The opportunity
How can we make a headset catered towards business use?
Cisco had a wide portfolio of communications equipment – phones, telepresence, mobile phones, and call center software. The goal was to make a whole portfolio of headsets which worked very well with other Cisco hardware and software.
Customer empathy
Survey
Surveyed internal and external users on their current headset use habits and about their preferences on headset style, color, and features.
Collected morphological data
Measured internal employees across several dimensions and sourced military data for head sizes. The military data wasn’t that useful because it was regionalized and only men. We noticed that Scandinavian soldiers had taller, narrower heads and Korean men had wider, rounder heads.
Metrics
Reviewed internal data on actual headset use with Cisco Webex and Cisco desk phones. We could see, for example, mute was the most used button by a large margin.
Competitive analysis
- Bought every headset that could be considered a competitor.
- Documented packaging materials, took screenshots of every screen of the companion app, checked compatibility with common calling and video platforms, reviewed online support portals, and performed heuristic evaluation of the industrial design.
- Added feature list, button mapping, and LED states to a master spreadsheet.
- Used each headset for a few days and took acoustic performance, comfort, fit, weight, and tightness ratings from a set of internal users.
Headset interaction design
Design challenge: blind control!
- Specified all the interactions for how the headset behaves generally and when used with Cisco calling applications.
- Directed the sound and prompt design (prompts come in over 15 languages!)
- Contributed toward the button and LED layout in the industrial design
Human factors
Design challenge: fighting for mute on the mic boom, prompt localization, headset extension, and tightness issues
Cisco sells worldwide, so it was important that the headset prompts were localized. On the basic headsets, we had very limited memory so we used tones that were code generated. The mid tier headsets had sound files saved on the headset. And the most premium headsets had voice prompts in 19 different languages. Users could also choose between the tones and the voice prompts through the companion app.
App integration
Supported Webex desktop, Cisco headsets mobile app, and web app
All of our headsets are supported for updates and settings changes in the Webex, mobile, and web apps.
I wrote and maintained the specification for each headset (8) and camera (2) that had its own set of features, settings, and instructions.
Webex app
I provided the update and settings change flows for the WebEx app.
I wireframed and wrote the content for the first time setup wizard.
I wireframed and wrote the content for the first time setup wizard.
The goals were to give the user a premium experience and educate them on the most important headset features.
We needed to balance the desire to show more about the headset and keep it brief so that users wouldn’t get bored or annoyed.
Headset mobile app
- Wrote the IA for this app.
- Art directed and wrote the How-To help articles and first time setup (briefer and with animations).
- Specced the BT pairing flows and error cases where the headset is not paired, paired but not connected, etc.
Web app
Biggest challenges: the length of the update time and the technical limitations with connecting to the headset through a browser.
We needed to map out all the ways that something could go wrong and how to get the user back on track.
We also had to write a lot of error messages and text to tell the user that they need to act.
This application was mainly used by developers, early adopters, and IT users with more technical savvy than average.
Control hub
- Worked with the Control Hub (cloud) and Call Manager (On-Premise) teams to manage each headset through the web portal application.
- Provided schema for each headset including settings profile, defaults, official name, and trackable metrics.
- Provided SVG assets of each headset.
Packaging and documentation
Starting off right!
- Provided content for the in-box getting started card and gift box.
- User-tested the in-box documentation and made improvements.
- Laid out our green packaging initiative to eliminate paper documentation. We printed a help QR code on the box and improved our online help articles.
User testing
During a pandemic!
- Recruited internal users for human factors testing (and coordinated pandemic-era logistics for shipping devices!)
- Recruited external users through usertesting.com to test Figma click through prototypes of the headset setup and tutorial.
- Created scripts for the ux researcher to use while administering the test.
- Analyzed and presented results in a digestible format for stakeholders.
Retrospective testing
- Completed under my own initiative with no money!
- Wrote a survey on headset use and behaviors. Solicited input from other designers, PM, IT, and Engineering leads
- Hunted down my own leads on internal customer deployments that were over a year old
- Surveyed internal users who received and used cisco headsets, but were NOT involved in the development
- Analyzed and presented the results to stakeholders with recommendations for future headsets