This multi-phased research was in support of identifying and prioritizing feature(s) for an MVP web app

PROJECT SCOPE

Client: Starbucks
Timeframe: 7-weeks
My Role: Lead UX Researcher
Team: Senior Designer, Product Manager, Senior Egineer, Lead UX Researcher, Research Ops
Methods: Heuristic Evaluation, Competitive Analysis, Semi-structured Interviews, Secondary Research, and AWARE Analysis
Tools: Figma, Miro, Airtable, Zoom, AWARE

Overview

Store Partners reported that District Managers, during their routine visits to the store, have been asking partners to log into My Daily on the iPad to be able to see the information that was not available to them. We needed to learn more so we conducted 1:1 interviews with DMs last year to understand what was working well, what could be better, and opportunities for district managers. From our research, we discovered there was a use case for District Managers to have access to a web experience of My Daily. District Managers were given a web experience of My Daily rather than iPad because they most frequently use a laptop rather than an iPad to complete their work. We unlocked the My Daily experience to District Managers but did not personalize it to their role. District Managers had been using My Daily consistently, but their experience is not personalized for their needs. This led us to focus on our second phase of research, This multi-phased research is in support of identifying and prioritizing feature(s) for an MVP web app from the district manager partner perspective.

Methodology

Foundational Results

Who is a Starbucks District Manager?

A Starbucks District Manager (DM) is a person placed in charge of several Starbucks outlet managers. They work to ensure that the stores run smoothly, right from production and sales of products, to customer satisfaction. Simply put, a district manager at Starbucks makes sure that a set number of stores within a certain area (district) operate as best as they should.

Attributes of District Managers

Good organizational and planning skills
Ability to manage multiple stores independently
Knowledge in the restaurant industry or retail environment operations as well as experience in a multiunit environment.
Supervisory skills
Strong operational skills in a customer-service environment
Team-building skills
Ability to establish and build relationships
Excellent communication skills, both oral and written

Day to Day

Meetings and administrative tasks (interviewing, planning for store visits, email) are spread throughout the week and are about 20% of the time.

Manage a portfolio of millions in sales volume with an average team of 12 store managers.

 Plan time to review and analyze the PPK to determine impact to your partners and customers; clarify how priorities could impact partners differently

 Plan PPVs so time is spent where support is most needed

Review leading indicator data to be ready to support areas of opportunity for your team

Field Insights

Key takeaways

1. Days are filled with questions, and District Managers need to access information quickly DMs can more effectively prioritize their store visits. From their home, they can research the Daily Plans, ticket statues, timecards, To Dos, and other information about their stores and then use that information to determine which stores to visits and KPI's in their stores

2. District Managers need their own personalized app experience.The features in the app should be personalized based on the needs of the individual partner

3. Opportunity to provide a communication platform where District Managers can view all their store communications DMs can post messages that are accessible to all store partners. Can they post events to all stores.

4. District Managers spend a lot of time re-reviewing tickets. Tap into tickets where you can itemize, sort, go to its own page for DMs to filter their data. On the dashboard-Store level aggregate? Multi-store high level?

5. District Managers need to see sales data across all stores easily DMs want to have context to store issues and status before even walking through the front door. Metrics aggregated for scan- ability.

6. To Do Assignments for direct reports is important. Desire a way to create a daily recurring task for direct reports across their stores as well as for themselves, with predefined tasks instead of having to recreate them for each day.

7. Customer Connection Score accessible & easy to find. Both the business and the users want to be able to better track KPI's and understand the health in their stores at-a-glance at a district level.

Tools and Devices

“I want the ability that like collapse things down so that it’s not so much information on there. Like if we want to look at store walks, if we put that as a section, like a dashboard. And then maybe the ability to move things to the top. Like can that be front and center right when we open the app since it’s an important thing we’re
tracking”

— District Manager

The Solution

Based on feedback from our district managers, we identified several areas of feature enhancements to their current experience. District managers indicated to us what is most important to them regarding their job functions. From there they also indicated to us what they liked and disliked about these features of their current experience.

District Managers prioritize above all the communication and connection they have with their partners. When asked what they most would want to change about their current experience it was their communication.
Following communication, it was how they handle their current tickets. We were able to follow how they are currently handling their tickets and observed several pain points in the process.
The third biggest ask from partners was to add in the option for them to also be able to track To dos. They loved seeing the feature available to their SMs and retail partners. We saw in stores how they encouraged their partners to utilize the feature and how they want the same functionality.

What District Managers would visit My Daily for District Managers and creating a navigation to cater to that

Long Term Product Vision

The features in the app should be personalized based on the needs of the individual partner. There is opportunity to provide a communication platform where District Managers can view all their store communications to better align with store health.
A place where they can manage replies and notifications like the create groups with their direct reports or manage activity since their last login.
District Managers spend a lot of time re-reviewing tickets ❑ Tap into tickets where you can itemize, sort ❑ Go to its own page for DMs to filter their data.
District Managers need to see data across all stores easily. One place that has all intraday Sales and COSDs for all stores in the district in one location with the ability for District Managers to easily compare, sort by columns, see totals/averages, and filter by store if they expand into larger pages. To Do Assignments for direct reports is important
Avoid micro-managing but still give access that allow District Managers to track their tasks and task of their direct reports to allow for better prioritization of their work and their teams work.
Allow for reoccurring task creations, tasks that need to be completed each week. I.e., timesheets, Daily Plan posts, to be automated. Customer Connection Score accessible & easy to find