Fluke — Sami West - UX Researcher

Project summARY

Throughout the years, the technical publications team at Fluke has tackled the “Fluke Connect” (mobile app) setup process in various ways within their Quick Reference Guides (QRGs). The result is an uneven experience for the users of the QRGs, which may lead to difficulties with completing the task of pairing their mobile device with their Fluke products. In order to gather objective data to begin creating a consistent and intuitive Fluke Connect setup procedure for the QRGs, I worked with the User Interaction and Technical Publications teams to conduct a usability study scoped to learning more about this specific issue.

Each usability session required three Fluke tools and focused on the Fluke Connect setup process for each tool, utilizing their respective quick reference guides. The test moderator (myself) and note takers were both present in the testing space. The sessions captured each participant's interactions with the tools and QRGs, time to complete tasks, comments, and overall satisfaction ratings for each QRG.

For this usability study, I was in charge of creating a usability study plan, recruiting participants, creating a usability test kit (screener, questionnaires, data logging sheets, etc.), moderating study sessions, evaluating our results, and presenting my findings and recommendations to key stake holders within the company.

Research questions

Our usability study aimed to explore the following questions:

How effective are our current QRG’s in terms of helping our users with the Fluke Connect setup process?
What obstacles do users face when they attempt to pair their mobile device to the Fluke Connect enabled tool?
Are there common themes or standards within our QRG’s that work best for helping our users with the Fluke Connect setup process?

methods

This usability study explored the efficiency of setting up Fluke Connect for the first time using the QRG document for a given device. As well as being exploratory, this study also aimed to collect assessment data about the effectiveness of the document through success rates, as well as qualitative and preference measures.

We followed a within-subjects design in which participants were placed into one of three groups. Each group performed unboxing/first impressions, downloading and setup of Fluke Connect, recording of a measurement, and transferring of that data from a tool to Fluke Connect for three tools. Each group completed the setup of tools in a different order.

The separation of participants into different conditions ensured that we received authentic, first time experience feedback from each participant and for each product. This also allowed us to compare results across the various devices and QRGs, as well as within groups, and see how practice effect or fatigue effect may play a role in the success rates of participants.

participants

Twelve participants were recruited from a local electrical apprenticeship hall over a period of three testing days. Nine of the twelve participants completed the test. Three participants performed the usability test each day, with sessions occurring over July 26th - 28th.

Fluke Knowledge

Participants selected their experience level with Fluke tools from a list of five options:

Never heard of or used a Fluke tool
Heard of Fluke, but have never used a tool
Have used a Fluke tool in the past, but do not currently use any
Very familiar with Fluke and use Fluke tools in the workplace
Personally own a Fluke tool

2 out of 9 participants stated that they were “very familiar with Fluke and use Fluke tools in the workplace”, and the remaining 7 stated that they “personally own a Fluke tool.” Though they all indicated having experience with Fluke tools, none of them had experience using the Fluke Connect app before.

Measures

Preference/Qualitative Data

Perceived amount of time it takes to setup
Ease of use
Usefulness of the quick reference guide
Overall comments and feedback

Performance Data

Time it takes to complete each task for each product
Ability to pair tool/mobile app
Ability to find measurements
Amount of help/guidance needed for each task

main takeaways

Due to the nature of the internship, I can’t share specific findings from the usability study, nor share the specific tools that we used for our study.

Generally speaking, this usability study uncovered very insightful information about the variations of Fluke Connect setup processes within Quick Reference Guides for different tools, which also gave light to which strategies were most effective.

Based on my findings, I created a list of recommendations that I presented to the UX and Technical Publications teams. Feedback was well received, so we quickly began making mockups of the QRG’s that featured the changes from my recommendations.

My internship was then extended by a few more weeks so that I could recruit, plan, and moderate a second round of usability testing with the newly updated QRG mockups.

reflection

This internship was such a great experience for me. I was the only dedicated “UX Researcher” while I was on the team, so I was given the responsibility of creating this entire usability study from the ground up. Stepping into a role like that can be pretty intimidating, and I can admit that I was nervous at the beginning! (Especially since I was fresh out of undergrad) But, if you work hard and constantly look to collaborate and gather feedback with those around you on your ideas and thoughts, then you’ll get further along than you ever thought possible. Working in the UX Research field is all about understanding user needs and practicing how to get the most valuable insights out of your customers/audience of interest, and I became much more confident in my abilities after working alongside this team during my internship. I learned to never be scared to ask questions, never stop pushing yourself to learn new research skills and practices, and to always always ask for feedback. Your team wants you to succeed, so people are always willing to lend a hand or steer you towards the right path.

I left Fluke feeling inspired to do more with my UX knowledge and continue expanding my learning, so I applied for grad school at UW — and here I am today!

Fluke Corporation:

Fluke Connect and Quick Reference Guides