Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone
Summary
The DesignOps team at Athenahealth has solved this problem by creating a standardized measurement framework—including qualitative and quantitative instruments—that helps product teams measure their concepts and solutions early and often. These are measures that leaders can use to make informed investment decisions across the larger portfolio, and that free product teams to be awesome at what they do: designing, managing, and developing products that lead to better experiences for users.
Key Insights
-
•
Scale should be measured by the quality and meaningful impact of design, not just quantity or organizational reach.
-
•
Lack of team agency in decision-making leads to unhealthy behaviors like cutting corners and skunk works projects.
-
•
Athena Health flourished initially due to government-subsidized demand rather than superior user experience.
-
•
Physicians using EHR systems often feel like clerks, frustrated by poor usability and forced workflows.
-
•
Enterprise software delusion occurs when companies succeed despite poor design due to weak competition and high switching costs.
-
•
Proving design impacts business outcomes requires identifying and analyzing key metrics like user retention and referrals.
-
•
Creating a shared design language involving product managers and subject matter experts fosters organizational alignment.
-
•
Systematic workflow audits guided by Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics can uncover actionable improvements to complex software.
-
•
Redesigning product decision-making to empower teams early in the process accelerates better pivot, shelve, or proceed calls.
-
•
Introducing self-serve experience measurement tools, including concept validation surveys, supports evidence-driven design iterations.
Notable Quotes
"Scale isn’t just about quantity, it’s about the quality and impact you have on organizational outcomes."
"So much change was killed just because leadership said so, and that really breaks my heart."
"Doctors don’t like using EHRs because it turns them into clerks; they’re engaging with a machine instead of a patient."
"You’re born on third base but think you hit a triple—that’s the enterprise software delusion."
"Users aren’t happy because they’re trapped; they have no sense of agency over the software they use."
"If design doesn’t move the needle, what needle are we even talking about? You have to find that needle."
"Creating a shared language lets others articulate design issues and makes design part of the conversation."
"Redesigning decision making means teams should have the autonomy to recommend pivot, shelve, or proceed earlier."
"We cut the claims editing process in half—four pages and 10 steps down to one page and four steps."
"Concept validation helps us spend time building useful things before making them work well."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Tech workers in the UK are five times more depressed than the UK average, with stress killing creativity."
Dr. Karl JeffriesThe Science of Creativity for DesignOps
January 8, 2024
"The culture between buyer and user impacts feature adoption and overall satisfaction."
Amy MarquezINVEST: Discussion
June 15, 2018
"Pilot projects with evangelists inside the company make ethnography manageable and successful."
Steve Portigal Chris Chapo Kelly Goto Christian RohrerDiscussion
May 13, 2015
"One designer's security in a dedicated model may be another designer's stagnation."
Alicia MootyDesign Staffing Models
September 30, 2021
"For the right audience, if applied correctly, humor and music can move people in many ways."
Ana Maria Montero Barrantes Aditi Dhar Michelle Kaplan Nate Osborne Matt LaurenceThe Authentic UX Talent Show
January 8, 2024
"Simply asking stakeholders what success looks like for them in a project is a powerful way to start meaningful conversations."
Lada Gorlenko Sharbani Dhar Sébastien Malo Rob Mitzel Ivana Ng Michal Anne RogondinoTheme 1: Discussion
January 8, 2024
"Data entry is the enemy; automation is the key to making research repositories successful."
Sofia QuinteroThe Product Philosophy Behind EnjoyHQ
March 10, 2021
"You are not the first person to try something like this, and they’re typically not looking forward to the next transformation."
Laura KleinUnique challenges of innovation in enterprises
April 23, 2020
"You’ve got to take control of the backlog and position your team as value-driven, not just servicing individual teams."
Andrew MichaelBuilding a Product Insights Team
March 10, 2022
