?

Appreciate your perspective!

[Kelley Oberlin]

We are currently migrating from HR portal and IT portal to the combined Employee Center.  We have had multiple VOC sessions, specifically ensuring multiple employee personas (from C-suite, to shop floor) prior to design.  Involved employees in user validation testing sessions (unprompted) to observe usage of the new design at each sprint in general interview setting.  

Post go-live, our plan is to send quarterly surveys (random selection across employee base) to obtain feedback and build continual improvement roadmap. 

[Arnold Yoon]

Thanks for sharing, Kelley!  That's fantastic - especially the breadth of users that you're working with (and gathering data from).  It's so easy for an implementation to be improperly influenced by the loudest (sometimes most senior) voice in the room.

Bravo on the ongoing feedback collection - and folding that into a iteration/improvement roadmap!