During my time as UX Lead at Visma I developed a method called Collaborative User Journey Mapping. The method involves providing participants with action cards featuring various task icons, which they arrange on a physical timeline to illustrate activities and interactions in relation to the task at hand. The main idea behind is to direct attention away from screen interfaces and make it easier for users to recall and share narratives and "war stories" that reveal service gaps or frustrations that standard testing might miss. The approach fosters self-reflection for the participant and provides the researcher with proactive engagement and deeper insights into how a product fits into a larger ecosystem. I have used it regularly during the autumn of 2017 and have gotten great results by using it as a startup exercise when performing user visits and research.
Previous research and client requests clearly implied a major discontent with the workflow in the tool. The product failed to support the actual work process at hand. Thus standard Think Aloud tests or similar that focus on the digital interface, would most probably fail to identify broken workflows that existed beyond the screen. A method less focused on UI and more on overall workflow and process was needed.
Conducting field research sadly restricted me to conference rooms far away from the user’s daily workplace, with end users visiting me, one after each other, separated from the environment of their workplace. Furthermore, efforts to move into the work environment inevitably put disturbances into the surrounding work environment as most offices were set in open landscapes. Thus this was not a viable approach.
As traditional interviews often force users to recall problems in their natural habitat I am a strong believer in Contextual Inquiry, where questions being put in their actual workspace makes it easier for researchers and users to identify problems with current processes. But confined to sterile conference rooms, away from the users' natural environment, made this type of investigations hard to execute. An approach was needed to support recognition, over recall.
The importance of storytelling for learning, reflection & comprehension of previous experiences is an undisputed fact numerous scholars within the field of Anthropology and Behavioural Science have explored.
Narratives help recall previous experiences better. Experiences that are embedded into contextual and episodial flows in our memory.
Often this knowledge is transfered by recollection of "War Stories".
I wanted to use these human mechanisms as a tool to help users recall issues relating to a specific problem area. Even when separated from their immediate work context.
In order to activate and encourage users to participate actively, a number of pre-made artefacts are used:
Primarily a Storyboard with three initial story steps - beginning, middle, end - form the basis for the session. These help users navigate and orient themselves.
In addition to this a number of "actions cards" depicting the most frequent and common tasks within the flow are presented. These are used to create the description of and interactions in the flow.
A restricted amount of time is given to the participant in order to get them into action.
Elevating the user beyond the manacles of the screen, expose them to the reality of their workflow.
The most critical opportunities - and the most severe workflow glitches-do not exist within the Ul. They live in the invisible spaces between digital interaction points.
After that they sat down together discussing the journey. When doing this adding of forgotten sub-flows or missed out tasks are added as their story unravels.
By elevating the user beyond the manacles of the screen, pivotal insights can be made into opportunities and flaws in a process.
Starting off the user research session with this method forces users into a more proactive state. It works great as an ice-breaker, making it significantly easier to engage the participants in the subsequent, deeper phases of the interview.
Engaging users and getting them to physically describe the situation helps them gain perspective and reflect on what actually happens during their workflow. Several users have also expressed gratitude for the exercise, as it has helped them gain perspective on their own work processes.
When using the method we move beyond the product, into the overall work/task process. By mapping out the holistic process it becomes easier to discover opportunities, exposing glitches, workarounds and gaps between interaction points that exist entirely outside of the digital screen.