During my time as UX Lead at Visma I developed a method called Collaborative User Journey Mapping. The method involves providing participants with action cards featuring various task icons, which they arrange on a physical timeline to illustrate activities and interactions in relation to the task at hand. The main idea behind is to direct attention away from screen interfaces and make it easier for users to recall and share narratives and "war stories" that reveal service gaps or frustrations that standard testing might miss. The approach fosters self-reflection for the participant and provides the researcher with proactive engagement and deeper insights into how a product fits into a larger ecosystem. I have used it regularly during the autumn of 2017 and have gotten great results by using it as a startup exercise when performing user visits and research.
Previous research and client requests clearly implied major discontent with the workflow in the tool. The product failed to support the actual work process at hand. Thus standard Think Aloud tests or similar would most probably not cut it. A method less focused on UI and more on overall workflow and process was needed.
Conducting field research sadly restricted me to conference rooms far away from the user’s daily workplace, with end users visiting me, one after each other, separated from the environment of their workplace. Furthermore, efforts to move into the work environment would inevitably disturb the surrounding work environment as most offices were set in open landscapes and was thus not a viable approach.
As traditional interviews forced users to recall.....
how to activate participantsss
Interviews with client process experts and internal stakeholders
Participation in internal customer success workshop at Visma for Visma Medvind stakeholder
In depth interviews with users (Physicians, Schedule planners & Managers assistants)
Revisit of previous research made by me on regarding the Visma Public Business Suite HRM (so called Secondary research)
Analysis of new and old inquiry material and identification of recurring pains & gains
Creation of personas
Simplified Journey map for understanding Scheduling process
abiding by the the principle of ”working together, alone” in order to minimize possible effects of Sunflower and Bandwagon Biases. In order to further minimize the Sunflower effect I started another WS without initial self presentations of participants.
Affinity diagramming
together with affinity while other techniques involved
By elevating the user beyond the manacles of the screen, we revealed pivotal insights into opportunities and flaws.
Starting off the user research session with this method forced the user into a more proactive state. It worked great as an ice-breaker, making it significantly easier to engage the participants in the subsequent, deeper phases of the interview.
Engaging users and getting them to physically describe the situation helped them gain perspective and reflect on what actually happens during their workflow. Several users spontaneously expressed gratitude for the exercise helping them see their own work clearly.
We successfully moved beyond the product, into the work process. By mapping out the holistic process, it became much easier to discover opportunities, exposing glitches, workarounds, and gaps between interaction points that existed entirely outside of the digital screen.