Users, Usecases, & Competitor Discovery
fda food safety modernization act - food traceability list dashboard
The below study represents my own POV, and does not represent or indicate IBM's current or future product and business direction.
Participant details, key takeaways, revenue/metrics, and other confidential information have been redacted below for public preview.
US FDA Food Safety Modernization Act's upcoming update to Food Traceability List requirements meant clients were suddenly grappling with having to track the provenance of many more food items & produce.
With the integration of IBM Transparent Supply's blockchain capabilities to SCIS, I led the initial discovery research in shaping existing & new features around real user challenges.
With the integration of IBM Transparent Supply's blockchain capabilities to SCIS, I led the initial discovery research in shaping existing & new features around real user challenges.
4 initial key usecases were identified as a result of moderated interviews, feature proposals, and technical gap analysis with developer SMEs. These usecases leveraged a breadth of SCIS capabilities, for multiple in-demand features.
Feature & usecase proposals were placed in competitor UI/UX context, with a detailed breakdown of two emerging competitors + other notable mentions.
User sentiments were mapped to competitor feature strengths, with potential vulnerabilities highlighted for comparison with our own SCIS solution.
Research needs' depth and breadth were balanced with stakeholder timelines, with targeted updates on recent competitor advancements & threats.
"how does an organisation's structure influence the delineation of tasks between strategic & operational roles?
"Who are the users that will take on the burden of new fda compliance needs?"
"what usecases might scis be well-positioned to support for these users, to further develop further market traction?"
INITIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS
"JOSH'S RESEARCH ON FDA IS AMAZING...THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED TO MAKE BETTER BUSINESS DECISIONS."
FMR. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, IBM AI APPLICATIONS
"[JOSH'S] ABILITY TO FIND SUCH HELPFUL INTERVIEWEES...proves the value of respondent to me."
PROGRAM DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
"i THINK THE MURAL SHOULD BE CONTINOUSLY REFERENCED AS IT HELPS US UNDERSTAND HOW EACH ROLE AFFECTS EACH OTHER AND AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN...A HIGHLIGHT REEL ACROSS MULTIPLE INTERVIEWS."
SCIS DESIGN LEAD
[Role]
researcher // designer
[research team]
solo
[proj. time]
4~ weeks
[PRODUCT]
ibm supply chain intelligence suite
IBM FOOD TRUST // TRANSPARENT SUPPLY
TRUST YOUR SUPPLIER
[PUBLISHED]
2022
[WORK REQ. BY]
sr. scis PRODUCT MGMT
[audience]
scis global pm team
scis design team
transparent supply design team
[METHODS]
external sme recruitment
moderated interviews
journey mapping & personas
PUBLIC COMPETITOR SCRAPING
COMPETITOR UX ANALYSIS
ANALYST + SECONDARY LITERATURE
[DELIVERABLES]
keynote & global playback
hands-on user interaction
design + product enhancements
SCIS 2023 PERSONAS
STUDY OVERVIEW:
To support upcoming Food Traceability List requirements for clients, the senior SCIS product management team requested initial discovery for a FDA compliance dashboard experience; ensuring SCIS' recent investments in Transparent Supply would be well-positioned for quality control professionals. These users were in need of an effective solution for the collection & reporting of FDA FTL data.
The recently completed integration of Transparent Supply's blockchain capabilities had been exposing gaps in the wider product team's understanding of the food safety domain. I saw the opportunity to expand the research request into broader usecase & competitor discovery work, framing it as potentially leading to new features based on repackaging existing capabilities.
PM teams were engaged throughout; from research scoping, participant recruitment & selection, moderated interviews & more.
Research insights led to sessions with interactive educational user maps, implemented product design enhancements & seller usecase positioning.
approach:
- Saw opportunity & acquired buy-in to expand research study scope, creating two phased research plan to deliver on short & mid-term roadmap needs
- Crafted targeted screeners to recruit expert domain SMEs, vetting & selecting final candidates in collaborative discussions with PM
- Moderated interviews conducted via UserZoom one-way mirror; dynamic discussion guides & live (hidden) PM questions provoked unique field insights
- Selected targeted competitors across analyst literature & industry news, including recent winners of FDA's Low-Cost No-Cost solution competition; an emerging threat to IBM's value proposition
- SCIS + Transparent Supply capabilities assessed for usecase competitiveness, with recommendations on repackaging existing feature sets or developing new enhancements
- Multi-user interaction/journey map created out of target interviews; using a small selection of user interviews to create reusable industry patterns
"...but once things got to the cafes, that's where it gets a little bit murky, because they don't have any kind of system for tracking...that's where the traceability ended."
SR. QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER, FOOD & RETAIL
"we were able to use traceability...to make decisions when it came to which suppliers we would source, which suppliers we could keep on board, and which suppliers we would exit from the organization."
SR. SOURCING ANALYST, MAJOR WHITE LABEL CPG MANUFACTURER
impact & outcomes:
- Expanded & secured buy-in from PM team for expanded research study scope, covering both short-term and long-term business team needs due to gaps in existing FDA domain knowledge
- Mitigated customer user access delays by recruiting qualified external SMEs for quickfire 30m interviews; initial insights used to kickstart FDA compliance dashboard rapid design delivery
- Recommended feature enhancements saw widespread positive sentiment, with one proposed feature repackage previously missed by the PM team but now considered a valuable feature as a result of research insights.
- Users & usecases placed in market context helped define feature requirements for subsequent launch of SCIS FDA Compliance Dashboard, blockchain traceability capabilities, and usecase highlights for marketing & sales enablement.
- Interactive user Mural, competitor takeaways deck, and other research artifacts have continued to offer value to research, design, & product management teams post-playback; recent request by SCIS product management to refresh & re-visit this competitor study.
Interviews with different industry SMEs were mapped for appropriate overlaps and theoretical interactions visualized, with supporting user quotes & feature annotations distributed throughout.
Feature enhancements were recommended verbally & detailed on-screen, with supporting user quotes & interview questions provided to enhance credibility.
Key takeaways blend user insights, market intelligence, and tactical recommendations.
Research methods & sources provided in playbacks, with the amount of "context setting" adjusted to suit changing audiences.
Complex working research Murals summarized into playback-friendly diagrams; supported by voiceover to improve audience understanding.
Beyond UI breakdowns, publically available but difficult to source competitor documentation & enablement material were analyzed for risks & opportunities.