A Journey Through Miro with Research Fellows

Collaborative Innovation

The space of online collaboration is in great hands. With many tools available to all kinds of professionals, Miro stands out as a digital whiteboard dedicated to letting your creativity roam! In today’s digital age, collaborative online tools play a crucial role in connecting professionals and fostering creativity. Miro is a unique online platform designed as an open playground for your creativity and productivity. This collaborative tool provides a digital whiteboard space where you can visually map out ideas, strategize, brainstorm, or collaborate with others in real-time, regardless of geographical constraints. Miro proves itself as a game-changer in our digital era by bridging distances, breaking down communication barriers, and fostering an environment of collaboration and creativity.

From its humble beginnings in 2017 as Real Time Board, Miro has quickly become an essential tool within the user research and creative communities. Its transformative power lies in its ability to replicate the interactive experience of a physical brainstorming session in a virtual setting. As a result, Miro serves as an incredible platform for collaborative ideation, project management, product development, user research, and so much more.

For user researchers, Miro becomes an invaluable platform for organizing and analyzing data. It’s not just a blank canvas; its rich suite of tools like sticky notes, pre-built templates, tagging, and commenting features allow researchers to visualize data in an easy-to-digest format. Moreover, researchers can engage in qualitative coding and thematic analysis within the platform, facilitating the discovery of trends and insights from the gathered data.

My personal journey with Miro began in college and has evolved into a daily resource for strategizing, organizing thoughts, and conducting qualitative research. In 2022, I partnered with Mentor Me Collective, and embarked on an exciting new journey to use Miro for qualitative research and analysis with a diverse team of 50 research fellows.

The Mentor Me Collective Fellowship

Mentor Me Collective and their amazing crew deserve a warm thank you. Through mentorship and education, they are committed to bridging the wealth gap in underrepresented communities. The relationship began on LinkedIn, where I joined the group “Where Are the Black Designers” and was introduced to a number of fantastic designers and creatives of color. They host great networking and skill-building events, and they even have a job board that is updated weekly. Fast forward to today, and with our values and company missions still aligned, I agreed to collaborate with MMC as an instructor for a research and design fellowship aimed at providing new and transitioning professionals with the skills needed to excel in tech, specifically design and UX research. The cause was important to me since it was a community offering that I wished I had received in high school and college. As my career progresses, I learn more about the value of community and how healthy discourse may have profound implications. Intro to User Experience Research, my fellowship course offering, came together in the shape of a curriculum designed to be extremely participatory, combining bi-weekly courses, hands-on research assignments, and user research methodology, all inside the Miro environment.

Class Schedule and Homework Assignments

Classes were held biweekly, live on Streamyard on Saturdays at 9 a.m. PST! Every session was designed with a specific lesson in mind. For example, our User Research Tools session was entirely performed in Miro, and we looked at the many tools and templates that fellows might use to conduct user research, facilitate team meetings, organize and code their notes, and conduct general brainstorming. Active engagement was essential for ensuring that methods such as qualitative coding were completely understood and implemented. Our lectures lasted around an hour and a half, with the last fifteen minutes or so dedicated to answering questions and introducing Neighborhood Faces homework tasks. Neighborhood Faces is a study that explores equitable solutions in communities around the world, and it provided the ideal opportunity for fellows to put what they had learned into practice by conducting research in their own neighborhoods. We used Slack to keep track of completed assignments, follow-up announcements, and casual chit-chat because the majority of fellows were already using the site.

Overview of the Syllabus

The syllabus aimed to equip fellows with the skills to conduct their own research studies independently. The course was designed as a thrilling exploration journey to elevate the understanding of user behavior, empower fellows with efficient research tools, and make them adept at solving product- and community-related issues. Here are our learning outcomes:

Learning Outcomes

• Ability to select the appropriate research method for any problem or question
• Determine the best research tools to help you optimize your workflow.
• Translate your research findings into compelling stories.

