Maeve Catherine

Change is scary for most people however if done correctly it can be for the better.

Through previous posts I have introduced ways to connect with users in order to identify what problems and goals they have with a service or product. Lets learn how to present these problems in a professional matter.

Problem Statements

To create a problem statement start with empathy methods, such as empathy maps, break up letter or beginner’s mindset, to gain insights into the users experiences. With these defined feelings and opinions a UX Designer can write problem statements using this sentence structure:

________ is a challenge for ________ because ________.

The show Undercover Boss does a great job of displaying a boss defining issues and gaining a employees perspective on the workplace’s issues. For example, in season 2 episode 1 Terry Davis goes undercover in the Home Hardware facilities with hopes to improve employee and customer experience. Based on feedback from five employees of different expertise Terry proposed changes to the companies board of directors. Below are five problem statements that I, as a viewer, was able to define and provide context for if I wanted to propose change to Home Hardware’s board of directors.

1. Taking care of every customer is a challenge for Larry because he is the only employee in the plumbing department. While Terry Davis was working with Larry in store, he watched the amount of multitasking Larry was doing in one shift and struggled to do it himself when put to the test.
2. Stocking shelves is a challenge for new employees because they may not be knowledgeable about the specific products they are putting away. Larry had to fix Terry’s stocking work because Larry had put products into the incorrect bin which can ultimately result in customers buying the wrong product.
3. Accounting for specific products in the warehouse is a challenge for employees in the manufacturer department because there is no organization throughout the building. Maida tasked Terry with counting the amount of product that was stored on one pallet and the first problem they faced was finding the palette than secondly counting the total amount of product was difficult because pallets of other product are too close.
4. Collecting products for each store is difficult for the distribution Centre pickers because one misread number can cost the company time and money because of the return and restocking process. The process in place involves a two-person team, one caller and one picker, however in many cases the two jobs are done by one person to save time. The caller says the product id out loud while the pickers look for the product that matches the read id. If one number is read or heard wrong but shipped to a store there are further expenses for the company.
5. Delivering materials to a job site is a challenge for unprepared employees because the heavy and delicate product can cause a lot of injuries. Terry Davis was taught the techniques to delivering drywall and insulation but struggled to keep up with the weight and pace of the work. 

I encourage you, as a UX Design beginner to do this activity with a different episode of Undercover Boss as a way to become familiar with the creating problem statements.

The good, the bad, and the in between.

Point of view (POV) statements are another method of defining problems users are facing when trying to achieve their goals. A POV Statement is very similar to a problem statement but the sentence format is different. According to Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang, “A Point Of view (POV) is a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which will allow you to ideate in a goal-oriented manner. Your POV captures your design vision by defining the RIGHT challenge to address in the ideation sessions”. The goal of the statement is to define your user, what they need and why they need it. This actionable problem statement should be structure as so:

(Description of user) needs (action) because (compelling reason).

In continuation of researching user experience on book tracking apps I have created two POV statements for three book focused apps: Goodreads, Fable and The StoryGraph. The easiest way to hear from users are through reviews and Apple’s app store rating system makes finding user’s opinions easy. To begin I started by gathering 3 good reviews, 3 bad reviews and 2 suggestive reviews for each app. Identifying best features and biggest concerns of the reviews helped me created two POV statements for each app.

Goodreads

1. Users who looking for new books need to be able to accurately track and see books they’ve read because its difficult to remember all the books they’ve read and receive good recommendations.
2. Users who want to keep up to date with their friends reading habits need to be able to easily find the profiles and groups they’ve joined, on the app, because it’s frustrating to be out of the loop in conversations.

Fable

1. Users who enjoy talking about stories need an app with an engaged and inviting community because it can help people feel heard and understood.
2. Users who are motivated by lists and visual representations need the ability to adjust the how and when they track their progress because inaccurate data can be frustrating.

The StoryGraph

1. Users who wish to start using a new book tracking app need to be able to easily transfer data from different sites because manually inputing it can be time consuming and overall inconvenient.
2. Users who enjoy tracking their reading progress need an app with accurate and readable graphs and charts because it could be the motivation they need to pick up their next book.

Read my analysis of user’s perspectives of each app below: