Interviews, Concept tests and Workshops
We've had a fantastic journey researching this important piece of work. Our successful usability tests and client's feedback demonstrate how important it is to invest in in-depth research prior to design. The efforts of the team in the initial research phase have given us strong confidence to design the right product from the start.
Below are three examples of many research artifacts and outputs worked on in this project.
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AccountingPractices
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Users /Clients
3
Internalconsultants
VVisiting clients for the first time in Australia and New Zealand to better understand their work environment and immerse myself in their work was the first step I took in this research.
A mix of physical and online interviews enabled us to explore how accounting practices work, the type of jobs they do for their clients and how they manage their workflow in their own environment.
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Users / ClientsI've conducted a workshop gathering 13 accounting practices partners/owners in a half day workshop to engage a discussion on the lifecycle of a client's job within their practice.
This workshop was a break through to clear unknown gaps we had from the interviews and get an in-depth experience on how different sizes of practices manage their jobs internally, what is common and differences between them, how they perceive today's experience and what would be the ideal work scenario.
The output of this workshop was a CX journey map of a job lifecycle from the first client contact, the process of preparing and delivering the piece of work, pain points and opportunities through the process.
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Users /Clients
3
Internalconsultants
Using Airtable for a low cost prototype and concept test we've managed to get valuable insights in a short amount of time without touching any personalized design.
We've decided to use this methodology before investing on design to test the information architecture and its interactions. We've given users the power of add, remove and re-organize information in a way that would work better for them. At the same time, engaging with them a discussion on why these information were necessary and what we were getting right and wrong about the way we presented them.
This workshop was the key and final research piece prior design as it gave us the last bits on information needed and boosted our confidence on what and how to design this feature.
Ideation, Design & Validation
After an extensive round of research to get our product right, we've started our rounds of design and usability test.
The designs had to adapt to what's available at MYOB Feelix Design System.
Using this design system enabled us to speed up our development process but also brought a few constraints in what elements could be designed.
Some of the functionalities had to be adapted to what's supported by Feelix in order to keep the consistency of the product.
Learn more about Feelix Design System
Usability Test
We've ran several usability tests in different stages for different types of users based on what their roles and goals were.
Some where job managers, others, preparers, bookkeepers, accountants, admin...
All of our users had different goals when using this features and was important that we nailed all experiences for them.
Development Support
The team of development came onboard once we started our usability tests rounds.
I am always an advocate of including developers right from the start, but for this specific project, the team were only assembled when we were already in the usability test phase
I've invited them to our sessions so they could experience users feedback and trust the work we've done so far. Involving them in this phase was extremely powerful as now they had the voice of the users instead of just listening a designer talking about them.
The best and most important part of involving the team into the UX process is to get them to be a supporter and raise their own concerns in a way I haven't thought of.