Intention Survey Results

I made it a point at the start of our fellowship for each fellow to complete an intention-gauging survey to learn about the problems they wanted to solve in their lifetime, what they hoped to acquire from the experience, and other areas of interest. This allowed me to customize how I handled each session and the examples I used to highlight specific points. For example, participants were drawn to social issues and education, so a frequent example I used was in connection to programs that address social issues such as food insecurity. The findings of our survey are listed below.

Question: “Can you think of a specific topic that you’d like to solve in your lifetime?”

Respondents: 31

Top Two Prominent Themes:

1. Social Equity and Inclusion: Many respondents express a desire to solve issues relating to diversity, inclusion, and social equity. This includes tackling disparities in UX/UI design and research, the lack of group economics in black communities, and increasing diversity in research studies. Participants also show concern for specific demographic groups, such as improving black maternal health and normalizing mental healthcare for marginalized communities.
2. Education and Literacy: Respondents demonstrate a keen interest in improving education and literacy. This includes making financial literacy more appealing to youth, enhancing education equality, and using technology to improve education and learning. Edutech design solutions are also mentioned as a topic of interest.

Question: “What do you wish to gain from this experience? Be specific.”

Respondents: 31

Top Two Prominent Themes:

1. Enhanced Research Skills: The most prevalent theme is the desire to strengthen research skills and methodologies. This is particularly noted in the context of user experience research (UXR).
2. Industry-Specific Knowledge: Respondents hope to gain experience and understanding of specific industries, including familiarity with industry-specific tools and terminologies.

Question: “When I mention research, do any fields or areas of interest come to mind?”

Respondents: 31

Top Two Prominent Themes:

1. Health and Wellness: Many respondents expressed an interest in research related to healthcare, mental health, wellness, and health technology.
2. Education and EdTech: A significant number of respondents were interested in the field of education, specifically educational technology.

Reflection

Reading each fellow’s comment broadened my perspective on subjects I hadn’t considered before, but it also reinforced my desire to have a positive societal influence. The motivation for participants appears to be a desire to employ research and data analysis skills to inform solutions to real-world problems, an attitude that is especially apparent in the areas of social equality and inclusion as well as health and wellness. Participants exhibited a strong concern for social justice concerns as well as a desire to tackle health-related challenges, revealing their profound empathy and desire to use their professional talents to effect positive change. In pursuit of these objectives, they attempt to equip themselves with the required skills and information, highlighting the critical role of education in driving social change.

Neighborhood Faces: A Real-World Research Project

We designed the Neighborhood Faces research study as a crucial initiative to explore the relationship between civic engagement and equitable outcomes in communities globally. As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, with an estimated 65% of the population living in cities by 2040, it’s more important than ever to understand how community involvement can address social and economic challenges.

We aim to conduct our study by deeply exploring the methods individuals and groups use to participate in their neighborhoods’ civic life and identifying the factors that foster more inclusive and prosperous communities.

Examining these issues allows us to understand comprehensively the relationship between civic engagement and equitable outcomes and use this knowledge to inform the development of policies and practices that support the active and meaningful participation of all members of a community in decision-making processes. After familiarizing fellows with Miro and our research study resources, they were tasked with the following:

1. Identify and recruit at least one stakeholder who meets the study’s inclusion criteria and has relevant experiences and knowledge related to the study objectives.
2. Ensure that all participants are willing and able to participate in the study and have signed the informed consent form.
3. Conduct interviews with participants to collect data on their experiences with civic engagement and equitable outcomes in their communities.
4. Analyze the interview data to identify common themes and factors that contribute to more inclusive and prosperous communities.

For more information regarding our methodology and inclusion/exclusion criteria, check out our article here!

