AAT Qualifications
The challenge.
To create finance qualifications relevant for modern accounting practices which can be delivered via both online learning and face-to-face in public colleges.
The background.
As part of the design and consultation process for the development of AAT’s new accounting qualifications I have been involved with designing a survey and conducting user interviews. This process involved collating and synthesising 25 user interviews based on early product specs with the aim of understanding users potential pain points, concerns and feedback. I provided input into the initial consultation survey design, this was then used as a screener to support follow up interviews with training providers, employers and publishers.
My role.
My role then involved writing the scripts for the phone interviews, working with other product managers and our insight team to conduct the interviews. I undertook 6 interviews myself. My confidence increased as I conducted more interviews, learning to speak less and delve deeper into the answers provided.
Discovery.
I used the ‘five why’s’ method to try and get to the absolute pain point or observation. For example when speaking with a training provider about the practical implications of delivering the new qualification content I got this initial response:
“We’ll find this extremely difficult to deliver to students”
I continued to ask why and got more information:
“We have limited access to computer rooms and therefore embedding computerised accounting across all units will make it almost impossible to teach”
I was able to get even more information by remaining quiet and letting the person continue:
“There is a degree of uncertainty in the time needed to teach, practice and test each element of computerised accounting if this is spread throughout the year. If it is contained within one unit we can plan more clearly and block book access to the computers”
This additional insight has allowed us to reconsider the needs of the training providers and their ability to deliver the proposed qualification. The content has been refined and a computerised accounting unit included.
Following these interviews I gathered the transcripts/notes and categorised the key themes, noting the frequency against each emerging theme.
This has then been used a basis for a discussion with the product team. I lead the workshop that considered the frequency and impact of each theme, using the session to ideate potential solutions to the key themes / pain points that were identified. Ideas were then discussed in the context of user experience, resource, budget and time. Where practical we are planning to test competing ideas with users.
Lessons learnt.
Research.
Given the time constraints on the project and my initial relative inexperience in design research I only undertook a few user interviews. If I were to do this again I would certainly look to get a wider range of views, expanding my understanding an empathy and creating a clearer understanding of the problem I am trying to solve. Since starting this project my experience in user research has increased significantly with mentoring from user researchers and practical application in further design and product research.
Ideation.
I learnt a considerable amount throughout this project, specifically about design principles and using various design software (Sketch, Principle, InVision and InVision Studio). If I were to do this again I would have created a mood board and had a clearer understanding of the design language before starting any sketching. This would focus my designs early on and avoid the later changes I needed make to improve the UI and usability. I would also then spend more time paper sketching producing and dismissing ideas and then moving into more mid-fidelity wireframes for further ideation and testing.