2u Internal Research Project
The Problem
The QA process included a total of 5 steps. We noticed several items were consistently missed during the process and wanted to analyze data from a variety of coordinators to determine if there were any strong trends to point towards what could be improved. By missing these items, we saw unnecessary QA and course iteration happening after the course launched and this caused 2U to waste team members’ time as well as the funds needed to complete these additional steps.
The Plan
We set out with several goals in mind, including:
Determine if the QA process data included themes in what was being missed
Present to QA team and discuss what can immediately be addressed within the themes
Provide recommendations for all coordinators moving forward
After documenting goals, we planned to review a 200+ data set of 5 coordinators’ comments from August 2019- January 2020. We compiled the data using Confluence, Jira, and Google Sheets.
The Data
We analyzed and categorized the data, mapping items missed with an internal checklist. We found four themes that had the most inconsistencies and we determined these trends. Below is the first chart of every single theme we found.
Categories Breakdown
The Presentations
We presented items missed to the QA team and brainstormed what could be done to fix these issues.
After the brainstorm session, we surveyed team members regarding their individual processes. We were hoping to answer the question, “What can we do to standardize the QA process between coordinators?”. We were able to pinpoint why items were being missed and what the team could do to ensure standardization.
From there, we presented our findings to major stakeholders at 2U and shared what the QA team’s plan was to remedy this issue.
The Result
After a month of implementing the new plan, we noticed the fifth step of QA was becoming obsolete. Coordinators were able to flag necessary items in 4 steps of QA and our team became more efficient and standardized. We recommended eliminating the fifth step of QA and were able to see this come to fruition. Because of our research, we were able to not only save 2U time and money and efficiently change an inner process, we also improved the usability of courses and the user experience for students.