At OCC we are always looking at ways to improve our social care products to meet our customers’ and users’ needs. As part of the design process, we run a series of sessions with stakeholders* and users**.
Each type of session has different objectives which are described below.
Stakeholders interviews
The aim of stakeholder interviews is to understand the business and features requirements. We aim to get a complete perspective on the requirements, so we talk to representative stakeholders.
These are one-to-one sessions with each stakeholder that we run remotely via a phone call or face-to-face (selecting the most convenient). Each session takes around 30 min.
User interview
The aim of user interviews is to ensure that we understand users’ behaviours, needs, jobs, and goals using the application. This ensures that what we design is easy to use and efficient. Talking to users help us have empathy for people who will be using the application on the day-to-day.
Typically, these sessions are run at the start of the project, ie. before we start the design process.
These are one-to-one sessions with each user that we run remotely via a phone call or face-to-face (selecting the most convenient). Each session takes around 30 min.
Usability testing
The aim of usability testing sessions is to ensure that what we designed is usable and intuitive for users.
These are one-to-one sessions. Each session takes around 30 min. In the session, we give a task to the user and observe them interacting with the website. We take notes of any usability problems, what works and what doesn’t work with the system. The results of this user research inform future design and development of the website.
Footnote: Definition of users and stakeholders
*A user is a person for whom an application has been designed and developed for, ie. a person who actually uses a particular product as part of their day-to-day job. They have no financial investment in the success of the product development.
**A stakeholder is a person who an investment (financial or resourcing) in the product’s success.
More on the definition of users and stakeholders