Polska Fundacja Przedsiębiorczości

Overview

Polska Fundacja Przedsiębiorczości (PFP) is a polish NGO focused on supporting entrepreneurs. They offer a training platform with high-quality materials and a large audience, but their current solution lacks the scalability they need for future growth.

Goal

Support the foundation in defining its long-term objectives and to create a flexible solution that aligns with both business and user needs.

What I did

TL;DR

I conducted a comprehensive research process to gather insights and identify user needs, which informed the design of a new system for an educational platform.

Kick off

In order to understand the problems and limitations of the current product I conducted a UX audit of the existing solution on various devices, applying heuristic principles and WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.

In meantime, as a collaborative team effort, we held three-day strategic workshop with the core team of the foundation to prioritize goals and discuss the product vision.

3 day workshops with 10+ participants from both teams

I conducted a comprehensive analysis of 23 solutions, encompassing both direct and indirect competitors. In addition to general market analysis for specific examples, I also examined various aspects such as learning formats, costs, certification types, and target groups. This in-depth approach allowed me to gain a clearer understanding of the positioning of new platforms in the market and helped me better grasp customer expectations for a potential new solution.

Additional analysis of business models, communication, SWOT for main competitors (6 solution)

All these activities resulted in the development of a database of hypotheses and questions, which were subsequently translated into a research plan covering both quantitative and qualitative research.

Discovery Research

In collaboration with another UX researcher, we developed a survey study targeting two main groups: participants and trainers. The survey aimed to gather insights on the context of use, challenges, and expectations regarding the product. Through the platform's newsletter, we distributed 815 surveys to participants and 45 surveys to trainers. The results highlighted user pain points and identified new functionalities that were absent from the product vision established during the kickoff stage

Received 534 fully filled questionnaires out of 815 surveys

To further enhance the research analysis, my teammate and I created two sets of interview scripts tailored for each user group. It was 2 weeks of recruiting the participants and interviewing. I conducted a total of 18 in-depth user interviews, focusing on their motivations and needs. I examined their methods of educating themselves, including the reasons behind their choices and discussed the current platform's shortcomings, explored potential solutions for improvement.

Spreadsheet of interview scenarios

Research phase provided me with a clear understanding of the values the new platform should deliver and how to effectively address user needs in innovative ways

Synthesis

At this stage, I was able to prioritize target groups, created personas and develop user story mapping. This process helped outline the changes we, as team, intended to implement ensuring that the client could see and understand our proposed improvements and strategy shifts. We were able to update the vision of the product, suggest monetization and marketing strategies.

Created +100 user stories

I developed information architecture to encompass all service sections, addressing the needs of each role perspectives, including users seeking to educate themselves on the platform, trainers teaching on the platform, and foundation employees managing the system.

Created information architecture for each role (4)

I developed user flows for the main jobs to be done, along with preparing alternative user paths. All the documentation was structured to be easily understandable for new team members joining the project, such as UI designers and developers.

Created +50 user stories for each role

UX Design & Testing

I started working on the wireframes with a focus on the user and trainer perspectives, as these areas were prioritized for upcoming usability tests. At this stage, I began collaborating with a UI designer and maintained close cooperation until the project's completion. This allowed us to work simultaneously and exchange ideas on various design solutions and directions regarding the user interface.

+100 wireframes created In total

The client was engaged throughout the entire development process, ensuring both parties that we stayed aligned at all times. I often invited specific members of the client's team to validate the proposed solutions receiving immediate feedback

Usability testing

Over the course of two weeks, I recruited 10 participants for usability testing to gather feedback on the new platform's wirerfames. All participants were existing users of the current solution, allowing me to receive targeted insights from those familiar with the system. After a portion of interviews, I incorporated their feedback and recommendations into user story mapping and the directly on the wireframes. This iterative testing method allowed me to test various variants of solutions.

During test participants were assessing Hero for LP

Implementation

I collaborated closely with the UI designer, validating their work to ensure it aligned with the overall strategy for the solution. Additionally, I conducted an onboarding meeting with the developers to walk them through the wireframes and clearly communicate the product vision.

Conclusions

I really enjoyed the collaborative nature of this project. After working solo for a while, it felt like a breath of fresh air. It made me realize how much I missed working as part of a team. What made this project special was the extensive research phase, where we could really dive deep into the data. It was incredible to work closely with research results and translate them into impactful UX deliverables.

Retrospective insights - what I would have done differently now

1. Seek greater involvement in strategic actions, as I aim to enhance my skills in this area
2. Implement a stricter recruitment process, as two participants did not align with our targeted personas, leading to delays as we searched for suitable substitutes
3. Avoid placing too much pressure on the initial iterations, as testing often reveals areas for change and improvement