QuickBooks Usability Program

QuickBooks Usability Program

The QuickBooks (QB) Usability Program is an executive-sponsored team of cross-functional partners across Design, Research, Project Management, and Engineering with the goal of leveling up usability in QuickBooks.

Goal: Measurably improve the usability of QuickBooks

How: Establish a standardized system for making significant, measurable progress on usability. Provide training on usability testing and measurement. Make time for teams to focus on usability.

Role
Design Research lead

Skills
Usability testing, facilitation, program management, stakeholder management

Date
July 2022 - September 2024

Problem

  • No systematic way to test, identify, and resolve usability issues in the product and newly launched experiences

  • No quantifiable way to pinpoint which parts of the product are lower in usability

  • No organizational accountability to ensure high usability of new experiences

  • Lack of emphasis across the organization on usability as a priority and value

The approach

Phase 1— Operationalize Usability

Question: How might we measure usability to establish a baseline of where we’re at currently, then ensure quantifiable improvements moving forward?

Phase 2— Enable teams

Question: How do we ensure that teams are equipped with the resources and knowledge to improve usability in their respective product areas?

Phase 1— Operationalizing usability

As key research partner on this program, I was tasked with establishing key usability metrics to quantify the usability of a flow.

What I did:

  • Established standardized internal usability metrics to quantify the usability of any flow or experience

  • Measured baseline usability metrics for existing flows in the product. This enabled measurable improvements to usability for all future launches.

  • Pinpointed key usability issues in QB's most critical flows

Led a team of two other researchers to pilot the usability metrics on key experiences in the QuickBooks product

Designed the customer effort score survey (in-product ease-of-use metric)

Presented metrics and evidence of improved usability and customer satisfaction to senior leadership

Phase 2— Enabling teams

Next, we had to ensure that teams across QuickBooks were equipped with the resources and knowledge to measure their own

What I did:

  • Created Heuristics and Usability Training specifically tailored to QuickBooks

  • Created test templates and documentation to make this process as quick and easy as possible for teams to conduct on their own

  • Trained over 500 employees on usability testing, measurement, and heuristics

  • Coached teams on usability during Intuit’s hackathon week, which provided over 200 employees to spend focused time improving usability

  • Facilitated Usability sprints for three product teams to deep dive on usability issues in their product areas

Phase 3— Keeping the organization accountable

Introduced usability metrics as brand-new Key Performance Indicators to be shared quarterly in leadership meetings

Scaled the program by presenting program details and evidence of customer satisfaction to senior leadership and teams

Business impact

Operationalized usability improvement as a standard practice to improve QB’s usability in a durable, systematic way by establishing usability metrics

Scaled the program, training 500+ employees on usability and heuristics to equip the organization with knowledge and tools to identify and fix usability issues

Improved the usability of key flows within QuickBooks via this program

Phase 3— Accountability

Question: How might we continue to hold a high bar for usability and make it a standard practice and value at QuickBooks?