Talk given 3 times: - Jun 2019: JISC Connect More - Aug 2019: Heriot Watt University webinar series (by invitation) - Oct 2019: University of Glasgow User Focused Meetup

1. How to save a million minutes
Kat Husbands, UX Content Specialist
August 2019

2. "If you're not thinking about
the user experience,
you're thinking about the
wrong thing."
Anon

3. How people use websites and browser
based systems
• Tasks and goals
How to save a million minutes
This PhotobyUnknown Author is licensedunder CCBY-NC-ND

4. Data into decisions
➢ Research
➢ Iterate
➢ Test
➢ Repeat

5. Digital Accessibility regulations 2018
• Platforms
• Content
Harmonises usability with accessibility to
reach inclusivity.
It’s the law!

6. Bringing together user needs
and business goals through
research, design and testing.”
Neil Scott
Glasgow-based UX Designer
“
What is UX?
UX Week motto

7. • Start where you are
• Start small & iterate
• Shout about it
Where to start?
Can we save a
million minutes?

8. 5,000 staff
1 task taking 5mins
longer than it needs to
40 times a year
1 million minutes
a year wasted
The huge impact of small fixes…

9. £542,894
1 million
staff minutes
Staff time = money
10.8 FTE years

10. Student time = reputation
3.5 Honours
degrees
1 million
student minutes Not sure yet…

11. Case study 1 of 3
Student printing pages

12. Stakeholder research
• Top-3 problem area
• Unclear content
Analytics
• IA problems
• Layout problems
Student printing: before

13. ✓ Rewritten content
performs well in user
testing
✓ Happier heatmap
✓ Pageviews down 13%
Student printing: after

14. Student printing: what next?
• Nov 2018: more in-depth testing
• Problems with macOS set-up
• Funds to develop new client, with UX team
involved from the start
• Content revisions from IT Helpdesk
• Keep testing and iterating…
7th of 12 screens 😱

15. Case study 2 of 3
MyGlasgow Staff homepage

16. 311 staff chose their
top 5 most important
tasks from 2 long lists
MyGlasgow Staff homepage: Top Tasks survey
Web tasks Logged-in tasks
Top tasks
top 25% of the vote
1. MyGlasgow Portal login
2. Staff details
3. Policies & procedures
1. Annual leave
2. Payslips
Medium tasks
next 25%
4. Contact details for a unit
5. Dates
6. Job vacancies
7. MyGlasgow News
8. Maps
9. Salary scales
10.Room finder
11.User guides
3. Report a fault or
request a job
4. WebMail
5. Room bookings
Small tasks
next 25%
14 tasks 5 tasks
Tiny tasks
bottom 25%
47 tasks 13 tasks

17. Top tasks
Medium tasks
Small tasks
Tiny tasks
MyGlasgow Staff homepage: before and after

18. MyGlasgow Staff homepage: impact of new design
✓ Pageviews up 7%
✓ Entrances up 22%
✓ Average time on page down 4 seconds
Google Analytics data
1 Apr 2018 - 31 March 2019
compared to same period in previousyear
1.1 FTEs
100,793
minutes £54,792

19. MyGlasgow Staff homepage: what next?
• Keep shouting about it
• Keep testing and iterating…

20. Case study 3 of 3
Moodle upgrades

21. April 2018
• TouchstoneTours with 8 students
• Review of related research
• Workshop with key staff
July 2018
• 21 recommendations
• 7 implemented in upgrade
55%
Agree
43.9%
33.3%
Neutral
37.3%
11.7%
Disagree
18.8%
2018-19
2017-18
Jisc survey: I can easily find things on the VLE
Moodle upgrade 2018

22. Moodle upgrade 2019
December 2018
• Cross-College TELT staff
defined 4 key areas
• VLE Dev Board gave us
remit to improve UX of
navigating Moodle
January 2019
• Research budget!
• TouchstoneTours with 7
studentsand 4 staff
• First UX sessions with
observers
March-May 2019
• 16 technical recommendations
• 11 to be implemented so far
• 4 best practice recommendations

23. Moodle upgrade 2019: what next?
• Sharing best practice recommendations
• First structured UAT - script includes UX changes
• Upgrade in July
• Keep testing and iterating…

24. 2017
Unrecognised
UX is not understood or not considered important
Interested
UX is considered valuable but gets little attention or resources
Considered
UX is sometimes prioritized and gets ad-hoc funding
Committed
UX is critical & formalised; executives actively involved
Engaged
UX is one of the pillars of strategy
Embedded
UX is a core part of company culture
1
0
3
2
5
4
The stages of UX maturity

25. Committed
Executives actively involved…
April 2018
UX Research Intern hired: UofG’s first
official UX role
Interested
UX is considered valuable…
July 2018
AssistantVP (Digital Education) calls our work “a
sea-change in the way ITS approaches Moodle”
Committed
Executives actively involved…
August 2018
UX Framework launched
November 2017
UofG UX project gets 9 months of funding
from USLT Innovation Fund
Considered
UX gets ad-hoc funding…
Making progress on UX maturity

26. September 2018
Director of IT Services says they’ll
“embed UX practices at every level”
Committed
Executives actively involved…
October 2018
Start of regular UX consultationson new Service
Management Platform (ESMP)
Interested
UX is considered valuable…
November 2018
First permanent UX role created
Committed
UX is formalized…
Interested
UX is considered valuable…
December 2018
Cross-College TELT staff get together for first
time in 5 years…for a UX workshop

27. February 2019
ESMP developer directly involved in usability
testing
Interested
UX is considered valuable…
Considered
UX gets ad-hoc funding…
January 2019
Funded research into Moodle navigation
begins
Interested
UX is considered valuable…
April 2019
ESMP accessibility testing with disabled students
December 2018
VLE Dev Board gives us remit to “improve
the UX of navigating Moodle”
Committed
Executives actively involved…

28. Unrecognised
UX is not understood or not considered important
Interested
UX is considered valuable but gets little attention or resources
Considered
UX is sometimes prioritized and gets ad-hoc funding
Committed
UX is critical & formalised; executives actively involved
Engaged
UX is one of the pillars of strategy
Embedded
UX is a core part of company culture
1
0
3
2
5
4
2017
2019
The stages of UX maturity

29. • Start where you are
Doing any user research is better than doing none Paul Boag
• Start small & iterate
Why you only need to test with 5 users Jakob Nielsen
Minimum Viable Ethnography Erika Hall
• Shout about it
UofG UX blog
UX Framework
So how do you save a million minutes?
How to save a
million minutes

30. Thank you! Questions?
Kat.Husbands@glasgow.ac.uk
@KatHusbands