Introduction

& Overview

Cisco Webex Teams

A software for online collaboration that helps corporate users stay connected anytime, anywhere through messaging, file sharing, video meetings, white-boarding, and calling.

Usability Study Overview

The purpose of this study was to discover how effectively and efficiently the Webex Teams app supports key white-boarding tasks, and identify possible usability flaws of the whiteboard feature that are detrimental to a successful collaborative remote meeting on iPads. Some of the research questions the test was designed to address are:

1. How easy or difficult is the whiteboard feature to learn and use? 

2. How effectively does the whiteboard feature support remote collaboration on iPad in terms of efficiency and accessibility?

Target Audience

The test included 4 participants who were all information workers with over 2 years of working experience and had remote online meetings for at least 3 times per week, and each meeting should last longer than 15 minutes. All participants had also never used an iPad or white-boarding feature for collaborative remote meetings. We recruited a mix of genders and professions for exchange of a $10 Starbuck gift card. 

Overall Findings

Our research revealed several positive trends in the white-boarding experience.

In the post-test questionnaire, participants were fairly satisfied with the whiteboard feature for online collaboration and expressed positive comments about the whiteboard feature think it is fairly effective in helping online collaboration.

However, participants have issues collaborating and performing tasks on the whiteboard which is detrimental to a successful online collaborative meeting.

Primary Usability Issues

(High Severity)

Issue 1

Whiteboard Sharing Status: It’s not clear whether the whiteboard is shared

Severity Level 1: Prevents task completion

A significant delay entails the unclear sharing status. And this issue brought about a large portion of complaints and imposed a negative effect on overall satisfaction. 

• 4/4 participants assumed if they created a whiteboard during a meeting, the whiteboard was automatically shared while it was not 

• 4/4 participants didn't find the whiteboard wasn't shared until asked the collaborator 

• 1/4 participant found the whiteboard wasn't shared after had worked on the whiteboard for more than 30 seconds 

• 4/4 Participants expressed confusion knowing the collaborator didn't see the whiteboard they created 

• After communicated with the collaborator, 4/4 participants found the shared button and get the whiteboard shared in 5-10 seconds 

• 2/4 participants expressed confusion about whether the blank space popped up on the screen was the whiteboard shared by the collaborator 

• 1/4 participant was in a panic. He showed significant confuse and spent more than one minute to find the whiteboard shared with him but eventually failed    

Supporting Quotes:

"I think this whiteboard is already shared with Jane, and I suppose Jane can see what I'm doing....or can she?" - P4

"It took me 10s to look around and figure out how to share the whiteboard. This option is not that obvious" - P2

"Oh, that(the whitespace) is a whiteboard. Could you draw something?" "You've already drawn something on it? Wait. Let me find the whiteboard first, for I don't see the thing you drew on the whiteboard." - P2 

Recommendation

The goal of the whiteboard feature is to support efficient and effective online collaboration. However, the vague sharing status is a huge barrier to that goal. We recommend showing the sharing status on the screen clearly and notify the users every time a whiteboard is shared by or to them. 

Issue 2

Whiteboard Editing Status: It’s not clear whether shared whiteboard is editable 

Severity Level 1: Prevents task completion

When a whiteboard is shared by the collaborator to the participants, participants had no problem viewing the shared whiteboard, but they couldn’t collaborate on the whiteboard due to the lack of drawing options. The only option available is “Stop Sharing” which caused further confusion because participants were not the one sharing it in the first place. 

• 4/4 Participants were confused about whether the whiteboard is editable due to the lack of drawing options. 

• 2/4 Participants thought they needed the collaborator to grant them access in order to edit on the whiteboard.

  Supporting Quotes

"Oh I see Jane is sharing a whiteboard but I don't see any color options or any options here, I feel I cannot collaborate with her on the whiteboard" - P1

"Do you enable some option so that I can edit, because I can't see options to work on it"; "I can't find a way to do it" - P2   

"Again, the stop sharing is weird, whose whiteboard is it?” - P4 

Recommendation

We suggest notifying the users when they are allowed to edit on the whiteboard and provide them with drawing 

Issue 3

Whiteboard Retrievability  - It is hard to retrieve the shared whiteboard

Severity Level 1: Prevents task completion

When the shared whiteboard is not edible, participants realized that they had to search for the shared whiteboard somewhere else. In order for them to retrieve the whiteboard shared by the collaborator, they had to first leave the meeting interface, tap on the menu button, and select the whiteboard icon to get into the respiratory that stores all the shared whiteboards. 

• 4/4 Participants were confused as they were not given any prompts on how to retrieve the shared whiteboard

• 4/4 Participants spent quite a bit time on exploring how to retrieve the shared whiteboard. 

Supporting Quotes:

"It took me 3 steps to open the board that the collaborator is working on, made me go through a difficult path. I think once it's shared, it will let me edit the whiteboard." --P4 

"No prompt as to where to go as a first time user, slack gives indicators.” --P2 

Recommendations

We have two suggestions that we would like to make to streamline the whiteboard sharing process. Same as the previous recommendation, if drawing options are available on the shared whiteboard, users don’t have to go through the trouble of retrieving the whiteboard. The other way could be providing prompts to users on where to go to retrieve the shared whiteboard.  

