Mapping
How do you decide what to build?
It's not only important to create good designs, but we also must decide what needs to be designed that would be most beneficial to our users. To accomplish this, I like to create user and journey maps to help show where there are gaps are in their workflows.
Map the flows.
After interviewing and observing our users, I map their flows, the customers’ flows, and system flows. Depending on what our own business goals are determines the type of map I use. In some cases, we might want to take a very detailed look at a process across multiple users. In others, a high-level flow may be enough to see where the most opportunity lies.
Find the gaps.
Once the maps are created, I can start digging into gaps. Where are manual processes that could be included in the software? Where are duplicate actions? Are there opportunities for simplifying the process?
Validate with users and stakeholders.
After discovering the opportunities, I quickly move to validate our ideas. Occasionally this can be done with user surveys, but often times I will create quick, lo-fi prototypes to get ideas in front of users and stakeholders to make sure we are on the correct path.
