Enhancing Production Quality through Automation and Data-Driven Insights
CLIENT
Lundbeck, Feb – Jun 2021
MY ROLE
Epic owner & UX designer: Agile development user research, user experience design, user interface, usability tests
Challenge
Lundbeck had a lot of time-intensive manual processes and sought help in automating them. They aimed to shift from reacting to production limits to proactively managing them, driving better outcomes while minimizing costs.
The solution
The tool was developed in an agile setup with a close collaboration with users to ensure that the solution would match their actual needs and would provide value to their everyday work. This tool offered real-time insights into production and product performance, aiding in identifying potential issues and trends. Users could view a comprehensive overview or explore specific products.
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For any interest in a more detailed walk-through of the process, please read along.
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Engaging stakeholders and users
To engage effectively, we categorized stakeholders into groups based on their roles and involvement. This clear structure ensured everyone had the necessary information and remained aligned.
We divided them into four categories.
SHOW CONCERN​
Detailed understanding of the impact and how to work the system. Should feel motivated to use the tool.​ These were primarily end-users that I involved in all stages in the process to make sure they felt that it wasn't just another typical system that were told to use, but instead a collaborative process where there input and feedback highly influenced our decisions.
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KEY PLAYERS​
Detailed knowledge, actively involved in defining the project, and used as ambassadors to share key messages and motivate others. This group was meant for managers that will get their teams work processes and effectiveness changed based on the project.
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MEET THEIR NEEDS​
General knowledge to support project. Should feel comfortable with overall project progress. These stakeholders has high influence on the project and what directions we should move in, often based on what use cases has the highest value drivers.
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KEEP INFORMED​
Basic understanding of why the project is needed. Be aware of where to find information etc. This group is interested in knowing what projects are kickstarted and can bring ideas on the table if relevant, otherwise they are not deeply involved in the project.
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User-centric approach
As we were 10 people working on the project and a lot of stakeholders attached as well, it was important to share some insight on what kind of users we were designing for. Therefore I created personas to streamline communication and guided the development decisions, maintaining focus throughout the project. Even though I conducted the interviews, it was important to keep everyone in a loop and make everyone contribute through a deep understanding of the end-users. As we added more and more functionality to the tool, these personas was a great reminder of how we needed to prioritize.
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Conceptualizing and planning
After gathering insights, we utilized pen and paper to sketch potential solutions and map out user flows, ensuring a clear blueprint for the tool's design.
Development and iteration
Our digital mockups targeted essential user needs, prioritizing features for a minimum viable product. Iterative development cycles integrated user feedback, refining the tool's functionality and usability.
User testing and refinement
At this point in the process we wanted to observe the users interact with the tool in realistic scenarios.
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I prepared a test sheet with specific tasks I wanted the users to perform. I noted the task, the goal of the task, and rated if the task was a completed with no difficulties, completed but with difficulties, or not completed. When the test begins I would ask one task a time. When I spot that either the task takes (1) too long to complete, (2) can't complete it or (2) gets stuck somewhere, I note all this down, prioritize it and hand it over to the developers (with a redesign if needed).
This feedback drove a lot of refinements, ensuring a user-friendly experience for the first MVP launch.
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By embracing automation and data-driven insights, Lundbeck optimized their production processes, enhancing product quality while reducing costs.