I am happy to report surviving another Global Service Jam. So what is global service jam? Is it some sort of cook off? Are you making jam? What does service have to do with it?
The Global Service Jam is a non-profit volunteer activity organized by an informal network of service design afficinados, who all share a common passion for growing the field of service design and customer experience.
The website goes on the say
As a participant in the Global service jam, you will work through a whole design process in one weekend. Whether you are experienced or completely new to the field, you won’t just be talking about service design, you will be working with others on developing concrete ideas and designs which could become real.
Furthermore:
You will learn more about a design-based approach to problems, and about sustainability.
You will pick up a load of new ideas and work practices.
You will meet a lot of cool people at all levels of experience.
Your work and ideas will be reviewed by your peers, and presented to the world, where they can be seen by potential customers or employers, or people who could make them real.
You will design something that may become a real business.
You might get rich and famous.
You will certainly have a blast.
Working on a storyboard with team members, Jennifer Blatz, UX Designer, attended Global Service Jam in Los Angeles.
And have a blast I did! It is exhilarating, exhausting, energizing and exciting. I get to participate in activities I don’t normally get to at work. I get to collaborate with complete strangers, who become friends through a weekend of intense team work. I get to flex some UX muscle, and keep skills sharp. I get to explore new ideas and learn about new skills like Service Design Blueprint and Business Modal Canvas. I know it might seem crazy to give up an entire weekend for an activity like this. But I think it is fun and I am always up for a challenge.
Today, I attended my third WIAD or World Information Architecture Day, established by IAI Information Architect Institute. A couple of years ago, I acted as Project Manager for Los Angeles’ WIAD. So ai map to see that the torch has been carried and this event is back in the Los Angeles community. It’s a great opportunity to hear some of the industry’s well regarded IA experts, to meet other great people in the field, and hopefully to get fired up and inspired. What is WIAD? According to the website:
World Information Architecture Day 2016 is a one-day annual celebration of this phenomenon. Hosted in dozens of locations across the world by local organizers on February 20th, we focus on telling stories of information being architected by everyone from teachers to business owners; technologists to artists; designers to product managers.
With representation from all over the world, we believe that the power of similarity and the beauty of difference between stories will inspire those who work in information architecture, as well as those who may be new to it. We aim to teach, share, and have fun — all through the lens of Information Architecture (IA).
I would like to share some of my notes and highlights from today’s fabulous event.
If you’ve ever wondered where you are on a website, than that is an issue of IA.
An aspect of “play studio” is to pick a behavior and design for it.
Shift from a designer to a facilitator.
Research is becoming more collaborative.
Design work is not precious. So it’s good to work on low fidelity objects to keep that true.
Design work is not about ornamentation, it is about implmentation.
Think about creative solutions rather than what requirements are supposed to be delivered.
Designers need to be more collaborative and not worry about people (who are not designers) stepping on their toes and entering their “craft.”
Put the work out early to get user feedback, knowing it is an iterative process.
Try creating ad hoc personas when you don’ have time to create full-fledged personas.
Know your audience. This is so often forgotten. Keep in mind what your user’s current needs and behaviors are. Don’t lose site of who you are designing for.
Know when it is appropriate to work with an established design pattern and not reinvent the wheel.
Take the information you have gathered in research and shake things up when you need something different.
WIAD World Information Architecture Day Los Angeles 2016.
Some corporations appreciate hiring people who will rock the boat and provide a diverse outlook to the company. Get hired to make a change in the corporate structure as well as the product that you will build.
Some companies will avoid innovation because of risk. This leads to fast following.
Tell the story | Develop the culture | Be the voice of the customer.
Innovation requires atriculation.
When you work on a design solution, what will people think, feel, do and become?
UX designers have great skills like: inter-discipline, like people, empathy and listen to others.
Think like a founder, not a designer.
Designers inherit problems, founders define them.
Design THE business, not for it.
Do you expect the world to anticipate your needs? Because you should.
The problem you have been given is not the right problem. Discover the right problem.
Every designer should have some skill in leadership.
What motivates a designer is a frustration with the world and a desire to improve it.
As a designer, you see something better.
Consider delivery mechanisms that extend your core experience.
Leverage what people love, address what they don’t.
