The important UX step you’re missing
A step that people don’t talk about but got us a very happy client.
Before I talk about the step, I want to lay the groundwork of our design process with the client. This is to help you get an idea of what our design process with the clients seem like.
ABC (Client name is confidential) Project
Timeline of project: 1 month
Team Members: Project Manager, Data Analyst, UX Designer, Developer
Requirements gathering
- Client Persona
ABC is a Retail company. It has about 5000 employees and is located in 15 locations around the world.
The project was to build dashboards for all their business units. About 500 of their employees were going to use the dashboards including the CEO, CIO, CFO, VPs and Managers.
- Scenario
The client users were not used to viewing their data in dashboards and were accustomed only to reports generated by WEBI and Excel sheets.
They wanted dashboards to ease their decision making. The CEO and the top level positions wanted flexibility to immediately find out what is going right or wrong, filter through different divisions of their business and contact someone with a click of a button. Also, the capability to drill down further if a data analyst or a manager wants to get into the details.
Pain Points
- They had data in many different formats which needed to be bought together
- Poor organization of data
- There was multiple data missing
- Lack of proper user base
- Lack of content and instance management
Mental Model — Proof of Concept / Minimum Viable Product
The requirements given by the VP of Client management was to build a dashboard in coordination with the client’s Senior Data Analyst (SDA).
Timeline: 1 week
Type of Dashboard: Sales
Front end development: SAP Design Studio
Steps taken:
1. A brief introduction with the SDA
2. A detailed information gathering session where the Key Performance Measures, Dimensions, Filters, Additional Data, background and situation of the client is gathered (via multiple interviews with the SDA)
3. A storyboard was created with the given data and discussed with the SDA
4. A wireframe was developed in Balsamiq with a design layout
5. The wireframe was discussed and some changes were made to fit the business users
6. The wireframe was given a green signal by the SDA and then moved to development in the SAP tool, Design Studio. The back end format was discussed by the Design and the SDA and then generated
8. The SDA was given the dashboard to use and get a feel of it before the demo
9. The dashboard was demoed to the CEO and other top positions of the client company.
a. The features were explained in detail
b. Explanations on why accessing and viewing the information on a dashboard is easier than in a report
c. How the dashboard predicts the forecast of the sales and displays it in a way that the CEO can get to it in no time
d. The dashboard also has an add-on feature of personalization and bookmarking which can be implemented in the actual dashboards
10. The dashboard was handed over to the CEO in a tablet and a desktop version to play with and get the hang of it. Based on the feedback, further iterations were made
11. After the dashboard was approved by the CEO and the top level executives, the project to develop the dashboards started.
Interviews
All the top executives were interviewed individually from the different divisions at ABC.
Interview process:
1. The demo dashboard was displayed
2. A portfolio consisting of multiple successful client dashboards were showcased
3. Questions were asked about what data they have, what data they want to see and any constraints or pain points that they might have
4. Availability of design guidelines, design inspirations and color blindness information is noted down and a mood board was created for each user
The step that brought us success
We sometimes consider ourselves smarter than our users. We assume we know what we are building better than anyone else. We misunderstand that by studying them and researching about them, we get a sense of who they are and hence, will like the product we deliver to them.
All this could be true, we could be smarter than out client or users. Although, it is beneficial for us to,
Portray a demeanor that the client is smarter than us!
My boss told during my interview process, not to assume or exhibit a behavior that shows we are smarter or more knowledgeable than the client. This doesn’t make them feel smart, it might hurt their ego and might make them like us less. And, it is very important the client likes you, so you are their first choice the next time.
So, being humble and exhibiting empathy towards the users during user interactions is very important.
This is a thought we kept in mind while conducting interview and feedback sessions with the client. We took into considerations - their background, knowledge of tools, experience with reports and dashboards and designed a dashboard that is not too much outside their comfort zone.
We provided them with futuristic and visually pleasing features that help them predict their sales forecast. Yet at the same time, gave them the option to toggle with a design they were comfortable with — to give them some bandwidth to migrate to the current trends.
Brainstorming and Storyboarding
A brainstorming session took place between the team with the data at hand and analyzed. Then multiple storyboards for different divisions were created.
Lastly, one storyboard was picked that caters to all the executives and managers showcasing all the data needed to be displayed with the appropriate amount of filters.
Wireframing Session
13 interactive wireframes were created in Balsamiq based on the storyboard and exported as PDFs.
Testing and Feedback
The wireframes were tested with the client users. After getting feedback and votes from the executives, one wireframe was picked per division.
Design Layout
Keeping the mood board in mind, multiple design layouts were created in Adobe Illustrator. After a couple of feedback sessions with the client, a layout was chosen to be built upon. The design layout, wireframe and CSS was handed over to the development team.
Development
The development team developed the dashboard all the while coordinating with the rest of the team.
Validation and Iteration
The final product was delivered to the clients so that they can use it.
The client was observed while using the dashboard and some observations notes were made. Also, the client was interviewed for any possible iterations that can be worked on. The questions asked were about-
1. The flow of the dashboard
2. If it fulfills the requirements
3. Delivers more than anticipated
4. Gives a better visual understanding of the data than the reports
5. Loads in the least possible time
6. Has a clean intuitive user interaction
All these questions were addressed and iterations were made to deliver a great final product for the executives and analysts to use flawlessly for the years to come.
So, incorporating empathy for clients in our design process has proved very beneficial and has helped us develop a very good relationship with our users.
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