Every organization knows the experience of building some solution to address a problem, only to have the resulting tool or system be underused or not used at all, or, used improperly. It happens rarely with an “externally-facing” solution, and it is all too common with internally-facing systems, applications and tools. That’s the reality.
When the underused system in question is one designed to provide insights that can help the organization be better at what it does, it’s more than just frustrating. The opportunity costs can be quite high.
Seeing the Value in Internally Developed Systems
When organizations dedicate resources to building internal tools or enhancements to their data or tech ecosystem, they are usually doing it because they see a real unaddressed need the organization has that can’t be addressed by its out-of-the-box existing tech investment. Otherwise they wouldn’t go to the trouble of designing a homegrown solution.
But internal products and systems that serve employees as end users often face key challenges despite their innate usefulness. The homemade nature of them means some corners tend to get cut. And a key aspect that rarely gets addressed is Internal User Experience.
Why Think About Internal UX
Many organizations neglect Internal UX because of “should” thinking. The employee “should” read the manual, pay attention to the documentation, or use the system as it was described in training.
There is a misperception that user experience is something that gets carefully considered and developed for clients or customers only, because that is the end user you serve and you want to give them a pleasant or “delightful” experience.
Employees on the other hand, “should” use what’s built for them. Often, teams get so locked into this “should” thinking that systems with clear and present UX flaws go ignored forever because the flaw isn’t seen as such. The attitude persists that people ought to comply with the rigid rules of the system that was built for them.
But the real objective of user experience is not to gift, but rather, to guide.
The pleasant aspect of it, yes, it’s there, but as a means to an end. Big tech doesn’t invest the millions it invests in user experience just because they want their applications to be enjoyable. They want to ensure they are used, and that they are used in the way intended.
The more carefully a system is designed according to how users do use systems, how they intuitively use them, the more likely it is they will do exactly what you want them to do.
Understood through this lens, it becomes clear why companies should be investing in Internal UX: it’s going to ensure that employees will do what you want them to do, or need them to do, to accomplish the goals of the organization, using the internal information, data and analytical tools that you went to the trouble of building.
Designing Internal UX with Zero Budget
This may all make sense, but you still may have no budget to address internal UX, or it may be too hard of a sell. What then? Here are a few tips for incorporating UX design principles into your next project that take little time and cost nothing extra.
Push for design meetings dedicated to usability before you start talking features. One of the most common things that happen in organizations is they skip right to the features they need added into a dashboard or reporting without just talking needs. It’s hard for end users to imagine something different than what they’ve already been using. Whenever possible, meetings that can get end users out of fixed thinking and into the realm of what’s possible are more likely to yield a more valued end product.
Piggyback off existing good UX. Again, big tech has already invested a lot in UX design, so you shouldn’t have to. When you are in a planning phase for an internal project, spend some time with apps and websites you love to use. The features are all where they should be on these sites. No reason to reinvent the wheel.
Shadow users. Rather than just presenting phases of work, sit with users when you share what you’ve developed so far, and ask them questions about how they would actually use the tool to do what they need to do. Talk through use cases, listen and take a lot of notes.
Sell your own internal system more and longer than you think you need to. When you release a new tool or application out for people to use, you want to check in to see if new pain points arise. You want to also understand what people like. Advertise your project. The more people know about it, they more likely they are to use it, get familiar with it and possibly even swap tips on how to best use it.
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