At Autodesk I was responsible for conducting user research on update notifications and highlighting new tools in AutoCAD, Autodesk’s flagship product. In addition to creating and analyzing surveys and remote usability tests, I was charged with conducting one-on-one in-depth interviews with customers to better understand their needs.
After the interviews were completed, I organized my findings into an affinity diagram with intersecting topic areas. Each post-it represents an insight and is color coded using the Rose, Bud, Thorn Technique. Green = current software strength, yellow = opportunity area and red = criticism. Orange post-its represent topic areas.
Upon finished the affinity diagram, I broke down customer feedback into prospective features, and presented them to my colleagues. I then had them gather around a board with four quadrants. One axis represented level of difficulty, the other importance. My coworkers then proceeded to take post-its with features written on them and debated where on the matrix they should be placed. In the end, we had a board that categorized all feature opportunities into quick wins, major projects, hard slogs and fill-ins.