Creating a lean solution for life science researchers during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
MY ROLE
INITIATOR & FACILITATOR
PRODUCT STRATEGIST
OVERVIEW
The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus had resulted in numerous deaths and a global halt to everyday life. In mid-March 2020, when COVID-19 reached 270,000+ cases globally, most of us started working from home to follow social distancing. Simultaneously, immense pressure began overwhelming the healthcare personnel and researchers involved in pandemic relief efforts.
As a user experience designer of a life science database product, we resolved to identify and address key challenges in combating the pandemic. We identified problems, ideated and deployed a lean iterative solution in 14 days.
APPROACH
Day 1-2
SECONDARY RESEARCH
With major disruptions in the behaviour of our primary user group we resorted to Secondary research to better understand how they were responding to the situation as it evolved. We selected and analysed multiple news and research published by reliable sources.
In the research process, it was critical that two roles - product manager and UX designer, worked closely and conducted the complementary tasks of understanding user needs and Springer Nature’s current offering.
We identified gaps between the user needs and our current product, which we then translated into problem statements.
Day 3
DEFINING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
We culled an initially large problem statement list by checking our database. Feasibility checks at this stage deviated from an ideal product development workflow but we had to acknowledge the situation’s urgency.
One of the main problem in COVID-19 detection was the inability to test large numbers of individuals because:
Labs were facing reagent/kits supply shortages
Detailed and readily available information on diagnosis techniques and methodology was scarce
Day 4
COLLABORATIVE IDEATION
To gather all the best ideas, I facilitated a virtual brainstorming workshop. I divided the team into two groups with each one having a mix of roles (UX, business, engineering). While running the workshop -
I didn’t consider time or effort-based constraints just yet since we wanted to focus on user needs irrespective of their function in the team.
Emphasised that ideas are assumptions that might add value to the user; we should not get attached to them. This helped set an unbiased perspective within the entire team.
Ideation workshop
The enthusiastic team (image blurred to maintain confidentiality)
Day 5-6
PRIORITISATION AND SELECTION
Prioritisation framework
Since we generated multiple ideas and plausible methods to address the problems, we regrouped to distill our direction.
With immediacy as a prerequisite, we prioritised based on user impact and dependencies.
The team moved ahead with ideas that showed high confidence due to evidence (prior research or market reports).
Day 5-14
DELIVERING THE FIRST ITERATION
Next, focused on sketching out the user journey, prototyping and gathering content. We developed the interface in 5 days.
We also decided the success metrics and methods to collect user feedback.
Screen-flow to align with the designed user journey
THE OUTCOME
Our solution, Coronavirus Detection – Protocol Overviews, went live on 15 April 2020.
The solution became the most viewed page on the platform for 2020. 84% of users find the new solution useful. Additional feedback has indicated that the new solution has made it easier for our users to find the information they need.
Internal Impact
The solution became a process case study which was appreciated by the key product stakeholders. It became the foundation of operational changes that were brought into the product team to become leaner and take evidence based decisions.
LEARNINGS
As a user-experience designer and product manager, our main learning from the process is that our individual roles, each with their unique expertise, critically complement each other. Our collaboration in the initial phase helped to bring fluidity to the process and make goal-setting an enriching dialogue between all product stakeholders.
Although active collaboration has led to many solutions previously, “Coronavirus Detection – Protocol Overviews” is special to us because of the urgent (pandemic) challenges, our learnings, and the fact that we deployed it in less than 15 days. As a team, we set a milestone for ourselves and are also proud to contribute to the global pandemic relief work.