Revamping the Experience: A Journey of Discovery and Innovation
Dive into a snapshot of my process for enhancing products and services. Through strategic analysis and precise problem-solving, discover how I uncovered valuable insights about an existing, disconnected experience, guiding decisions on whether to refine, remodel, or rebuild.
01
Target Personas and Journey Mapping
Understanding the target users is paramount. In our case, after 35 years in the education industry, it was evident that Reading Horizon’s products required a high level of expertise from teachers to be effectively utilized. To address this, we created a persona—Late Majority Lori, representing teachers less confident with technology. We also delved into the holistic journey of teachers, mapping out the entire customer lifecycle to identify breakdowns and opportunities for improvement.
02
Challenging Assumptions with Observations and Interviews
Embarking on a transformative journey, I ventured into twenty school districts and hundreds of classrooms across the nation to validate our assumptions, gain insights into educators' beliefs and behaviors, and witness firsthand the realities of teaching. Through observations, interviews, and candid conversations with teachers and administrators, I delved deep into the daily rhythms of education. Each interaction offered a unique glimpse into the diverse landscape of our customers.
03
Market Research and Portfolio Performance
Grounded in real-world insights, our journey continued with a deep dive into market research and portfolio performance analysis. Armed with a nuanced understanding of educators' needs and preferences, we explored market trends and evaluated the performance of existing products. This data-driven approach enabled us to identify gaps and opportunities within our portfolio, laying the groundwork for strategic decision-making.
04
Prioritizing Problems
With a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by educators, we initiated the crucial task of prioritizing problems. Drawing upon insights gathered from field research, observations, and market analysis, we identified key pain points, their pervasiveness, and opportunities for improvement. Through rigorous analysis and strategic thinking, we honed in on nine key problems that were uniquely ours to solve for our target persona, Late Majority Lori.
05
Strategy in Action: Objectives and Key Results
To operationalize the vision, we translated the experience brief into actionable objectives and key results (OKRs). Each problem area identified was meticulously analyzed and broken down into specific deliverables. Product briefs were crafted for each problem set, outlining clear objectives and metrics for success. These documents served as our roadmap, guiding our efforts as we navigated the complex landscape of product development.
06
Prototyping and Iteration: Bringing Ideas to Life
With objectives in hand, we began the prototyping phase, bringing our ideas to life. Cross-functional Product Experience Teams (PXTs) were formed, comprising engineers, designers, product managers, ux researchers, and subject matter experts. Together, we collaborated closely to evaluate prototypes, gather feedback from users, and iterate on our designs. This iterative process allowed us to refine our solutions, ensuring they were valuable, usable, feasible, and viable.
07
Refining the Journey: The Teacher Instructional Cycle
As prototypes evolved, so too did our understanding of the future customer journey. After extensive debate and alignment, I led the creation of the "teacher instructional cycle," a framework that informed how educators would interact with our solution on a daily basis. This cycle streamlined daily preparation, classroom instruction, student assessment, and decision-making, empowering teachers with actionable insights to drive mastery-based progression.
08
Putting the Solutions to the Test
After months of rigorous research, strategic planning, and prototyping, the time had come to put our solutions to the test. Armed with functional prototypes and a deep understanding of our users' needs, we set up a comprehensive evaluation process to assess the usability, feasibility, viability, and value of our new product.
In five teacher classrooms, we conducted a real-world test, allowing educators to use the holistic product over a two-day period. Key team members were present to observe and gather insights, ensuring that every aspect of the user experience was thoroughly evaluated.
The results of the test were promising. While the basic premise of the solution proved effective, we also identified areas for improvement and uncovered new challenges and questions that needed to be addressed.
09
Conclusion: The Rebuild
Drawing upon the best practices and insights gleaned from implementations across the country, we set out to rebuild Reading Horizons Discovery. We repackaged and redelivered our solutions, incorporating feedback from every step of the process to ensure that our product not only met the needs and expectations of our users - it exceeded them and disrupted the market.
However, this marked only the first major milestone in our journey. To release a fully-fledged solution that effectively addressed the identified customer problems, we recognized the need for a larger-scale trial with a broader audience: the Alpha Test. This pivotal phase would allow for fine-tuning based on real-world usage, paving the way for a successful product launch and making waves in the education technology landscape.