Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Craft of User Research: Building Out Jobs to be Done Maps
Gold
Friday, March 12, 2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Share the love for this talk
Craft of User Research: Building Out Jobs to be Done Maps
Speakers: Sean Fitzell , Sarah Han and Kayla Farrell
Link:

Summary

Join Sean Fitzell (User Research Manager), Sarah Han (Sr User Researcher), and Kayla Farrell (Sr User Researcher) as they walk through the process of creating effective and actionable job maps that are used to educate, align, and inspire.

Key Insights

  • Real estate agents operate in multiple complex mental contexts simultaneously, requiring segmented focus in research.

  • The 'triple D' challenges—duplicated efforts, disjointed workflows, and distance from users—emerge strongly in fast-scaling organizations.

  • Mapping jobs instead of journeys helps surface user needs independent of specific product solutions, enabling broader organizational alignment.

  • A shared taxonomy of scenes, jobs, and tasks improves clarity in conversations around user behavior and helps prevent conflating actions.

  • Aggregating disparate research artifacts created over years demands iterative synthesis and considerable stakeholder engagement.

  • Creating a 'single source of truth' jobs map reduces anecdotal bias from different stakeholders and domains.

  • Focused research on the seller side revealed more opportunities for Compass to support agents, adjusting prior emphasis on buyers.

  • Ongoing maintenance of user research artifacts requires dedicated time, manual review, and broad socialization, even without automation.

  • Aligning product teams around holistic workflows rather than feature silos fosters better prioritization and cohesive user experiences.

  • Future directions include layering personas and emotional journey maps on top of jobs maps for a richer understanding of agent and client needs.

Notable Quotes

"The product team and product organization are not real estate agents and we don’t speak the same language."

"The triple D challenges are duplicated efforts, disjointed workflows, and distance from users."

"One workflow might touch five different product areas, but for the customer it feels like one disjointed experience."

"We didn’t have a single source of truth for what it looked like; it was like blind men describing an elephant."

"We chose to map jobs and not journeys because we wanted to surface agents’ day-to-day jobs and needs, not just product use."

"Agents have very consistent jobs that need to be done, but depending on the agent, not all jobs may apply."

"Scenes are the stable context or why jobs need to be done; jobs are what needs to get done; tasks are how it’s done."

"This jobs map is a living artifact that we will continue to update and add layers to as we learn more."

"With this structure in place, the next phase should be faster because the organization is aligned on the framework."

"If we empower agents to do their best work, they will bring in the best clients and grow their business."

Ask the Rosenbot
Dante Guintu
How to Crush the Talent Crunch
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Brianna Sylver
Lead With Purpose
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Dave Malouf
The Past, Present, and Future of DesignOps: a 2-part DesignOps Community Call (Part 1) (Videoconference)
2022 • DesignOps Community
Steve Portigal
War Stories LIVE! Q&A-Discussion
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Dave Gray
Liminal Thinking: Sense-making for systems in large organizations
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Stephanie Wade
Building and Sustaining Design in Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Brendan Jarvis
Framing Tomorrow by Questioning Today
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Peter Merholz
The Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX (Videoconference)
2023 • Enterprise Community
Sean Fitzell
Craft of User Research: Building Out Jobs to be Done Maps
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Uday Gajendar
Day 1 Welcome
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Lija Hogan
Three Years Out: Perspectives on the Near-Term Future of User Research (Videoconference)
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Charles Lee
Building a New Home for the Atlassian Design System (Videoconference)
2020 • Enterprise Community
Ashley Cortez
Shifting Toward Community-Led Innovation in Local Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Carol Scott
Avoid Harming Your Team and Users: Promoting Care and Brand Reputation with Trauma-Informed UX Practices
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Kristen Honey
"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design (Videoconference)
2021 • Civic Design Community
Ovetta Sampson
Research in the Automated Future
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold

More Videos

Zariah Cameron

"Denying the body is not an antidote to the suffering of the world. When we protect our rest, we protect our dreaming."

Zariah Cameron

ReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace

September 23, 2024

John Cutler

"If you don’t have enough information to prioritize, put the items on a dartboard and throw a dart to start the conversation."

John Cutler Harry Max

Prioritization for designers and product managers (1st of 3 seminars) (Videoconference)

June 13, 2024

Nick Cochran

"As leaders, don’t make it about you—put the spotlight on the people doing great work."

Nick Cochran

Growing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections

June 3, 2019

Deanna Smith

"You should assess feedback before making decisions; implementing feedback right away can cause the wrong solution or disruptions."

Deanna Smith

Leading Change with Confidence: Strategies for Optimizing Your Process

September 23, 2024

Magdalena Zadara

"Show, don’t tell—that’s a principle we learned from the UK Government Digital Service."

Magdalena Zadara

Zero Hour: How to Get Far Quickly When Starting Your Digital Service Unit Late

November 16, 2022

Nova Wehman-Brown

"Be the one who picks up the sharpie first, especially if you’re in a leadership position."

Nova Wehman-Brown

We've Never Done This Before

June 4, 2019

Liwei Dai

"We need to learn the domain, the technology, the algorithm, and the data—not enough to code, but enough for meaningful discussions."

Liwei Dai

The Heart and Brain of the AI Research

March 31, 2020

Gordon Ross

"The arrival of workers during COVID lockdown meant coordinating across government ministries, airport authority, federal border services and public health – this was a design problem."

Gordon Ross

12 Months of COVID-19 Design and Digital Response with the British Columbia Government

December 8, 2021

Tutti Taygerly

"We use design thinking to make north stars for products; I help people find their north stars."

Tutti Taygerly

Make Space to Lead

June 12, 2021