Designing an Engaging Miro Workspace

Identifying an appropriate platform to effectively guide fellows through the process of user research and civic engagement while maintaining focus posed a primary challenge for me. Not only did the platform need to facilitate seamless communication and teamwork, but it also needed to accommodate changes and unexpected turns. Some of the most valuable skills I learned in my career revolve around effective communication, team building, and adaptability. Think of those soft skills as a Swiss army knife that will allow you to flourish in any way you please.

Looking for inspiration to craft the kind of experience I envisioned for fellows on Miro, I delved into the Miroverse. Given the multitude of options available, pinpointing the most effective templates and boards for our learning community became a rather daunting task for me.

Miroverse Inspiration & Templates

The Miroverse is like a playground for strategic thinkers, serving a range of templates that save you time and allow you to see the big picture. I initiated my search by typing in the keyword “interviews,” which resulted in an abundance of templates for user interviews, interview prep, and frameworks for organizing my board. I locked in on one template that had a great question-and-answer format that would make it easy to qualitatively code with Miro’s highlighter tool. Check out the creator’s board and others for inspiration!

In addition to that creators board, seeing the communities’ numerous ways of getting user interviews done, I noticed key features of each board. The most successful boards explicitly laid out the rules and gamified movement through the workspace via question prompts, shape elements, and spaces to pool insights. Taking that framework, I used the main components of my research study, which were interviews, qualitative coding, study resources, a timeline, and well-being, and started brainstorming ways to incorporate these elements into a single board and experience for fellows. The beauty of inspiration is that your experiences prepare you to heed the call. At the time, I was heavily into Monopoly and board games and saw the correlation between gamified movement through a space through prompts and creative elements. I began to prototype various spaces until I finalized the following:

Tirelle LM Barron's The Neighborhood Template template | Miroverse

In the vibrant digital landscape of our Miro workspace for the Neighborhood Faces project, you’ll find four distinct territories:

Co-Work: We dedicate this space to compiling and using templates that encourage team collaboration! In addition to templates from the Miroverse, mental health resources and weekly quotes keep everyone engaged.

Library: Allocating a section of the board to all your project resources will spare you time and headaches! Use hyperlinks to point your team directly to files and appropriate drives.

Tasks: Place your project goals in this section and break them down into individual tasks.

Timeline: Your project’s timeline and crucial dates find their place in this section.

Check out the user interview template I drew inspiration from:

Martina Bonetti's From User Interviews to Research Insights template | Miroverse

Logistics

You may be wondering how we shared this bustling digital plaza. Simple: we had each fellow create a Miro account, allowing them to explore this dynamic platform. The board remained private, protecting sensitive information, while collaborators enjoyed access as they needed. We also used the “start view” feature, a magical portal directing users straight to their section of focus. This made sure that fellows knew exactly where to spend their energy on the Neighborhood Faces tasks.

What I learned using Miro As a Main Workspace

The magic of Miro comes with a word of caution: be mindful of your board’s elements to avoid overloading your CPU. One critical lesson from using Miro as our primary workspace was the necessity of managing the number of elements on our board. We adopted this approach to cut down on CPU usage and preempt any potential connectivity issues that fellows might face, tackling another challenge we needed to surmount. It’s important to note that internet stability is not always guaranteed, and the fellows experienced connectivity issues frequently.

To solve this, I had to carefully optimize Miro, creating separate boards for each section of the Neighborhood Faces board. Our strategy guaranteed reduced CPU usage and fewer distractions but called for precise planning and constant readjustment.

Miro’s initiative tools, such as sticky notes, tagging, pen tools, highlighters, and commenting, turned out to be invaluable. Nevertheless, ensuring that every area of the Miro board was explicitly labeled was crucial to providing clear directions to users, adding another layer of complexity to the board creation process.

Simultaneously moderating via Streamyard presented another challenge, as I found myself continuously answering questions and troubleshooting issues. This was particularly important during instances where elements of the board were inadvertently moved by fellows while transcribing their interviews, causing disruptions and confusion.

