User Research

Research Project: Proprietary Assessment Tool, Avanade, Inc.

Background: An internal team working on cloud projects built a tool to help clients figure out if they were ready to migrate to the cloud. I was originally pulled into the project to test and validate survey responses within the tool, and to rewrite UI text connected to  survey results and subsequent recommendations for clients.

Research: In the course of this work, I found critical usability errors within, and I proposed to the project lead that my scope expanded to do a study to identify and then recommend fixes that would improve ease of use and discoverability. I conducted stakeholder interviews, and then carried out a full heuristic evaluation and cognitive walk-through of the application. I analyzed the output of this work, and then defined the top five design and usability patterns of concern, and made rewrite suggestions for onscreen copy, graphic design,  UI labels, and navigation changes. Finally, I wrote up and presented my findings to the team.

Results: The project team implemented a majority of my recommendations, and this new iteration has been successfully deployed in the field, with a three-fold update in use of the tool by Business Development Executives. The tool and workshop attached to it has been very successful in winning deals and extending engagements with both new and existing clients.