Leveraging Airtable as a Tool for User Research, Synthesis, and Feature Scoping
Team: Selyne Singh (PM), Lacy Kelly Ramos (UX)
My Role: UX Researcher, UX Strategist
My Role: UX Researcher, UX Strategist
Methods: Stakeholder Engagement, Discovery, Qualitative Data Collection, Correlation, Taxonomy, Synthesis, Reporting
Tools: Airtable, Jira, Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint
Overview
The Center for Enterprise Dissemination and Consumer Innovation (CEDSCI) is a program developing the new primary data dissemination platform for the U.S. Census Bureau. CEDSCI’s work can be seen at data.census.gov and allows users to view data from the American Community Survey, Annual Business Survey, Decennial Census, and more. Teams work closely with data providers and software developers to facilitate building the platform.
As a USDC Fellow, I supported internal and external users of Census data to better access the data they need easily, spending less time searching data and more time using data. My Fellow counterpart Selyne, and I contributed to the development of new functionality and features for the several highly complex products making up the platform.
The Center for Enterprise Dissemination and Consumer Innovation (CEDSCI) is a program developing the new primary data dissemination platform for the U.S. Census Bureau. CEDSCI’s work can be seen at data.census.gov and allows users to view data from the American Community Survey, Annual Business Survey, Decennial Census, and more. Teams work closely with data providers and software developers to facilitate building the platform.
As a USDC Fellow, I supported internal and external users of Census data to better access the data they need easily, spending less time searching data and more time using data. My Fellow counterpart Selyne, and I contributed to the development of new functionality and features for the several highly complex products making up the platform.
Background
In 2014 the process of building data.census.gov (DCG) began to streamline and enhance the user’s experience of finding valuable data. The previous product, American Fact Finder (AFF), was sunset and fully replaced by DCG in Spring 2021. To aid in the development of DCG, Census contracted the help of various outside firms to conduct user research to better understand the AFF user and their challenges with the then-current AFF site, to better direct the development of DCG. A total of eight reports from this effort were presented to the CEDSCI program throughout the years of 2015-2022. The reports gathered user feedback and usability testing results from both AFF and the beta version of DCG.
In 2014 the process of building data.census.gov (DCG) began to streamline and enhance the user’s experience of finding valuable data. The previous product, American Fact Finder (AFF), was sunset and fully replaced by DCG in Spring 2021. To aid in the development of DCG, Census contracted the help of various outside firms to conduct user research to better understand the AFF user and their challenges with the then-current AFF site, to better direct the development of DCG. A total of eight reports from this effort were presented to the CEDSCI program throughout the years of 2015-2022. The reports gathered user feedback and usability testing results from both AFF and the beta version of DCG.
While these reports provided valuable insights that were implemented in bits and pieces across agile workflow cycles, at the end of the day these reports were cataloged away and only periodically referenced by stakeholders. Thus presenting an ongoing gap in knowledge for product owners, UX/UI, and the development teams. Without simplified access to these resources when needed, teams had to rely heavily on the product owner's knowledge of the user.
Hypothesis
If a catalog or repository of user research could be developed, then:
1. Could product teams have easier access to the user research they need, as they need it, giving them more autonomy to build more efficient features quicker?
Hypothesis
If a catalog or repository of user research could be developed, then:
1. Could product teams have easier access to the user research they need, as they need it, giving them more autonomy to build more efficient features quicker?
2. Would quicker access to available user research identify additional, and more specific, user research needed for product work to continue to move the build of DCG forward?
The Solution
The original solution was to parse through all eight reports of previously conducted user research findings, and through the process of affinity diagramming condense the user feedback into common themes and pain points that could then be reported to the product teams.
However, amid this process, a new possibility presented itself. What if we could utilize the Airtable software both as a process of coding and identifying themes but also as a tool; a living repository that could easily return a search result of user feedback about any specific topic or feature of the DCG product?
This would allow for easily searchable access to anyone within the CEDSCI enterprise who is interested in knowing what users have to say about any area of the DCG site. This repository tool via the Airtable software could then support them in product work and the development of new features. It could also potentially modernize the collection of requirements and increase efficiency during the design and prototyping phases of sprints, ideally reducing work time.
The Airtable software proved to be a highly customizable tool for tracking, coding, and filtering user research data. An airtable base was built for the eight historical UXR reports and another Airtable base was created for all user research data from ongoing usability testing. This ongoing usability testing is conducted by an external research team, reporting data for each month of the year.
However, amid this process, a new possibility presented itself. What if we could utilize the Airtable software both as a process of coding and identifying themes but also as a tool; a living repository that could easily return a search result of user feedback about any specific topic or feature of the DCG product?
This would allow for easily searchable access to anyone within the CEDSCI enterprise who is interested in knowing what users have to say about any area of the DCG site. This repository tool via the Airtable software could then support them in product work and the development of new features. It could also potentially modernize the collection of requirements and increase efficiency during the design and prototyping phases of sprints, ideally reducing work time.
The Airtable software proved to be a highly customizable tool for tracking, coding, and filtering user research data. An airtable base was built for the eight historical UXR reports and another Airtable base was created for all user research data from ongoing usability testing. This ongoing usability testing is conducted by an external research team, reporting data for each month of the year.
A guide was then developed within Excel to accompany the Airtable bases which included methodology, code definitions, summaries of user pain points, and identified themes.
The Impact
Results
Initially, these themes were used to confirm that user-identified needs were being incorporated by leadership in the development of the 2023-2024 CEDSCI product roadmap. Since these same themes and identified user pain points could also support feature-level work, they were compiled and shared during UX team calls and with product owners. I also held demonstration calls to show how quickly Airtable could return real user data on any given product topic.
Next Steps
As of Q3 2023, all historical user research from the original eight reports has been fully coded with themes identified. For all of 2022 and some of 2023, user feedback from external usability testing has also been built into an Airtable base with coding begun. As this work continues, below are the suggested next steps to continue to capitalize on its impact.
Results
Initially, these themes were used to confirm that user-identified needs were being incorporated by leadership in the development of the 2023-2024 CEDSCI product roadmap. Since these same themes and identified user pain points could also support feature-level work, they were compiled and shared during UX team calls and with product owners. I also held demonstration calls to show how quickly Airtable could return real user data on any given product topic.
Next Steps
As of Q3 2023, all historical user research from the original eight reports has been fully coded with themes identified. For all of 2022 and some of 2023, user feedback from external usability testing has also been built into an Airtable base with coding begun. As this work continues, below are the suggested next steps to continue to capitalize on its impact.
First, compare the pain points and themes between the historical reports and the 2022-2023 usability testing to identify any overlap in user needs from the former AFF site, the DCG beta site, and the current site as it functions today.
Second, develop a short training course to educate those within the program who require user information but are unfamiliar with the Airtable software. This training can be scheduled live, recorded, and shared, as well as used during monthly Lunch and Learns.
Lastly, work with the UX team to further extrapolate the data from Airtable into additional UX artifacts for the product teams to use. These would include mental models, common user task flows, user journeys, empathy maps, and an executive summary outlining common user challenges across the current site for leadership and product owners.
Second, develop a short training course to educate those within the program who require user information but are unfamiliar with the Airtable software. This training can be scheduled live, recorded, and shared, as well as used during monthly Lunch and Learns.
Lastly, work with the UX team to further extrapolate the data from Airtable into additional UX artifacts for the product teams to use. These would include mental models, common user task flows, user journeys, empathy maps, and an executive summary outlining common user challenges across the current site for leadership and product owners.
