How We Navigate Client Integration

Observations from working with a healthcare company

Integrating with a client is an unusual process. People are used to maintaining comfortably distant relationships in business sustained by calendar meeting invitations, “check-in” emails, and the occasional phone call. This traditional model of client interaction just doesn’t cut it when redesigning a high level application in an industry as complicated as healthcare.

It’s not news to anyone that a new type of design has evolved to fill the widening gap between ever-growing technological possibilities and the people who are supposed to utilize them. This branch of design is articulated by all sorts of overused buzzwords such as “user experience,” “interaction design,” or my personal favorite– “thinking differently.” Terminology aside, this translatory form of design has repeatedly proven its value in industries like manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare wherein it would seem unlikely that a dynamic design team could revolutionize the way they do business. But it’s true. Navigating this space requires a special kind of flexibility and adaptability. It’s very difficult to truly understand the context of the problem when you adhere to the traditional guidelines of client interaction.

As I previously mentioned, MOON recently completed an eight month project redesigning a Clinical Analytics application for Streamline Health. If you had asked me 8 months ago what Clinical Analytics was, I would have had no clue. We knew we were capable of creating something very valuable but in order to know what that value actually looked like, we needed to learn the context and the industry in which it exists.

Working on-site at Streamline’s office gave us an incredible understanding of the company culture and the climate of the healthcare industry. It afforded us the opportunity to speak to many people who interacted with the Analytics application and observe them in their own environment. Our presence built a level of trust and camaraderie that gave way to natural and honest conversations about the application, which was invaluable. Additionally, being in their office significantly expedited communication and the iteration of initial ideas since we could simply discuss them on the spot as opposed to long emails or meetings.

Our presence in their office reinforced our credibility (and eventually our design decisions) since our process was unfolding right before their eyes. Sometimes design can seem very nebulous and abstract so it was very helpful for our process to be on display. We designated a small hallway where we hung our work for review and discussion. We found that employees were curious and frequently stopped by to check it out and talk with us. I found those impromptu, casual discussions to be some of the most valuable when trying to learn and redesign something this complex. The constant discourse and ability to ask questions on the fly was absolutely necessary.

Working on-site helped lay the foundation for the outside hours spent learning the in’s and out’s of the current application, talking to industry professionals, and diagramming the dynamics of our current healthcare system, and by proxy, the framework for our redesigned workflow.

This application, the brain-child of a couple of esteemed epidemiologists who have a strong desire to ultimately improve the quality of care patients receive, was a monumental undertaking. Four trips to New York, one Medical Informatics Trade Show, 70+ days at Streamline, and 29 user interviews/test sessions later, we ended up with a successfully restructured and redesigned product. We were able to completely eliminate the need for extensive application training sessions while easing confusion and cognitive overload by giving a structured workflow to an endlessly flexible system. Most importantly, we made it extremely easy for doctors and researchers to ask questions and gain useful, actionable information about their patients. Being on-site and speaking with doctors and researchers only fueled and developed our own passion for this initiative as well.

So, although it was exhausting at times, I’m confident that type of deeper connection over a shared initiative would not have developed had we not been there in the trenches on a day-to-day basis.