The issues related to Findability and Discoverability on the platform were frequently identified across various research sources (the knowledge was dispersed).

However, the team lacked visibility into what had already been investigated, which made it challenging to prioritize solutions and formulate new research questions.

Compile and provide visibility into information and issues related to Findability and Discoverability. We aimed to clarify what had already been researched, what we still didn’t know, and what the next research steps should be.

1. What do we already know about Findability and Discoverability?
 

2. What types of issues related to Findability and Discoverability exist in the product?
 

3. Have these issues been resolved? Have we attempted to solve them? Were we successful or not? Do they still make sense in the current context?

Stakeholder Interviews: Since I had recently joined the team, I conducted interviews with key stakeholders to understand the historical decisions surrounding the product and team scope.

Desk Research: I gathered information on Findability and Discoverability that the company had from 2019 to 2022. I analyzed approximately 76 documents, ranging from previous research documentation to CSAT, NPS reports, and customer complaints. After completing the data collection, I conducted a thematic analysis to map the key themes and issues.

The research took about one month and two weeks, from alignment to the presentation of results.

We had reached a point of saturation regarding Findability issues. On the other hand, Discoverability appeared to have been explored less in research and other documentation.

I synthesized the issues of Findability and Discoverability into four categories and mapped them on a timeline from 2019 to 2022. This allowed us to verify that the issues persisted even after some changes were made to the product.

This is a summarized version—please feel free to reach out to me at rute.harada@gmail.com for more detailed insights and learnings.

Impact on the Product Roadmap

The research provided clarity on recurring issues, which helped prioritize new initiatives for the tribe such as working on recommender systems to help users find content tailored to their needs. 

Impact on the Discovery Process  

By compiling all information regarding Findability and Discoverability into a single document, we streamlined the discovery process and made it easier for Designers and Product Managers to access and utilize the information.

Aligning concepts is crucial for a solid understanding of research results. Findability and Discoverability are UX concepts that are not always clear to all stakeholders.

Avoid surprises! It’s important to align the team’s expectations and clearly communicate what will and will not be delivered in the research. Since this was a secondary research project, no new information would be collected directly from users, and it was important for the team to understand this. Often, the team expects fresh user data ;)

Findability: The ease of locating desired information within a product.

Discoverability: The ease of finding new content or features within a product. The user did not have a search intention but discovered something new.

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Saturation: Occurs when we begin to see repetition or redundancy in the researched themes.

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Squad: A multidisciplinary team working on a specific area or functionality of the product.

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Tribe: A collection of squads that operate in a specific area.