OCTO's Beta Tech Hub Website

Research & Usability Testing

Client: Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), DC Government

Challenge: Assess OCTO’s beta DC tech hub site’s efficacy at helping startups and connecting entrepreneurs to investors in ways that would facilitate growth and provide recommendations on how they could improve the product for the tech community.

Role: UX Researcher

UX Methods: Heuristic evaluation, SWOT analysis, comparative analysis, business model canvas, personas, user testing

Outcomes: Heuristic evaluation, accessibility review, market research, and user testing to inform recommendations to OCTO on how their tech hub site could be improved.

Duration: 1 week

PROJECT SUMMARY

CONTEXT

The City of DC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) has been working with an external agency to outsource development on a white-labeled tech hub. With other cities having found success in providing similar resources to their communities, and disparate resources currently available to the DC tech community, OCTO intends to provide an innovative, one-stop shop for entrepreneurs, businesses, students, schools and the workforce at large.

The challenge was to assess OCTO’s beta DC tech hub site’s efficacy at helping startups and connecting entrepreneurs to investors in ways that would facilitate growth and provide recommendations how they could improve the product for the tech community.

MARKET RESEARCH

An initial business model canvas and SWOT analysis helped to better understand the challenges of the government initiative but also unveiled opportunities and a unique position as a one-stop-shop for DC’s tech

community.

An in-depth heuristics evaluation unveiled the many issues and challenges with the website. A comparative analysis uncovered other websites focused on entrepreneurship and tech news with better visual design but lacking the variety of offerings, particularly the investor, incubator, and workspace resources unique to DC Tech Hub.

SWOT ANALYSIS

PROTO-PERSONAS

USABILITY TESTING

I conducted usability testing with usertesting.com and Zoom. 5 informal user tests and 3 formal user tests were conducted. For the formal usability testing, I was able to target users to match my proto-personas. The usability testing focused on usefulness, functionality, and practicality of the website features related to business growth. Testing assessed the user’s overall thoughts on the website and ability to complete the task of finding an incubator or accelerator within a specific focus area, such as cybersecurity or social good.

RESULTS

User test results were measure by success rates of task completion. Users also answered a Yes or No question about their satisfaction with the website.

Only 2/8 users were able to successfully complete the assigned task of identifying an incubator or investor focused on cybersecurity or social good.
5/8 users expressed overall low satisfaction with the website. Their dissatisfaction stemmed from the “clickbait-y” news positioned prominently on the homepage and frustration with the inability to filter results with the search browser.
Surprisingly, all 3 formal users expressed high satisfaction with the website even though they were unable to accomplish the task of finding an incubator with specialization in cybersecurity. I’m not exactly sure why this happened but I speculated it was because usertesting.com users are rated based on their feedback.

Evidence of inconsistencies

The following snapshots are taken from user tests conducted within a few hours of each other, yet each user received different feedback when typing the same keyword into the search browser on the Incubators/Accelerators page.

User #1 (1:47pm on 3–29–20)

User #2 (4:11pm on 3–29–20)

Since users would likely come to the website to browse incubators or investors, the search function is essential. If it does not work as intended, users will leave the site frustrated and find another website that better meets their needs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Simplify the homepage with one navigation/menu bar.
Improve search functionality and reliability, particularly for investor and incubator pages.
Investor and incubator page links should be more prominent.
Provide a discussion forum for entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate, and share information. (This is especially relevant given the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 and restrictions on social gatherings.)

Some additional suggestions noted through discussions with tech professionals:

Forum to discuss topics related to entrepreneurship, business and technology trends, including information on salaries and in-demand skills specific to DC.
Information about local in-person classes that would provide entrepreneurs with new skills and also networking opportunities

REFLECTION

In my market research, I noticed several other DC government websites with relevant information to DC entrepreneurs and small businesses that would be beneficial to either include or provide links to through the DC Tech Hub website. It would also be interesting to explore inclusivity as it relates to the tech hub website. There are so many underrepresented groups within the tech community that could benefit from events, forums, and connections geared toward their unique business growth needs.

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