MeasurePro+

I broke down my approach to the main research on this project into the following phases:

Understanding the problem space & users

Immersion into the product space

To support my research with end users I sought to understand as much as I could about the product space. I achieved this in the following ways:

• Reviewed existing research – A few interviews had previously been conducted with Measure Technicians. I reviewed these and noted any relevant insights.

• Store walk – I walked through a showroom at The Home Depot with my product manager to learn all the parts, materials and features of the Cabinet Makeover product.

• Established a relationship with local Install branch and key MTs – They served as advisors throughout the to answer questions and provide insight into their work environment.

• Legacy MeasurePro walkthrough – Learned the existing process and got an initial understanding of painpoints.

• Participated in meetings with business partners – Learned the structure of the business, stakeholders, and their priorities.

Interviews

I performed 2 rounds of interviews with Measure Technicians, with the following goals:

• Understand how jobs are received, and what other actions MTs and other parties perform before a job is complete

• Understand how MTs use certain features in MeasurePro and current painpoints

These interviews were performed over the phone and had about 5-8 users per round. They provided key insights about MTs' process in MeasurePro, as well as the overall process of a kitchen remodel and where the different tools and people fit in.

Contextual Inquiry

I had the opportunity to participate in a ride-along, where I observed a Measure Technician perform a "measure" in customer home and "enter a job" into MeasurePro at his Install Branch.

A Measure Tech performing a measure in a customer's home

Measure Technician Workshop

I facilitated an in-person 15-person workshop between Measure Technicians from various regions, and the internal Merchant Team. The goal of the business was to work with MTs on determining important details of the product assortment that should be available in MeasurePro+. From a UX research perspective, I was also able to learn more about the product, MT needs, and Merchant needs.

Iterative Testing and Evaluation

UI Design and Usability Testing

As I designed the screens for MeasurePro+ (using Sketch), I planned and executed at least 4 rounds of Usability Testing on interactive prototypes I built. There were 5-8 users per round, and these were conducted in-person as well as remotely.

The usability tests allowed me to iteratively validate new features for MeasurePro+, and yielded further recommendations for changes that would improve usability and understanding.

Understanding the Impact of Changes

Order Form Survey

A key painpoint with MeasurePro was that it had multiple issues that led to it generating inaccurate order forms. Users would then have to manually adjust these, and this caused additional confusion, time, inaccuracies, re-orders, and delays for the customers.

I sent a survey to the entire Measure Technician population (120 users) to document the causes and frequencies of the existing order form issues, and thus understand the impact of the fixes that the newly launched MeasurePro+ was introducing. I was able to show which issues would be resolved by the initial release of MeasurePro+, and the gaps that still existed. This included several issues I had identified during interviews and testing and had made recommendations to address, that the team had decided not to take on due to time constraints.