Complexity is not the problem
Ambiguity is
Simplicity does not solve ambiguity
Clarity does
Understanding how users work in their natural environment will provide great insight in to your research.
Simply put, I love ethnographic research. I mean it when I say that this form of user research is probably the most valuable way to gain insight on your users and your product. And, unfortunately, it is far too often overlooked as time consuming or simply viewed as a waste of time. I could not disagree more!
First let’s define the term. According to Wikipedia, ethnography is:
The systematic study of people and cultures. It is designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study.
So how does this apply to UX and research? By observing your users in their natural habitat, you get exceedingly more information and context about their real world.
The benefits of ethnographic research for me include:
You see users use your product in a natural way, not in a fabricated lab setting
It provides context to their environment
You see things that you would never discover with a phone call or what the suer just tells you
You discover that what users say they do, and what they really do can often differ greatly
You see first hand the pain points that users are not aware that they have
You can observe true behaviors
You notice the environmental factors, like interruptions from c0-workers, slowness of equipment, and other physical attributes that affect the user
You have the opportunity to ask questions, on the spot, as circumstances arise
You can record aspects of the environment by taking photographs and video that could not be done remotely
You can establish a better rapport with your users
You can observe the entire context of the working environment, across rooms, buildings, people and other circumstances
It provides impromptu “bitch sessions” that the user would probably not normally share
It allows the user to feel like he/she is being heard
It allows you to be an “eye” for the other team members who are not able to view the user’s world
It gives the UX designer the best opportunity to really empathize with the user, by seeing how their work or life really is
Hopefully my reasons have given you enough understanding and reasoning to do your own ethnographic research. If you have your stories to share about ethnographic research, please do so in the comments.
I am working on a project that enhancing the EMR (electronic medical records) where I work. We are creating a feature that will help doctors quickly build their medical plan and add items to the order (or list of items to charge the client). This feature, called a virtual travel sheet, will greatly increase the doctor’s satisfaction by making data entry easier, faster and will hopefully create a pleasant data entry experience with minimal typing. Doctors are familiar with the concept of a travel sheet. Many of them still use them in their hospitals to this day. Integrating a familiar paradigm in to the computer software used in the hospital should be greeted with delight.
What does a travel sheet look like? See the image below:
Travel sheets may not be the prettiest thing to look at. But they have a strong function in the medical field when assessing patients.
I am writing the requirements and basic understanding of what the Virtual Travel Sheet (VTS) will do so that developers, QA, project managers and any other team players will understand the scope and expectations of the project. This is just a first draft.
Overview
The virtual travel sheet (VTS) will allow users to:
Easily enter items in to the plan without having to type in free text (so easy that it is preferable)
Easily enter items in to the plan without knowing any codes
Transfer/translate the items in my plan to an order
Transfer/translate the items in my plan to an estimate
See my plan built in real time
Create estimates (treatment plans) for items or services for the future
Include exams, vaccines, medications, injections, medical services, lab, imaging, etc.
Present items based on type of visit (outpatient, inpatient (hospitalized), boarding/grooming and retail products)
Filter out codes that don’t apply to the patient by species, age, weight, sex, altered status)
Present active, commonly used items (per hospital) as used per species
Allow for search
Ability to link to concerns
Display recent estimates for this patient
Typical users would be
Doctors writing their medical note
Technicians entering in items for the doctor in to his/her medical plan
Technicians entering in charges to the order
Access
Small tab to the right of the screen where user can “side open from left to right” the VTS.
This allows the user’s work not to be interrupted.
They can slide this open, and add items to today’s Medical plan or create an estimate.
All actions will be saved automatically.
The user can then just “slide” the window closed again and continue working on the lower/bottom/previous screen they were on before the opened the VTS.
Available travel sheets
Outpatient
Inpatient
Surgery
Medications
Specialty
Boarding & Grooming
Retail products
Filters applied to the VTS (can be turned off on the patient by the user)
Species
Sex
Age
Weight
Altered (y/n)
CareClub enrollment
The travel sheet will provide the user a condensed listing of codes based on
Filters that have automatically been applied
Available codes/catalog items for that hospital
Most commonly used codes by VCA
Most commonly used codes by that hospital
User favorites (second iteration)
Templates applied to plan
Jennifer Blatz explores the world of UX through words and imagery
