Optum: New Cloud Dashboard Product
Problem
A new product was needed that combined dashboards from various touch points within Optum’s internal cloud platform. This new product needed to meet the needs of 3 target user segments: Software Engineer Managers, Software Engineers, and Finance Operations team members. I was asked to run a study to provide a list of feature requirements for this new product.
Business Goal
Increase engagement with Financial Operations from the 3 target user segments: Software Engineer Managers, Software Engineers, and FinOps team members.
Study Duration
4 weeks
Study Presented
01/20/2023
Company
Optum
Cross Functional Team Members
Product Manager
UX Designer
Product Director
Product Engineering Lead
UX Director
Methodology
User Interviewing
Impact
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 3 different user segments:
Software Engineer Managers
Software Engineers
Finance Operations team members
I recommended that each user segment be provided their own custom dashboard, as well as what information each dashboard should display.
As a result of my recommendations, engagement with FinOps at Optum from target user segments increased 3 fold over the first 6 months after product launch.
Research
I did not have any background knowledge about the current products being used that would be combined into a single dashboard, and wanted to understand the context in which each target user segment would use a dashboard. There was discussion around whether we needed to create one dashboard to rule them all or 3, each customized to each target user segment.
I created a comprehensive research plan that included a study objective, 2 research questions with subquestions that would address that objective, and 11 interview questions that would address the research questions. My goal was to recruit N=5 participants per user segment, per Nielsen Norman Group recommendations for user interview studies.
Participants were provided by the Product Manager.
I interviewed:
N=3 Software Engineer Managers
N=7 Software Engineers
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 wrote a moderator guide, understanding that I would go off-script when necessary. Also, because I had very little context for the product, I included the Product Manager in all participant sessions and allowed them to ask any question they wanted at any time.
I collected rich information about user preferences from each user segment. I came to a deeper understanding of information needs and why they needed that information. I was prepared to improve the product during future sprints using analytics and other UX Research methodologies, qual and quant as appropriate, after release of the new dashboard.
What I Learned
At this point during my time at Optum, I was getting familiar with UX Managers, Product Managers, and cross functional team members and how to best work with them as well as developing a strategic approach to product design improvement that would benefit the Software Engineers that would use the products in the internal cloud platform I was helping to improve.
I learned:
How to better lead research sessions in which the Product Manager actively participated in as a second researcher
That I didn’t need a comprehensive knowledge of the product to make impactful recommendations based on qualitative user data
I thoroughly enjoyed working on cloud products used by software engineers with the goal of improving their productivity