Discovery Product Research -
Understanding our Health Care Leaders

Context

In my role on our health care user team, I led a discovery research initiative aimed to better understand our health care leaders’ needs, challenges and opportunities to support other users.

Leaders, while not directly patient-facing, are akin the to air traffic control to ensure we meet care delivery needs, for example: they are addressing high-priority responsibilities to assure we are staffed appropriately.

The Product team needed a more systematic approach to better understand users and inform the product roadmap.

Research Aims & Methodology

I worked closely with the health care leaders, Product Management and Design to scope the research and better understand user needs.

Sample research questions:

• What are the health care leaders’ key responsibilities?

• What information are the most important?

• Who are the leaders supporting and interacting with?

• What, if any, existing tools are used, even as workarounds?

I led 10 user interviews across job levels, from front line managers to VPs, to deep dive into these topics. I chose to facilitate open-ended interviews for these discovery questions as we didn’t want to confine the results.

Analysis & Synthesis Process

To rapidly synthesize these findings, I leveraged the Indi Young toolbox to develop clear statements and synthesized data with the team.

I focused findings in an organized fashion to help audiences, particularly folks in Engineering, to “peek behind the curtain” and truly understand leaders and the team.

Recommendations & Future Directions

I shared learnings in an iterative fashion, starting with Product, then the next rung of close partners, including the direct participants and user groups. Recommendations were shared in the users’ needs and challenges. Other outputs included:

• A user journey map highlighting key tasks, milestones and responsibilities

• Summaries via tables or maps highlighting key information, ex: 15+ tools with the what / why each are utilized

I then shared learnings among larger groups such as our open-audience “UX Research Monthly” to continue socializing the learnings. This audience includes common partners across Product and Tech teams, even Legal and Marketing teams, to further inform teams across the company of the value of research.

Later, this research was a key input into new Jobs-To-Be-Done exercises, including a new miro board with user journeys.

Reflections

This research initiative was valuable and posed some tricky moments in the employee-as-the-user space. This research built new in-roads in cross-functional relationships via getting leadership buy-in.

This work also reinforced how a smaller user group can have a large reach and impact on other key users and processes. For example, while provider users deliver care, clinical leaders and their teams play key roles in the patient care journey.

Further, with the iterative and continued socializing, I took the chance to experiment with new storytelling approaches.

Stakeholder Testimonial - Product Design Senior Manager

“What sets Christina apart is her ability to connect with users on a deeper level. She doesn’t just conduct research; she builds rapport and creates an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their experiences. Her skill in moderating sessions with empathy ensures that we receive rich, meaningful insights that drive real impact.

Christina has a remarkable ability to bring key individuals together and create a space in which they feel at ease opening up. Her facilitation encourages collaboration and fosters meaningful discussions, greatly enhancing the overall effectiveness of the sessions. Christina is also open to feedback and adapts quickly, making her a fantastic partner in the iterative design process.”