Luddites Won't Let Me Skype In: HS2 IT User Research Project

Lior Smith @liorsmith Rainmaker | Jeremy Foot @jeremyfoot HS2

HS2 IT USER RESEARCH PROJECTLUDDITES WON’T LET ME SKYPE IN



HELLO

• the project• what we got away with• why we chose the techniques• what we got out of it


WHY WE ASKED FOR THIS

• we have a railway to build• we have an organisation to build• digital information services are

critical• new to service design


10 WEEK USER RESEARCH PROJECT

• broad and shallow

• understand our users across the organisation

• learn• make it stick


“IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT THE USER NEEDS ARE, YOU WON’T BUILD THE RIGHT THING. DO RESEARCH, ANALYSE DATA, TALK TO USERS. DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.”


Sprint 1: Project Set-up Sprint 4: Analysis PhaseSprint 2 - 3: Research Phase Sprint 5: Conclusion

Stakeholder mapping

Guerilla interviews

Develop the brief

Work out next round of interview questions

Design interview tools

Book interviews

Conduct interviews

Survey

‘Week in your life’ research kit

User needs workshop

Review existing sources of information

Repeated thematic analysis throughout previous phases and this phase to articulate pain points and needs

Create project insights document

Create personas

Create toolkit

Create challenges document

Make ‘exhibition’ with project outputs

Presentation to key stakeholders

Show & tell to staff to sense check

Make film to document process

THE PROJECTPROJECT PHASES


OUR IDEA OF ‘GOOD’ DISCOVERYIN THIS INSTANCE AT LEAST

• issues come up repeatedly• outputs presented accessibly• clear direction as a result• demonstrating & engaging


this was not discovery with intention of going into alpha...

...this was big picture research to find out what the pressing issues are that need specific research...

...plus a learning experience for staff


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITH A DESIGNER’S DELIGHT


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHNO REPORT


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHREFINE BRIEF 1/4 WAY THROUGH


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHPOP UP INTERVIEWS


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHTALKING ABOUT ‘DESIGN RESEARCH’


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHCULTURAL PROBES


WHAT WE GOT AWAY WITHHAND DRAWING STUFF


WHY WE CHOSE TECHNIQUES WE USED


WHY DO POP UP INTERVIEWS

• lots of people, quickly• broad and shallow• quick impressions pointing to

top of mind issues for further research

• see people in their normal environments

• contact with people we wouldn’t have access to otherwise


WHY DO REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLING PAPER DIAGRAM

• getting spread in directorates was a hot topic

• working out loud• easy to stay on track



WHY USE PAPER TOOLS IN INTERVIEWS

• less confrontational than questions list

• visual & engaging• feels safely structured despite

being wide open research• helps prompt memory of the

working week




WHY USE CULTURAL PROBES

• inspect minutiae of interactions - logged at the time; less distorted than reported through interview

• fun & engaging & beautiful• detailed honesty - harder to get

in interview situation - insight into culture & characters



EXTRACT FROM A ‘WEEK IN YOUR LIFE’ RESEARCH KIT(A CULTURAL PROBE)






WHY DO PERSONAS

• simplify staff into manageable categories that we can design for

• HS2 personas: types of activities in roles - affects who they interact with & how


SPRING 2016 HS2 USER PERSONAS


WHY MAKE A TOOLKIT (NOW ON GITHUB)


WHY MAKE A TOOLKIT

• start off practice of user research

• co-write with others: ownership • make process tangible even

though researchers are gone• bespoke: specific to context;

more likely to make sense to beginner



DEALING WITH HARD BITS


WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY MEAN?LANGUAGE


THEMATIC ANALYSIS IS NOT WITHIN EVERYONE’S EXPERIENCE


FAIL FAST (DATA LADY STORY)


BUSINESS ANALYSTS LEADING INTERVIEWS: NEW & CHALLENGING


MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• personas rang true with staff• culture people engaged• toolkit felt useful (+github)• got back 8/10 cultural probes


WHY IT WORKED

• management consistently unblocking blockers quickly

• J2 comfortable with uncertainty• over ambitious• business analysts did interviews• W9&10 for testing outputs only


WHAT DID WE GET OUT OF IT?

We got what we hoped for…• we can do this! • user personas to shape design

and delivery of information services

• strong basis for service-specific user research next

• people-centred understanding of our services


WHAT DID WE GET OUT OF IT?

And more…!• rich insight into the kinds of

people who work in HS2• new understanding of the

organisation• will inform a whole range of

other work


GITHUB & FOLLOW

@liorsmith@jeremyfoot

Github search: ‘HS2 toolkit’ or ’user needs toolkit’


THANK YOU :)PLUGS...