When I first arrived at Orgvue, it was very clear that there was confusion as to whom they were building software for. Depending on who you spoke to, it would either be high level consultants, or infrequent users such as HR Business Partners.
This resulted in work that was not being targeted at any particular audience, functionality that was trying to be everything to everyone.
We needed to create personas so our work could not only be targeted, but if determined that the personas had different requirements, to be able to react intelligently to the profile of user that had signed in.
To be able to create the personas, we needed to gather information. We obtained this data from the following sources initially:
Light user research
As we interviewed a full spectrum of users across the Orgvue user base, this research was probably the most enlightening initiative that fed data into our personas.
Internal stakeholders
Our CX team had a wealth of knowledge about our users, however, this wasn't shared extensively with the product and UX organisations.
Interviews with internal stakeholders helped us to validate and refine the data we had received from the light user research.
Persona interviews
Once we had a solid hypothesis on what the personas should be, we devised a series of targeted scripts to interview users whom we identified under our proposed personas.
This data then went through a further affinity mapping session to help synthesise it and determine if the personas were correct.
Research quotes
Head of Corporate Design (Business Owner)
My ideal dashboard would be stripped right back to the information we need.
Senior HRBP (HRBP)
HR Business Partners need a simple click and there you go process.
Business & HR Analyst (Analyst)
I am tasked with rolling out Orgvue to 40 people that look to me for Orgvue centred governance.
Results
Once mapped, the data pointed at four clear personas. It also indicated that HRBP could potentially be split into two (HRBP and Senior HRBP).
The reason for this is that the Senior HRBP role used the product at a much higher level, less functionality and on a far more infrequent basis than the HRBP.
Please note that this information is highly summarised as the Personas are confidential documents to Orgvue.
1 / Analyst (Orgvue collaborator and influencer)
This was often previously referred to as a "Heavy User" because they were often in the product almost every day. However, we came to realise through the research that an Analyst used the product more extensively than any other persona and supported other users and was by far the most advanced of users.
They were the liaison with the Orgvue CX team and whilst generally they did use the product on a very frequent basis, this was not the case for all clients. However, the functions they performed such as onboarding new users, setting up datasets and packs and acting as the accounts admin was consistent.
2 / HR lead
For larger organisations, the role of HR lead was a moderately advanced user and would populate up to date data into the product. They didn't use the product as frequently as others, but generally enjoyed using Orgvue as it saved them a considerable amount of time. The HR lead would often act as a second to the Analyst.
3 / Workforce planning lead
This was a moderately advanced user who supported recruitment, data and communication teams by providing them with visual representations of the organisational structure and keep the data up to date and ensure its accuracy.
4 / HR Business Partner
The least advanced user, often requiring only the presentation of data and the uploading of a small subset of data, usually relating to payroll. This user typically wants to be in and out of the product and has the most pain points of any user due to the product's complexity and difficult navigation.
The following examples of the Personas that were created have been redacted as the information within them is confidential to Orgvue.
How does this benefit NPS?
As there was a lot of confusion internally as to who we were building the product for, creating a set of personas would help us to identify with our user base, understand their pain points and learn what is important to them and how they want to utilise the product.
What became even more apparent through this research was that there was a need for a lighter version of Orgvue, without all the bells and whistles and complexities for certain personas. Customisation and an intelligence related to navigation and the home page would be required to be able to direct users based on their personas to the areas of the product they were more likely to need.
The work around personas also helped us in our roadmap work as we could now understand, when planning out functionality, who it was being proposed for, which helped us shape how it should be discovered and how it should behave.