Redesigning a Mobile App – Learning Launch

Challenge

I work on various projects for our company’s Digital team and my main challenge is to work  with stakeholders and the external design/development vendor to build a much-needed  improved mobile app. The stakeholders comprise of 8 different regional representatives, each  with their own list of desired features for the app to improve the experience for their users. The  challenge is to uncover exactly what the user would like from the app while taking as many of  the stakeholders’ useful suggestions into consideration as possible, but also proving to the  stakeholders that not all suggestions will work. We also have to take time and budget  constraints into consideration. Working together with the stakeholders and vendor we try to  determine exactly what features and design will make a great app for our users.

Selection

Learning launch was selected as the tool for the first stage of this project. With such a large  group of stakeholders and limited time to spend on this stage of the project the learning launch  experiment is a great and quick way to test various ideas and learn what works, what doesn’t  work, and what can be improved. Each stakeholder assumes that they know what works and  what is best for their user, but these are all just assumptions until tested. As stated by Markus Traub  in the week 4 Learning Launch Tool video (5:51), “The purpose of a learning launch is to get the  truth and then the truth either confirms or dis-confirms your assumptions.”

Application

For the first portion data was gathered on the main types of users and 4 different personas were  created, including the features requested by the stakeholders during a brainstorming session, and the  feedback from the current mobile app. At this point we still had not consulted with any actual users,  with no idea if they would find it easy to use or if it contained all the information they needed. With the  information gathered above the vendor created a couple of slightly different partially working  prototypes for the redesigned mobile app.

With a prototype of the app ready, a small group of users from each persona were selected to  participate in an over the phone questionnaire to obtain their feedback about the proposed design and  features. The user downloaded the prototype on their device, their steps in the app were recorded.  They were all asked the same questions during the session, and also encouraged to speak freely at any  point if something did not make sense. It was communicated that they were not being tested, but that  they were testing the app and there were no wrong comments. Positive and negative feedback are both  important, to be able to improve on current features and also possibly remove items that are not  desired.

With the results of the first learning launch experiment taken into consideration a “final” prototype was  created and a second quick experiment was conducted. A small group of users tested the prototype and  once again feedback was gathered and applied to help created the final mobile app.

Insight

Everyone, including myself, thought that they knew what was best for the user just based on  their opinions and knowledge. This can prove costly if assumptions are not correct since this  project takes a year to complete, and finding out what works and doesn’t work in the eyes of  the user is the most important part and reason to build a new mobile app. If the stakeholder’s  suggestions were all taken into consideration the app would have not met the users end  expectations. The learning launch experiment is a great tool in this case, it brought to light  which design and features worked, which had room for improvement, and which were  completely unnecessary. This was instrumental in getting all of the stakeholders on the same  page and setting aside their own wants for the user and building a better application that would  meet the needs of the majority of their users.

Approach

This tool will be used for many of our projects going forward wherever it can be applied. I found  that it made a difficult and daunting task of getting all of the stakeholders on board with a  prototype much easier. The entire team learned that it is very important to test our  assumptions and ideas out on the actual users, since some things that were learned came as a  surprise. Everyone was able to contribute their ideas at the start to help put together a  prototype, and the product became refined and better after each experiment, proving that the  tool works.


Redesigning a Mobile App – Learning Launch Challenge I work on various projects for our company ’s Digital team and my main challenge is to work with stakeholders and the external design / development vendor to build a much - needed improved mobile app . The stakeholders comprise of 8 different regional representatives , each with their own list of desired features for the app to improve the experience for their users . The challenge is to uncover exactly what the user would like from the app while taking as many of the stakeholders ’ useful suggestions into consideration as possible , but also proving to the stakeholders that not all suggestions will work . We also have to take time and budget constraints into consideration . Working together with the stakeholders and vendor we try to determine exactly what features and design will make a great app for our users . Selection Learning launch was selected as the tool for the first stage of this project . With such a large group of stakeholders and limited time to spend on this stage of the project the learning launch experiment is a great and quick way to test various ideas and learn what works , what does n’t work , and what can be improved . Each stakeholder assumes that they know what works and what is best for their user , but these are all just assumptions until tested . As stated by Markus Traub in the week 4 Learning Launch Tool video ( 5:51 ) , “ The purpose of a learning launch is to get the truth and then the truth either confirms or dis - confirms your assumptions . ” Application For the first portion data was gathered on the main types of users and 4 different personas were created , including the features requested by the stakeholders during a brainstorming session , and the feedback from the current mobile app . At this point we still had not consulted with any actual users , with no idea if they would find it easy to use or if it contained all the information they needed . With the information gathered above the vendor created a couple of slightly different partially working prototypes for the redesigned mobile app . With a prototype of the app ready , a small group of users from each persona were selected to participate in an over the phone questionnaire to obtain their feedback about the proposed design and features . The user downloaded the prototype on their device , their steps in the app were recorded . They were all asked the same questions during the session , and also encouraged to speak freely at any point if something did not make sense . It was communicated that they were not being tested , but that they were testing the app and there were no wrong comments . Positive and negative feedback are both important , to be able to improve on current features and also possibly remove items that are not desired . With the results of the first learning launch experiment taken into consideration a “ final ” prototype was created and a second quick experiment was conducted . A small group of users tested the prototype and once again feedback was gathered and applied to help created the final mobile app . Insight Everyone , including myself , thought that they knew what was best for the user just based on their opinions and knowledge . This can prove costly if assumptions are not correct since this project takes a year to complete , and finding out what works and does n’t work in the eyes of the user is the most important part and reason to build a new mobile app . If the stakeholder ’s suggestions were all taken into consideration the app would have not met the users end expectations . The learning launch experiment is a great tool in this case , it brought to light which design and features worked , which had room for improvement , and which were completely unnecessary . This was instrumental in getting all of the stakeholders on the same page and setting aside their own wants for the user and building a better application that would meet the needs of the majority of their users . Approach This tool will be used for many of our projects going forward wherever it can be applied . I found that it made a difficult and daunting task of getting all of the stakeholders on board with a prototype much easier . The entire team learned that it is very important to test our assumptions and ideas out on the actual users , since some things that were learned came as a surprise . Everyone was able to contribute their ideas at the start to help put together a prototype , and the product became refined and better after each experiment , proving that the tool works .