Research

I Learned Contextual Background Knowledge

From the Product Manager, I learned key information about the need to clearly communicate cloud cost and usage data to 3 target user segments:

1. Software Engineer Managers

2. Software Engineers

3. Finance Operations team members

1 Dashboard or 3?

The Product Manager and I discussed whether there was a need to create 1 dashboard to rule them all or 3, where each was customized to the specific target user segment.

Methodology Selection

I decided that the user interview methodology was the best approach to discover what should be included in a dashboard that would be used by the 3 different user segments. User interviews would help me understand more of the nuances within the problem space so that I could provide support for my recommendations.

I Built a Comprehensive Research Plan

My research plan included:

1. Study objective

2. 2 research questions

   1. Sub research questions

3. 11 interview questions

I structured interview questions to help me understand the context in which each target user segment would use a dashboard.

Study Participant Goal

My goal was to recruit N=5 participants per user segment, per Nielsen Norman Group recommendations for user interview studies.

I Wrote a Moderator Guide

I understood that I would go off-script to ask follow up questions when necessary during interviews. Also, because I was learning about the background of the product, I included the Product Manager in all participant sessions and allowed them to ask any question they wanted at any time.

Study Participants Recruited

I interviewed:

1. N=3 Software Engineer Managers

2. N=7 Software Engineers

3. N=1 Finance Operations team member

I wanted to interview more Software Engineer Managers and Finance Operations team members, but deadline constraints prevented additional recruiting.

I Collected Rich User Information

I learned:

1. What cloud cost and usage data to display and how from each user segment

2. A deeper understanding of information needs and why each user segment needed that information

Recommendations

I recommended that each of the 3 user segments be provided their own custom dashboard, as well as what information the 3 dashboards should display for each user segment.

Next Steps

I began documenting a plan to improve the product after launch during future sprints using analytics and other UX Research methodologies, qual and quant as appropriate, after release of the new dashboard.