Secondary Usability Issues 

(Medium Severity)

Issue 1

Whiteboard Repository - It’s difficult to identify the right board in the repository

Severity Level 2: Creates significant delay and frustration

All participants found there were too many screens with no names making it hard to find the relevant one and had difficulty in finding the whiteboard which was shared by the collaborator. 

• 4/4 participants found there were too many screens with no names making it hard to find the relevant one 

• 4/4 participants had difficulty in finding the whiteboard which was shared by the collaborator 

Supporting quotes 

"I am not sure which whiteboard is the right one, I think naming it might help" -P4

"Considering the scenario where there are multiple boards, it will be difficult to find the board" - P1

"while it is easy to revisit the whiteboard, I can see a lot of whiteboard on the screen...[not labeled, so it's hard to find the target one" - P3       

Recommendation 

We would recommend improving the user flow by simplifying the whiteboard retrieving process through thoughtful reductions and enhance the retrievability of the whiteboard by minimizing users’ cognitive load. For example, giving contextual hints of how to retrieve a whiteboard or providing options for users to name the whiteboard.  

Issue 2

Unclear Icon -It’s difficult to identify the sticky note icon

Severity Level 3: Problems have a minor effect on usability 

All the participants failed to identify the sticky note icon when asked to describe what they observe on the whiteboard landing page. Three out of the four participants didn’t realize that it was a sticky note icon until they were specifically asked to add a sticky note by the collaborator. Thus, the impact caused is confusion as to what the icon actually is. 

• 3 /4 participants (P1, P2, P4) failed to recognize the icon. These participants were able to recognize when they were specifically asked to add a sticky note. 

• 1/4 participants (P3) thought it was an icon for new page 

Supporting Quotes: 

"Oh, I am not sure what this button is" - P4 

"After I was told to add a sticky note it was obvious that it's that icon, then it was pretty easy to write on it." - P1 

"I would not have known the sticky note was right there unless John had told me. The only reason was I thought that meant it's a new page." - P3 

Recommendation 

We suggest making the sticky note icon more distinguishable from the new page icon or adding in the tooltip which will help the user better identify the icon. We also suggest adding an app tour for first-time users. 

Conclusion

Research Question Recap

RQ 1:   How easy or difficult is the whiteboard feature to learn and use? 

While the whiteboard feature is fairly easy to learn and use, the whiteboard fails to notify the participant when and where they are able to edit the whiteboard. 

RQ 2:  How effectively does the whiteboard feature support remote collaboration on iPad in terms of efficiency and accessibility?

In addition to being supportive in collaborative remote meetings on the iPad, the whiteboard succeeds in efficiency and accessibility through simple illustrative tasks. However, most participants suggest that there should be more options to support more difficult tasks. 

Recommendations

Keep Users Better Informed

• Timely feedback regarding whiteboard sharing and editing status 

  • Notify the users when whiteboard is shared or being shared to them

  • Notify the users when they are able to edit on the whiteboard

  • Notify the users who’s also viewing and editing on the whiteboard 

• Effective visual communications

  • Distinguish the Sticky Notes icon from the New Page icon

Improve the User Flow

• Simplify the whiteboard retrieving process through thoughtful reductions

• Enhance retrievability of the whiteboard by minimizing users’ cognitive load

  • Contextual hints of how to retrieve a whiteboard

  • Naming the whiteboard

Empower Users to Better Communicate Ideas

•  Consider adding more options on existing features

  • Stroke/Pen brush size

  • Color pallet

  • Fill option

Next Steps

Further Testing

For this study, we recruited participants who are first time users of both iPad and the whiteboard feature for this test because this is the first usability test conducted on the whiteboard feature on iPad and we tried to get as many insights as possible from the first-timers’ experience. However, the work dynamics are complex. Therefore, we would recommend Cisco Webex Teams to consider, for further testing on the whiteboard feature on iPad: 

• Develop an in-depth understanding of following user groups:

  • No experience on using an iPad but have experience on white-boarding 

  • No experience on white-boarding but have experience in using an iPad

  • Experienced Webex users on iPad 

  • Experienced Webex users on iPad with the same profession 

• Conduct more complex collaboration tasks that involve accessories such as Apple pen and keyboard. 

From our usability sessions, participants raised several issues that we would also recommend Cisco Webex Teams to consider for further testing: 

• Most participants suggested that there should be more options on the whiteboard canvas to support more difficult tasks. We would recommend adding more drawing options. 

• Participants mentioned that they would want to know who is viewing or editing the whiteboard in real-time and what they are working on. We would recommend adding a real-time status update for each user. 

• Several participants mentioned that it is not clear if the whiteboard is shared and not efficient for them to save the whiteboard outside the canvas. We would recommend allowing users to quickly save the whiteboard. 

Lessons Learned

• Make sure to get the right study scope with right target audience

• The study results heavily rely on the accuracy of the script

• Always included some buffer time when scheduling tests

• Important to make participants feel comfortable & safe

• Debriefing immediately after the meeting since things start to fade out

• Team work and good communication is the key to success

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