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Throughout my internship experience, I had the privilege of collaborating with a diverse and talented team. This included product designers, product managers, engineering managers, and software engineers.
Mind maps are a common diagram for team brainstorming and presenting information, some of FigJam’s pillar use-cases. Many customers have been asking for this functionality. My project brief was to help my stakeholders develop a deep understanding for how non-designers create and share mind maps today.
1 - Create visual library of mind maps with real-world use cases
2 - Understand what problems FigJam users have been experiencing with mind maps
3 - Gain familiarity with mind mapping processes for everyday note-taking, brainstorming, research planning
4 - Aligning on goals & priorities with key stakeholders
I conducted heuristic evaluations of various diagramming competitor tools, focusing on their mind mapping features.
Diagram Onboarding
I focused on the home page, suggested templates, and all pop-features used to onboard new users with functionalities, and direct them to the tinkering process. where and how are users being shown to start mind mapping?
Target Audience
I focused on keywords, use-cases, and jargon mentioned on the landing page that suggests who creates mind maps, and who should be using the software.
Proof of Capability
In this stage, I explored information scent and how well users might find their target information patch given the sites UX writing and information architecture. I looked at the different verbal cues, calls to action, templates, etc. on the page that would indicate to users that the software is capable of doing what they need (creating mind maps).
Many FigJam users are asking for features that have been already implemented in competitor tools; solving this is important to foster a complete FigJam adoption rather than using multiple tools. Other users are asking for specific features and interactions that will improve efficiency in their workflow.
In this first stage I explored the FigJam Forum and created a database with links and screenshots of feature requests from costumers. While I cannot share the sources themselves, some common themes I extracted are: loyalty and cohesion with FigJam only products, a complete mind map renovation that reduces the time for “cleaning-up” and reorganization, additional show/hide/collapse node features.
In the following stage, I used the Enterpret software to collect feature requests from all Internet sources, including but not limited to Twitter, Reddit, etc. Some common themes I extracted are: the lack of ability to find mind map functionality, easier mobile phone to Figma/FigJam file transfer, enhanced automatic work flow to reduce user effort, better mind mapping templates.
Affinity Mapping - used to organize information into groups, based on their natural relationships (finding categories and meta-categories, along with common ideas)!
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Site restructure mindmap.
WBS: Work-breakdown structures - widely used in project management as deliverable-oriented breakdown of a project into smaller component
Mind maps for PM market research.
In preparation for Phase 2 with real users, I tested my user guide with Figma employees who make mind maps.
Diagramming Tour: Synchronous qualitative interviews with Figma employees (non-designers and designers) who make mind maps in any white boarding tool
2 Participants: 1 research operations manager, 1 manager (DEI)
Summary: Below is a summary of the questions I incorporated into my interview guide.
Diagramming Tour:
Synchronous qualitative interviews with non-designers who make mind maps in other whiteboard tools
Participants:
1 eng, 1 marketing, 2 project mgrs, 2 account mgrs, 1 data scientist, 1 IT mgr - 8 interviews
Interview Summary:
I used an interview guide similar to the one used during internal interviews, but a bit more comprehensive.
Mind Map Alpha Usability Test:
Synchronous qualitative interviews with people who create mind maps. We will ask them to use an early stage mind mapping (AKA Mind Map Alpha) tool to create a mind map based on a pre-determined scenario.
Participants:
n = 10 participants - a mix of prospective users who create mind maps in other tools and FigJam users who make mind maps.
Interview Summary:
This set of interviews was more of a usability test, with the purpose of testing out Mind Map Alpha: our early stage mind-mapping feature.
Japanese User Discussion Guide
It’s very important for the work that I do to be accessible and relevant from diverse audiences, as many technological initiatives cater to Western, English-speaking audiences.
To accommodate diverse perspectives in this research, I created an asynchronous interview guide in collaboration with a Japanese-speaking Figma Employee. The same content in the video interview was represented via sticky notes in a FigJam board for participants to fill out and perform asynchronously.
What is good solution to connector arrows. Do other tools nail this better than we do? If so, how? What makes for a really quick, simple, effortless connector experience?
In this phase, I dive deeper into the Competitor Analysis from the previous desk research stage, this time with a specific focus on their mind mapping functionalities.
Below are some features that stood out:
All recruitment and data collection was managed via User Interviews. Before beginning the process of delivering my final report to stakeholders, it was important to synthesize all of the data from interviews and categorize them into a prioritized list of next steps for the mind map feature.
I organized all of my work in a Dropbox paper file for records, and crafted a formal 30-minute share-out of my findings with all key stakeholders and members of the FigJam Core Experiences team.
👇🏾 View the Full Presentation in Figma
Development:
⭐ Taking on end-to-end research prepared me for the challenges of a full-time corporate position, and equipped me with valuable skills in collaboration, independence, and effective communication that are essential in any future role within the product development cycle.
👥 Key Actions:
📈 Impact:
I was able to experience firsthand understanding how deeply collaborative is the nature of the product development cycle. Initiating and maintaining proactive communication enabled the team to stay updated on progress and collectively analyze results.
Being that they will continue to work on the project upon the culmination of my internship, it’s important they have strong grasp on crucial insights to make informed decision-making in subsequent phases of the product cycle
💥 Moving Forward:
The best part of the experience was working with so many inspiring and talented people across functionally, and create tangible, meaningful impact. My deliverables for this project have been launched to use for Figma employees; this means we are one step closer to seeing my work on the public FigJam platform!
