Ken Becker

Challenge
Build a waveline diagram to illustrate the journey of the Account Manager and make it easy to see the greatest opportunities for improvement in the experience.                  

My Role
I was the UX researcher on this project.  I was responsible for conducting the research that provided the basis for describing the experience.  I built the diagram in PowerPoint. 

Process
I leveraged the findings from several research studies, where questions focused on pain points and what makes for a good/bad day for Account Managers, in building the map of the experience of managing an account throughout the contract year.

I chose the waveline diagram because it’s most effective at showing the greatest points of opportunity, where the current experience is significantly different from the ideal experience. 

Results
A visual depiction of the journey of the Account Manager throughout the contract year, which calls attention to the largest gaps between the current experience and the ideal experience.  It makes it clear where the team can focus it’s efforts in improving the experience to get the most benefit.

Lessons Learned
The experience of managing an account throughout the contract year is complex.  I learned that, to make the diagram effective, it needed to depict only the high-level experience, avoiding the temptation to get too far into the weeds with iterative experiences, such as re-planning and adjusting, within the overall experience.

Challenge
Design and conduct a research study to evaluate different design patterns in different contexts of use.  Settle a debate among product and design team members about which pattern to use in which context of use.                 

My Role
I was the UX researcher on this project.  I was responsible for designing the study, recruiting participants, summarizing the findings, making recommendations and determining the guidance for using the design patterns.   I did not design the patterns, but I built a very complex prototype in Axure that permitted Account Managers to exercise the designs in a way that allowed us to learn what we needed to learn about the patterns.

Process
Since the goal was to evaluate the design patterns and the debate was focused on which pattern to use with a specific type of data, we needed to go deeper than conceptual level.

I built a prototype that displayed the realistic data in each of the different patterns, and then I chose real world tasks for the research study that exercised both views.  I then set up the prototype with two different contexts of use: account data and cases data.

I built a similar prototype with account data, rather than cases data.

The idea was to test the hypothesis that a horizontal view worked better for certain kinds of data than the vertical view.

I chose Axure for the prototype because it provided the capability to provide the functionality (grouping, filtering, sorting, selecting and scrolling) to support real-world tasks while incorporating realistic data (without having to enter that data manually).  For example, a task was to find the urgent cases that had been idle the longest.

Results
Strong feedback from Account Managers provided clear direction about which context of use the horizontal pattern works best and in which context of use the vertical pattern works best.
Account Managers expressed a strong preference for the horizontal  pattern when many columns of data were relevant in the master part of the view and most decisions about what action to take involved ONLY the data visible in the master (that is, the additional detail for a row in the table is only rarely needed).

Account Managers also expressed a strong preference for the vertical pattern when only a few columns of data were relevant to identify which item in the master they are interested in and most decisions about what action to take involved the data visible in the additional detail.  The vertical view provided more screen real estate to display more additional detail at a glance, without scrolling.

Lessons Learned
The prototype was a very effective tool for exercising these patterns and the real-world tasks evoked a strong reaction from participants in the research study.  Some participants changed their mind about their preference between models as they worked through the tasks and it became clear what the tradeoffs were between the patterns.

It took longer than anticipated to build the grouping, filtering, sorting, selecting and scrolling functionality using real data.

Challenge
Build a prototype to show how new systems will work after a legacy system is retired and then conduct a usability study, using the prototype, to establish baseline measures.                

My Role
I was the UX researcher and prototype builder on this project.  I was responsible for designing the research study to establish baseline measures by evaluating the existing legacy system and the planned new systems.  I used Axure to create an interactive prototype robust enough to support the Managers working through the tasks in both the old and new systems.  I recruited a representative sample of participants, scheduled and moderated each of the one-on-one sessions and summarized findings and observations.

Process
I began by working with the team to get clarity on the tasks proposed for the study.  With a solid understanding of the tasks, I built out an interactive prototype based on mock-ups.  We then worked through several iterations as we refined the tasks and the behavior of the new systems.

Once the tasks were settled, I built a quick prototype of the existing system to support the test tasks and establish baseline measures for the study.  I chose a usability study to collect observational data and to base satisfaction and usability scores on Managers actually interacting with the systems, rather than just witnessing a demo.

I designed a study to compare the tasks between the old and new systems and collect post-task satisfaction data, as well as a usability score for each system. I then recruited participants, scheduled and moderated each of the one-on-one sessions.  I finished by summarizing findings and observations in presentation.

Results
A usability study that evaluated both the old and new systems using the same tasks and established baseline measures for satisfaction and usability.  Surprisingly, the study revealed that Managers were less satisfied with the usability of the new system than the old system.  The prototype saved rework and development time by helping to clarify change orders.  The prototype also proved valuable to socializing the changes to the systems and for training people who will use it.

Lessons Learned
The interactive prototype proved immensely helpful in refining the tasks and clarifying the behavior of the new system.  Working through the tasks raised many questions and the team was able to use the prototype to work through the implications of each scenario before the system was built.

Insight
It all comes down to confidence in the information on eFleet in order for employees to make the right decision in their work.

Challenge
Understand employee’s perspective and pain points; gather data based on actual observations of interactions with the eFleet portal in order to identify usability issues.

Process
Conduct contextual inquiry sessions with participants in 3 user groups: Ship’s Captain, Environmental Officer, Technical Operations Manager.  Sessions involved interview questions, observing using the current site and a user satisfaction survey questionnaire.

Results
eFleet can be a useful resource for employees, but it’s not quite there yet.  Provided insight that it all comes down to confidence in the information on eFleet in order for employees to make the right decision.

Challenge
Compare existing site to competitors, based on principles and heuristics.

Process
Expert Review

Results
Actionable report with detailed analysis and recommendations on several aspects of the site design and architecture.  The report describes and illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the site for each aspect and relates each to the competition.