Bloomberg UX research and operations team members in their at-home virtual labs
By early March 2020, User Experience (UX) designer Stephen Cook had been hard at work with his team for several months exploring opportunities for enhancing the Bloomberg Terminal’s heavily-used charting applications. In an effort to validate these design directions, a lab-based usability study was scheduled and a user research plan was coming into form. The resulting research would ultimately answer the question, “Are we markedly improving the product, or is this change for the sake of change?”
Every day, all around the world, hundreds of thousands of finance professionals use the Bloomberg Terminal to make critical decisions that drive their businesses forward. In order to improve Bloomberg’s products and services and best support these clients, the UX Research team normally conducts upwards of 50 qualitative studies per year, either in its physical UX Labs in New York and London or at clients’ desks. The more Bloomberg understands its clients’ goals, motivations, and workflows, the more seamless their user experience can be made.
Bloomberg’s GP charts function
However, as Stephen’s study dates neared, concerns about Covid-19 became a reality and New York went into quarantine, effectively closing the Bloomberg UX team’s physical operations. There was no way to bring clients into the lab’s controlled environment to elicit their feedback on new prototypes, or otherwise interact with them in person. Yet, testing the function’s usability with the customer base that would be relying on it for years to come was key to the success of building the right thing, while also building the thing right. Now what?
Stephen’s UX research partner Mark Safire pointed out that the team had several years of experience conducting remote research from the lab with its globally dispersed client base. He was sure they could now pull off the study in a “Virtual Lab,” even if it meant refashioning their approach across all aspects of the process. They weren’t alone – there were half a dozen research studies on the docket for April and a disruption due to the pandemic would be a major setback. So the team resolved to meet the challenge head on.
UX Designer Stephen Cook moderates a traditional usability session at Bloomberg’s NYC UX Lab
The UX lab goes virtual to facilitate research in the new normal
Anticipating the possibility of a shutdown early on, the UX Research team was already brainstorming about what a complete virtual lab setup would entail. Andrew Vannata, the UX Technology Manager, launched an exploration of new solutions alongside existing ones to determine which would be most effective. Constraints included not only the unique technical requirements for varied research methodologies, but also the myriad of information security restrictions in place at global corporations such as Bloomberg and its financial services clients.
Working together to put these tools to the test in a multitude of scenarios and logging the pros/cons and successes/failures, they designed a robust set of solutions and approaches. Andrew points out, “There’s really no magic bullet. But, we’ve built a substantial set of tools into the toolkit to get the job done. The goal is for the technology not to hinder us, but rather, to help make each client session a success.” In order to achieve this, the team had adopted its usual mantra of being over-prepared and over-rehearsed.
As client sessions went live and issues would undoubtedly crop up, Andrew and the Researchers were ready to troubleshoot in real-time, seamlessly directing the client to the fix or a workaround, and keeping the session on track. A range of hazards, from corporate firewalls to clients’ computer settings, were either mitigated in advance or navigated around in the moment. It helped that the team had prepared by learning the ins and outs of each tool and, in true UX fashion, had performed pilot tests to see things through the eyes of the user.
Each session’s lessons informed the next ones, and where certain approaches proved more appropriate, documentation like decision trees and technical diagrams were developed. These resources continue to educate and empower the researchers as well as the broader UX team to manage the technology solutions around their own research. “Several of our researchers are off and running now as if nothing has changed, and their studies are reaping the benefits,” said Andrew.
A technical diagram showcasing one of the virtual lab solutions
Operating virtually meant preparing and adapting in novel ways
In addition to technical implementation of remote research, preparedness and adaptability have also been critical to successful study design. For Mark and Stephen’s study, larger tasks were broken up into smaller ones to help them better navigate the inevitable distractions that come with working from home. This proved useful, for example, when a client had to stop in the middle of a session to answer their doorbell for a delivery, but was able to jump back in without falling off track.
When clients initially started to work from home, UX researcher Michael Morgan was mindful that clients might be resistant to the typical in-lab session length of 60 minutes. To ease clients into this new format, sessions were scheduled as 30-minute periods. This forced Michael and his colleagues to write shorter and more focused discussion guides, allowing clients to shift back into their daily workflows as soon as sessions were completed.
In a remote setting it’s especially important to keep research participants–as well as any stakeholders who may be observing–in the loop at all times. UX researcher Jaris Oshiro created responsive messaging holding slides to display over the video conference before his remote sessions began and for when technical issues might arise. Sweating the details and intelligently adapting in these circumstances made all the difference, ensuring a seamless and high quality experience for clients.
Holding slide utilized for Bloomberg observers joining a remote usability session
UX collaborates across the organization to deliver success
As good UX doesn’t operate in a silo, the team ultimately relied on relationships they’d fostered across the company to devise integrated research solutions for use with clients.
Engineering – During Mark and Stephen’s study, a concern was raised about clients experiencing a video lag issue when taking control of the researcher’s computer screen. They turned to the engineering team responsible for the charting product they were testing, who responded by fast-tracking a limited release of a version that clients could run locally using their own logins instead.
Product – When clients’ VPNs presented firewall issues at the outset, the UX team was able to quickly engage the product experts behind BSHA<GO>, a screen sharing function within the Bloomberg system typically used to deliver real-time client support. This innovative solution proved such a reliable backup option, that the team has started to leverage it as a primary tool for remote research with Terminal users.
InfoSys (IT) – Though their resources were in high demand at the start of this crisis, InfoSys didn’t hesitate to on-board UX Researchers with pilot access to a new web conferencing solution. Albeit a stripped down version to meet the company’s compliance policy, Mark and Stephen successfully leveraged this tool during their charting study, alongside others, marking a big win for the team.
UX credits this type of cross-functional problem-solving to Bloomberg’s strong culture of transparency, collaboration, and moving fast. The team points out that, despite the company’s large global structure, foundational values like these help make it ready-built to tackle challenges during even the most trying times.
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