K-Block

A radically usable Kadena block explorer and NFT analytics platform

Research Question

What are the primary factors that lead to confusion while interacting with K-Block?

Method(s)

Usability Testing

Impact

Reduced the rate of confusion by 28%

Background

Tech Fleet is a 501 (c) (3) organization that primarily acts as a consulting agency for other nonprofits—K-Block is 1 of 20 active projects within the organization.

A block explorer and NFT analytics platform for the Kadena cryptocurrency that prioritizes the experience of all user groups.

A block explorer allows users to view blocks of a specific blockchain—in this case Kadena—as well as their relevant data (e.g., information about transactions).

NFT analytics comprise data about NFTs as well as patterns based on that data, e.g., total NFTs, trending NFT collections, etc.

Role: Lead UX Researcher

  • Led 3 rounds of usability testing and 8 user interviews to create a more user-friendly block explorer and NFT analytics platform
  • Reduced the rate of confusion by 28% through delivering 40+ recommendations to design, product, and development teams and increasing the number of tooltips by 106%
  • Decreased task completion time by 18% through achieving buy-in from 30+ stakeholders during cross-functional meetings
  • Guided 3 sprint retrospectives to improve team efficiency and morale

Team

Product Managers (2), UX Researchers (8), UX Designers (8), Front-End Developers (4), Back-End Developers (4), Product Strategists (3), and Content Designers (5)

Duration

Aug 2023 - Sep 2023 (3 Weeks)

Usability Testing

  • We conducted 23 total moderated usability testing sessions via Zoom.

I chose usability testing because I wanted to identify additional areas for improvement stemming from attitudinal and behavioral data that arose while interacting with the product. Moreover, this method allowed us to collect quantitative metrics that helped us evaluate K-Block’s usability such as the participants’ rate of confusion. In addition, we were able to collect rich attitudinal data including descriptive explanations for why users found K-Block confusing by asking salient follow-up questions.

We segmented our users based on experience level:

  1. Newbie: Have never used any block explorers
    • 15 participants
  2. EX1: Have used block explorers but not Kadena block explorers
    • 3 participants
  3. EX2: Have used Kadena block explorers
    • 5 participants

🌱 Learning Moment #1

Many prospective participants chose Monday for their research sessions which resulted in a startling number of no-shows. I now know this is a flagship day to avoid due to professionals working to catch up after the weekend.

Outcomes

UX Designers made numerous decisions during redesigns according to our findings which led to:

  • 28% lower rate of confusion finding relevant blocks
  • 18% faster navigation to relevant blocks by beginner users
  • 106% increase in tooltips

🌱 Learning Moment #2

We should've discussed the differentiation between success scores in advance to increase inter-rater reliability. Our success scores were (1) complete success, (2) success with a minor issue, (3) success with a major issue, and (4) failure.

Challenges

  1. Recruiting with a minimal budget for participant incentives and a relatively small pool of possible participants
  2. Understanding and explaining a complicated product
  3. Dealing with inconsistent stakeholder engagement
  4. Fighting scope creep while we moved toward launching the beta version
  1. I got creative by reaching out to communities I never would’ve normally come across, e.g., the Kadena Mining Club server on Discord
  2. I created a Notion page with helpful resources and sought guidance from stakeholders with more Web3 knowledge
  3. I facilitate workshops across disciplines and posted in our Slack channel for daily syncs
  4. I supported the movement of the project in a more defined direction which included the prioritization of features based on the amount of value created for users

🌱 Learning Moment #3

I should’ve been more deliberate in promoting buy-in from UX Designers, i.e, instead of handing them recommendations and expecting them to blindly implement them, a more creative strategy like cross-functional workshops could’ve been more effective by increasing collaboration and a shared sense of ownership.

Reflection

  1. User Validation
    • It’s incredibly important to validate who your users actually are—especially when a stakeholder gives vague answers regarding this.
  2. Collaboration → Clarity
    • The research process should be centered on collaboratively formulated research questions and outcomes so all UX Researchers can contribute with clear intention.
  3. Quality vs. Efficiency
    • Most team decisions boil down to quality vs. efficiency.
      • It helps to explicitly state this and generally align around a point on this spectrum instead of having numerous discussions where it permeates under the surface.

Thank you for reading! 😁
Contact me at me@uxeli.com

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