Discovery Operations: The Right Formula for Balancing Stakeholder and Customer Needs in an Agile Environment

No matter what stage of a product life-cycle, content strategists often have the hefty task of helping stakeholders define their vision and — even more challenging — reconciling priorities with best practices and customer needs.

Bixal knows that these activities are integral to any product development effort because, in reality, success is defined through stakeholder satisfaction as much as it is through user-centered design. But how do you meet the needs of the customer while still achieving the vision of stakeholders simultaneously? That is what we set out to accomplish (and successfully achieved!) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

When the Bixal project team started planning for the development of a careers-focused website with the Office of Human Resources (OHR) at HHS, we knew we had to clearly define success, both through the eyes of our stakeholders and the site’s users. Additionally, there is a fine line where discovery can hold up development, and process can impede action — which is why refining priorities quickly was key.

To achieve the right balance, we worked closely with our HHS colleagues to develop a weighted decision matrix that prioritized discovery efforts, based on the impact a given activity would have on other areas of the project. For example, we categorized stakeholder interviews as a standalone effort — meaning there weren’t any dependencies or blockers associated with it, in addition to being supportive of multiple other efforts. When calculated and ranked, stakeholder interviews ended up as one of the top priorities for the discovery phase.

Below is a simplified version for our use case:

This decision matrix ultimately allowed us to perform more activities than originally envisioned, and because we were able to act quickly and more strategically on the efforts, we knew what we needed to tackle first.

The italicized activities below, based on a calculation of value (Y-axis) and effort (X-axis) specific to the HHS Careers project, show what we were able to accomplish:

1. Content Audit — 27
2. Information Architecture — 27
3. Strategy Doc/Creative Brief — 18
4. Subject Matter Expert (SME) Interviews — 18
5. Stakeholder Interviews — 18
6. Analytics — 18
7. Employee Interviews — 18
8. Content Governance — 18
9. Gap Analysis — 12
10. Focus Group — 12
11. Survey — 8
12. Internal Campaign — 8
13. Journey Mapping/User Flows — 6
14. Personas — 4
15. Service Design — 3

Starting with Discovery Activities

After producing the necessary documentation to set a clear direction, we quickly hit the ground running to perform stakeholder, SME, and employee interviews, analyzing each group separately. For this product, existing customers (in this case, current HHS employees) were one of the two main target audiences.

The stakeholders’ vision included recruitment and retention within HHS and its operating divisions, even if that meant an employee would move from one agency to another. This group also qualified as participants for the sake of usability, which allowed us to bypass the Paperwork Reduction Act and save time during the user research phase.

We then combined the individual analyses into a detailed findings report, which identified common themes across all groups. We went back through the interview scripts and quantified the instances of those themes for every participant. If a topic was brought up by at least two participants, it was added to the chart. All of the themes were then recounted according to mentions and tallied/captured within this chart.

Below is a visual representation of the analysis of the cross-cutting themes:

Theming and Refinement

After completing each set of interviews, the team used quotes from interviews to define specific goals for each theme. For example, a stakeholder noted she wanted to showcase the “superpowers” of HHS employees, highlighting what individuals within the organization are doing to advance the mission and vision of HHS. In another instance, an SME from Human Resources noted that it was important for the external community to easily find job opportunities.

We then mapped these goals to product features, to ensure that the MVP met the needs of all groups. The features list was validated by both stakeholders and employees before we proceeded to the design phase.

This research approach was rooted in qualitative evidence, which was then structured into data that we could evaluate objectively. The original qualitative collection of information, however, also led us to discover first-hand accounts of HHS’s commitment to helping others.

We heard personal stories of employees who applied to HHS because they knew of people who worked there or were aware of their mission from previous experience. For instance, an interviewee told us about a loved one employed at HHS who worked with researchers that reviewed lab tests during cancer treatment, and how they felt they were ultimately contributing to finding a cure for cancer. Another participant recounted the respect she felt when she was trained by the Centers for Disease Control to evaluate and treat patients abroad while serving in the U.S. Navy.

A distinct and significant theme emerged, serving as the guidepost for the content and design of the website. Interviewees signified the importance of their work being a part of something bigger than themselves. Subsequently, “Part of something bigger” emerged as our hook.

This overarching theme inspired stakeholders and employees alike. Upon validation, we designed a product around this theme, showcasing a mural of people coming together to form an object and corresponding copy that highlights the work of HHS and its agencies.

The visual on the homepage is of people coming together to form a heart and the message: “At HHS, bio-engineers are building devices to monitor blood-oxygen levels in athletes.”

HHS Careers Homepage

The sub-themes of diversity and organizational structure, among others, discovered from our interviews were then realized through a newly designed information architecture and original content on the internal pages. One section explores the structure and mission of HHS and its agencies, while another contains stories from actual HHS employees working in the field, labs, and a variety of offices. There is also a section that clearly describes the application and hiring process for groups who qualify for specific hiring paths, such as recent graduates or veterans.

What started as a project, where stakeholder values weren’t aligned with customer needs — along with the constraints of an unusually compressed timeline — ended with a truly insight-driven, inspired product.

Thanks to our unique approach to discovery and the weighted decision matrix that validated each step of development with customers and stakeholders alike, we ended up with a clearly articulated message and design that captures the vision of our stakeholders and the core values of the people working within HHS.