Bridge By Smartsheet
Bridge by Smartsheet is a project management tool that helps organizations streamline their project workflows and collaborate more effectively. The software is designed to help teams manage tasks, timelines, and resources, and provides real-time visibility into project progress.
Team
Product Manager
UI/UX Designer
Software Engineers
Skills
Research Planning, Moderated Interview, Heuristic Evaluation, Qualitative Data Analysis, Insight Presentation
Duration
2 months
This work is under NDA, so I cannot reveal specific details about the project. Instead, I will focus on the process, impact, key challenges, and how I approached and solved these challenges.
Role
UX Researcher
Overview
The goal of this study is to conduct a usability testing include understanding users’ core needs, establishing a baseline of user performance, and identifying potential design concerns to be addressed to improve efficiency, productivity, and end-user satisfaction with the Bridge By Smartsheet. The study serves as a validation of the design concept and provides direction for future design ideas.
Impact
64%
Implementation Rate
Stakeholders adopted 7 out of the 11 key actionable design recommendations provided in our report.
“I saw at least 6 or 7 quotes that I’m going to be putting in the documentation. It’s going to drive a lot of the work that we do this year. Lots of impact, and really really great job. Thank you guys so much. ”
“It can be really hard to get information about how users want to use Bridge, even from people who know what Bridge is and how it works. So I really appreciate all this hard work that you’ve guys done. This is so invaluable for us to see how it would play out with the customers in the real use cases. ”
20+
Identified key design concerns
We identified over 20 key design concerns, leading to a significant decrease in user errors
Method
We conducted a formative usability test to gather customer feedback on the prototype. The objective is to identify key features valued by customers and areas that require improvement, elimination, or enhancement.
Moderated interviews will be used as the method. A pre-study survey was integrated as part of the screening survey to provide context.
Process
Challenges & Approaches
1️⃣ Rapid Product Familiarization
Problem
Solution
None of the team members had prior experience using Smartsheet or similar project management tools, and some terms related to the test prototype were unfamiliar. We needed to quickly learn about the core product functions and user base due to a tight timeline (this usability testing project needed to be done in 7 weeks).
Conduct thorough research by reading all available materials on the company website.
Try the product demo to gain hands-on experience.
Review previous work reports to understand past findings and insights.
Schedule a Q&A session with the client to address any gaps in understanding.
List specific questions about the product's functionalities and user needs to ask during the Q&A session.
2️⃣ Translating Hypotheses into Effective Questions
While we had hypotheses from the UX research lead and product manager, we needed to develop unbiased questions and design realistic and engaging tasks to validate these hypotheses.
Problem
Approach 1
Solution
Approach 2
Solution
Approach 3
Solution
3. Avoiding Designer Bias: Focused on understanding users' motivations. Instead of asking users if they needed specific features, we asked how they achieved their motivations, which provided deeper insights.
Instead of asking "Do they need xx?", we first identified the users' motivations and then asked, "How do you xxx?"
Example:
Hypothesis: “Users want to have a description of the workflows (hover on and see details) feature”
Motivations: users have problems finding their workflows without proper names
Question:
“How do you name your workflows? Any conventions?”
“How do you understand what each specific workflow is for?”
2. Behavior Observation: Recognizing that actions speak louder than words, we created scenarios to observe user behaviors instead of asking potentially leading questions.
1. Open-Ended Questions: Used open-ended questions to evaluate the content design, which helped gather more comprehensive and unbiased feedback.
Instead of asking biased questions, we created scenarios to observe user behavior and then asked open-ended questions.
Example
Hypothesis: The copy to workspace and move to workspace buttons can be confusing to users.
Scenario/Task: Imagine you are creating a new Smartsheet workspace for a new project. Walk us through how you would copy four existing workflows into this new workspace.
Instead of asking potentially leading questions, we used open-ended questions to evaluate content design.
Example
hypothesis: Users will not understand the “run log”
question: In your own words, what does the column 'last run' mean?
3️⃣ Unbiased and Efficient Data Analysis
It is challenging to ensure there is no bias in data interpretation while analyzing data quickly and accurately. Personal biases of the researchers can affect the interpretation of the data, leading to skewed results.
Problem
Approach 1
Solution : Note-taking form
Approach 2
Solution : Affinity Map
Approach 3
Approach 4
1. Implement clear protocols for data collection, ensuring that participants' statements are recorded exactly in pre-defined data fields. This helps standardize the data and reduce misinterpretation.
3. Use a collaborative analysis process where multiple team members review and discuss the findings. This peer review helps to cross-verify interpretations and minimize bias.
2. Adopt streamlined analysis techniques including thematic analysis and affinity diagramming to quickly categorize and identify key themes and patterns in the data.
4. Divide the data among team members for initial analysis and then consolidate the findings for a comprehensive review. This approach ensures faster processing while maintaining accuracy.
Problem
Approach 1
Approach 2
Approach 3
4️⃣ Efficient Insight Delivery
We had limited time to present our findings, and six out of seven stakeholders had not followed our progress. Our audience included UX researchers, product managers, and product designers, each with different priorities. We needed to present the usability testing results in a way that was clear, concise, and addressed the varying interests of all stakeholders.
Solution: Example Report
1. We employed a top-down report structure:
beginning with a high-level executive summary that captured critical insights in concise one-liners.
included jump-links to detailed findings and supporting participant quotes.
provided comprehensive explanations of our research methods, anonymized participant profiles, and a go-forward plan for future decision-making.
2. Assigned severity ratings to each issue based on its frequency, impact, and persistence:
High: Imperative to fix before product release.
Medium: Important to fix and should be given high priority.
Low: Fixing should be given low priority.
The frequency with which the problem occurs: Is it common or rare?
The impact of the problem if it occurs: Will it be easy or difficult for the users to overcome?
The persistence of the problem: Is it a one-time problem that users can overcome once they know about it or will users repeatedly be bothered by the problem?
3. Provided actionable design improvement recommendations for each usability issue identified, giving stakeholders a ready-to-implement future plan.
Learning
Adaptability is the key to effective research
As a UX researcher, this project provided valuable learning opportunities. One of the major challenges we faced was building an understanding of a product that we had never used before. This required us to be adaptable and quickly learn about the product's features and functions, which was critical to conducting effective research.
Asking the right questions leads to valuable insights
Another significant learning experience was conducting formative usability research. We learned that asking open-ended questions and probing deeper with follow-up questions was essential to gathering valuable insights from the participants. We also recognized the importance of taking a participant-centered approach, which allowed us to understand their attitudes and underlying reasons behind their feedback.
Clear communication is the foundation of successful collaboration
Presenting our findings to our clients was a valuable experience. We presented our usability report, including potential design concerns, users' core needs, and our recommendations for improving the product. We learned that clear and concise communication was critical in effectively conveying our findings and recommendations to the clients.