To resolve this, I had to learn the ins and outs of Miro’s functionalities, which led me to the useful feature of locking objects. Though an effective solution, it presented another task I needed to take responsibility for as the board creator.

In conclusion, while Miro provided an exceptional platform for facilitating the fellows’ journey, it came with a unique set of challenges that required innovative solutions and a deep understanding of the tool’s capabilities.

Qualitative Coding and Thematic Analysis

Once the fellows completed their interviews and reviewed their transcriptions for accuracy, they joined our bi-weekly class to transfer their data onto the Miro workspace. During the hour-long session, we introduced the fellows to Miro’s tools, the pre-determined codes, which are a set of predefined categories or labels used in qualitative research to systematically organize and analyze data. Afterward, we guided them in transferring their transcriptions onto sticky notes with corresponding qualitative codes. The pre-determined codes, established after six preliminary interviews, allowed for consistency and time efficiency, eliminating the need for additional sync sessions. Pre-determined codes are a set of predefined categories or labels used in qualitative research to systematically organize and analyze data.

Working together in Miro felt like a joyful experience, reminiscent of children using chalk to color asphalt. In our case, the asphalt was the Miro sticky notes, filled with insightful phrases, quotes, and powerful glimpses into the world of civic engagement leaders. To enhance the process, we tagged each sticky note with a predetermined code, enabling seamless data grouping and categorization upon transcription completion. The visually engaging workspace and collected codes can be seen in the snapshot below.

(The interview transcription and coding workspace)

(Using the highlighter tool to qualitative code text passages line-by-line)

Fellows were able to graphically organize their data using otter.ai for transcription and Miro’s “cluster” tool, allowing the detection of patterns and sub-themes. This visually beautiful and well-organized workspace encouraged fellowship and teamwork among the fellows.

Our team practiced data verification with the stakeholders we interviewed. We coded and analyzed each interview before sending a one-pager to research participants to validate the information we gathered. This added credence to our findings while also keeping our process transparent and participatory. Here’s an example of a one-pager we distributed:

Qualitative Code Results

The following are the main themes that emerged from our qualitative codes: We are releasing a separate article that will go in-depth into each qualitative code, its purpose, and a detailed view of how the range of responses correlates to civic engagement.

Data Analysis

The data analysis process involved four steps.

First, we conducted interviews and transferred the transcriptions to our team’s Miro board. There, fellows and qualitative coders analyzed the data.

Second, we spot-checked all of the coded data for errors and ensured consistency with the pre-determined codes.

Third, we sorted the coded data by tags and similarities to identify general themes and patterns.

Finally, we analyzed the emerging themes and conducted multiple iterations of sorting the coded data by similar phrases and themes.

Seven prominent themes surfaced from our analysis.

The themes are as follows:

1. Job Searching and Qualifications: The dataset revealed a strong focus on education and professional development. Many participants pursue graduate or postgraduate degrees in fields related to public health, public policy, and civic engagement. Moreover, hands-on experience and internships appear to be essential elements for consolidating interests and securing job opportunities post-graduation.
2. Relevant Institutions: The data points towards civic engagement professionals deeply engaging with various institutions and organizations, especially government departments, non-profits, and academic institutions. Collaborating with external agencies is also common among participants, as they understand the importance of building relationships to better serve their communities.
3. Day-to-Day Logistics: Working with a lot of external stakeholders requires more patience and strategy to align goals and reach multifaceted solutions. Feedback is critical for participants as it allows them to plan ahead, project manage, and develop roadmaps for multiple teams within and outside of their organizations.
4. Team Efficiency: The data gathered from the participants highlights several prevalent patterns and themes. Firstly, a focus on empowering staff and a preference for a collaborative rather than top-down model are common threads among the participants. This suggests that civic engagement professionals value a team-oriented approach and believe that involving staff in decision-making leads to better outcomes.
5. Prioritizing Quality Control, User Experience, and Timeliness: There is a strong focus on collaboration, and teamwork is a common thread among the participants, leveraging open-source communities and utilizing tools and technologies to optimize productivity and efficiency. This suggests that the team values teamwork and the use of technology as key factors for success in their work.
6. Balancing Personal Growth and Community Impact: Throughout this data set, we see a beautiful commitment to community service and social change, as well as a genuine desire to make a positive impact. These individuals believe in the power of collaboration, empathize with others, and are deeply passionate about their work. They view their positions not as jobs but as opportunities to make a real difference in people’s lives. Additionally, they recognize that learning and personal growth are essential to their work, and they seek to create an environment of authenticity and shared knowledge.
7. Productivity Tools: The common thread throughout each data set is the use of productivity tools to enable civic engagement professionals to work efficiently and collaboratively. The users frequently mention social media and productivity tools like Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Notion, and Excel as essential platforms and tools to streamline workflows and boost productivity. The emphasis on organization, collaboration, and communication through these tools suggests that they are essential for success in the field of civic engagement.

