Introduction
A U.K government organisation looking to support their employees in changing the way they work as the organisation is undergoing major transformation to achieve its ambition of an experience-led ‘Digital Future".
The Challenge
Amidst the organization's major digital transformation, employees are experiencing a loss of clarity regarding the design and delivery of products and services. This uncertainty affects not only their understanding of the processes involved but also the effectiveness of communication within the organisation.
What I Did
I spearheaded research initiatives to inform the development of a user-driven knowledge repository. The objective was to establish a well-organised, evidence-based structure with clear content, user base, and sustained ownership, enabling employees to independently access information for daily work support.
I also remained closely connected with the research community, regularly discussing research objectives and methods to ensure appropriate research question coverage. To build on existing knowledge, I conducted foundational research, identifying gaps and complementing the information gathered. I also organied multiple collaborative sessions with relevant communities, co-designing employee-centric content. This involved conducting user testing rounds to refine knowledge articles, resulting in positive feedback from users. These efforts enabled us to establish a process that supports communities in adopting a user-led content creation approach, making significant progress despite bureaucratic limitations.
Client Feedback
“Ivy has been the sole User Research on the team for 6 months and has massively accelerated our understanding of what our users are experiencing and what their needs are. She engaged with DWP user research governance processes with patience and professionalism and has engaged with a broad spectrum of informal and formal user research. User Research for Digital Government projects is notoriously complex work and Ivy has navigated this short project well.”
– Head of Role for Agile Programme Management at a Government orgnaisation
– Head of Role for Agile Programme Management at a Government orgnaisation
Personas creation & identification of themes
Research Strategy to Propel Community-Driven Content Creation
hybrid card-sorting
I took part in the evolution of the knowledge repository as it transitioned to its new location in SharePoint. Our goal was to develop a consistent tag structure (taxonomy) for the product through iterative design and testing. To achieve this, we needed to understand how users navigated the repository, which would allow us to better organise the content using an effective taxonomy and enable users to find the information they needed more efficiently.
We conducted a series of moderated and unmoderated card-sorting activities to evaluate the Guide's findability, labelling, and information architecture. These activities focused on assessing the usefulness of tags for navigation, determining if the grouped content aligned with users' mental models, and gauging the ease and speed of finding information. Additionally, we identified challenges that prevented users from accessing the information they needed.
Throughout this process, we utilised Mural for moderated sessions and Optimal Workshop for unmoderated sessions, which provided valuable insights to inform our taxonomy development and improve the overall user experience.
