Team Skill Development: Research
Through coaching, training and leadership, I transformed the team’s ability to leverage customer research, improving design decisions based in customer insights.
Through a transformative journey, I drove a culture and operational change that deepened our understanding of our customer’s needs and behaviors. Upon joining Justworks, the prevailing sentiment regarding research was that it was slow and yielded unreliable results. With a limited understanding of research and an absence of dedicated researchers, customer research was sporadic and excessively long, so product decisions were often made from internal information and lacked the customer point-of-view.
Demonstrating Value First-hand
The change came from the example I showed from the start. I joined the team in the early days of the pandemic in New York City. Small business customers were under great pressure to keep their business afloat. New COVID-related legislations were fast approaching, demanding immediate product changes to maintain compliance. The team jumped into action, diving into the details of the laws and quickly translating them into a new product experience.
However, there was a critical question on everyone’s mind, “How will our customer respond?”
I leveraged my background in research and experience working in fast-paced environments. Within the first two weeks at the company, I identified key questions, areas of risk, and conducted customer interviews resulting in actionable insights. As the government regulations evolved, I continuously facilitated customer interviews, ensuring the product remained clear to the customers during this volatile time. My approach struck a balance between speed and confidence in findings, showcasing the immediate value of research to the team and the company. As a result, the perception of research shifted from being a non-essential waste of time to an invaluable tool to be leveraged with greater depth.
Up-leveled Designers Skills
As we moved past the urgent COVID-related product changes and I worked with my team on other product areas, I emphasized the importance of evidence-based design decisions, coaching them to rely on data and insights rather than intuition. I up-leveled my direct reports to be able to lead the research needed for their product areas. Through hands-on coaching, my team members learned to create research plans, discussion guides, and how to effectively conduct research. As the internal mindset shifted, other teams sought my expertise and my team’s expertise, resulting in my direct reports coaching others on effective research practices.
Created Efficiency
To increase efficiency, I led my team to develop sharable templates and introduced new tools like usertesting.com, userinterviews.com, and OptimalSort. As we hired additional designers, I sought out designers with research experience who could broaden the skills and methods within the team. I advocated for a dedicated researcher within the design team, a milestone achieved after a persistent journey. Once this role is filled, the designers will learn from this individual and leverage their time to share the research responsibilities.
Impact
The impact was significant: the organization embraced a new mindset, transitioning from primarily intuition-driven decisions to data-driven decisions. Project timelines were shortened and reduced resource investment on features that may not meet user needs, leading to a more efficient and effective design process. By validating ideas through research, the team can identify potential issues or challenges early in the design process. The company's appetite for customer-centricity was fulfilled by leveraging a foundational product capability of research.