Snapshot of the cleaned data for our qualitative codes

Snapshot of how we found patterns and themes in our data sets.

Process for identifying new patterns and themes

If you’re looking to replicate this process, follow these steps:

1. Data Familiarization: The first step in any qualitative data analysis is familiarizing yourself with the data. This process requires repeated reading of the raw data (transcripts, notes, etc.) to understand its depth and breadth. At this stage, initial ideas for codes and themes might start emerging.
2. Generate Initial Codes: Coding is the process of categorizing and labeling raw data according to what is being said and its potential significance. In this stage, sift through your data and tag sections with relevant codes. Codes should capture the essence of what is being said in the smallest unit of text possible. There are several ways to code your data, but a common method is to use a mix of inductive (data-driven) and deductive (theory-driven) coding.
3. Search for Themes: Once you’ve coded all your data, the next step is to look for patterns or themes. A theme says something significant about the data concerning the research question and denotes some patterned response or meaning within the dataset. Themes can be identified by bringing together similar codes or finding repeated patterns of meaning.
4. Review Themes: In this stage, you’ll review and refine your themes. This process requires two levels of review: one at the level of the coded data and another at the level of the entire data set. For the first level, you’ll need to check if your proposed themes work in relation to your coded extracts. For the second level, you should evaluate whether your suggested themes correctly echo the overall meaning apparent in your data set.
5. Define and Name Themes: This step involves defining and further refining the themes you have identified. At this point, you should pinpoint the ‘story’ each theme narrates and contemplate how it fits into the broader ‘story’ you aim to weave about your data. You should also name your themes in a way that instantly gives the reader a sense of what the theme is about.
6. Write Up: The final step is to write up your findings. This process entails interlacing the analytic narrative and data extracts and positioning this analysis in relation to your research questions.

Key Takeaways and Best Practices for Miro Collaboration

Our experience with Miro revealed valuable insights and areas for improvement that can benefit other teams and projects.

• Ensure accessibility for everyone and establish dedicated communication channels for troubleshooting and assistance.
• Keep boards focused and task-specific to minimize confusion while providing clear instructions for each task.
• Improve your workspace performance by utilizing features like “setting a start view” and smart meetings.
• Leverage video conferencing for enhanced collaboration and more personal connections during data analysis and discussions.
• Offer alternatives for those requiring accessibility accommodations, like Google Docs for voice-command users.
• Combine intuitive inquiry with artificial intelligence tools.

Moving forward and the next steps

In conclusion, embracing collaborative tools like Miro fosters a productive and interconnected environment that brings out the best in teams working on complex projects. To maximize the benefits of these tools, it’s crucial to provide clear instructions, focused tasks, and accessible alternatives for all team members. As we look ahead, we’ll be releasing another article diving deep into our qualitative codes and the sub-themes that surfaced. We invite you to join us in our ongoing efforts to create a more interconnected and accessible world for everyone. The future is bright, and together, we can make a significant impact.