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OPEN LETTER TO THE DESIGN TEAM
The "new look" Community was introduced on 4 February 2019.
Although members of the Community had previously been invited to submit suggestions, the "new look" appeared without any prior notification. Within hours, members of the Community were voicing their concerns over problems, so much so that by 6.30pm the Community Manager had noted the issues in respect of the 02 menu, log-in to the Community, navigation of the Community, the size and image of the banner header, unread private messages, access to and categories on homepage, and that sections, which had previously had only taken one click from a section on display on the home page, now necessitated a minimum of three clicks to reach the section sought.
Since these initial objections, the main thread on this has reached 18 pages with 177 posts [New Community Homepage Is Live! - https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Welcome-News/New-Community-homepage-is-live/m-p/1196491/highlight/true... and, in addition, other threads have highlighted concerns over specific issues.
It is important, at this point, to emphasise that members of the Community have a wealth of experience and knowledge across a wide range of disciplines and fields - including but not exclusively, product development and testing, technology, telecommunications, webdesign, marketing and promotions, customer care - all of which enables them to give advise to 02 customers experiencing difficulties, and produce reviews of the latest products and services.
These members are the backbone of the Community and its very lifeblood. Their freely offered posts are appreciated by users.
From the moment the first post was made on the Community voicing concerns over the changes and until now, not once has any member of the Design team issued a statement on the Community. Instead, they have relied on the Community Managers to compile the objections and to try and reassure the members that the concerns have been passed to the Design team. Members of the Community have been informed that the Design team are considering what changes can be made.
All of that leads to the crux of this Open Letter, which is put forward following discussion via pm with many of the regular members of the Community.
The objections to the changes are not because of a reluctance to accept changes. Changes should be an improvement. If that was the case in respect of the overall of the Community then the changes would be warmly embraced.
That is not the case.
Normally, in business practice, designers (whether in-house, external, or outside commercial companies) are briefed as to what is required. Designers not only rely on the brief but make their own inquiries, including a sample of the customer base.
Before the product or service is launched, packaging, content, suitablility, "fit for purpose", are tested in a sample area. Concerns are noted, changes are made to the suggested new product or service and trialled again.
We would suggest that certain regular users of this Community are involved in any changes the Design team submit. This would include the Community banner and navigation around the Community.
Rather than allow any changes to be foistered on the Community members, it is proposed that, at each stage, the Design team "meet" on the Community with a small number of members, representing the Community members, and for consultative meetings to be held.
Such consultative meetings will give both sides - the Community members` representatives and the Design team - the opportunity to discuss, in a positive way, how improvements can be made to the satisfaction of all concerned.
It is also proposed that, before implementing any changes, that the Design team submit their proposals, including a sample template of the banner, at the consultative meeting, where it can be openly and freely discussed, and for the Design team to take away any comments, and, if necessary, submit a revised proposal - again before being implemented - to the Community members` representatives.
These proposals will fulfill the criteria by which designers, companies, and services base their mission statement "to meet customers` needs".
The members of the Community trust that these proposals will be taken seriously and positively by the Design team and look forward to the first consultative meeting.
Footnote: The Community Managers have been asked to copy and print out this Open Letter and deliver it to the Design team. In so doing, it should not be taken, nor does it imply, that the Community Managers support or endorse, in whole or part, this Open Letter but are acting merely on behalf of the members of the Community to ensure that this Open Letter is delivered to the right people.
Mi-Amigo
on behalf of the Community Members` representatives.
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@EmilieT; @Marjo ; or @Martin-O2
This thread, and the Open Letter to the Design Team, has been the result of discussions via pms with a large number of long-time and regular users of the Community.
As you will see from the Footnote, we are asking, because the Design team have not replied to any post nor issued a statement, if you could kindly print out this Open Letter and deliver it to the Design team on our behalf.
To be clear, as stated, in so doing we are not implying, nor should it be taken, that any Community Manager agrees with, supports, endorses in part or whole any of the comments in the Open Letter but are merely acting as couriers to the Design team .
Thank you
on behalf of the representatives of the Community members
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A very well constructed letter covering all the points the regulars find frustrating.
I know tweaks and minor improvements have been made and for me, the return of the number of PMs was probably the best thing to see
However, navigating the forum is cumbersome. It isn't an improvement.
The banner takes up a massive amount of space and needs to go as soon as possible
The three click process is a particular annoyance to me. Before, these were on the home page in sections. Payg, Pay Monthly, Apple, Samsung, Other products et al. Now we have to....
1) Explore the forum
2) Be taken to a section devised by a community manager
3) Find the section you want from within that post and access the section you want. A very retrograde step
As for the forum banner. Let me show you the old header
Each of those headers gave a drop down box containing all the info we needed to answer a question quickly.
Our sole aim is being here to help people asking for advice and support. It's now taking people like me 3 times as long to do that.
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I am also of the opinion that the design team are hoping we will all get used to the new layout.
I never will. The search bar in the banner remains as useless as it ever was and I find myself googling more info than I have ever done before.
Basically, from a users perspective, this layout is not fit for purpose.
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I agree completely, navigation is a total pain, even logging in on a post page requires you to look all over looking for the log in text at very bottom, a text that should be at the top.
On the whole, the design is completely out of sync with the rest of the O2 site and at first glance, appears to be unrelated to the official site completely.
On the whole, the design is completely out of sync with the rest of the O2 site and at first glance, appears to be unrelated to the official site completely.
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I am wholly in agreement with @Mi-Amigo's open letter and agree with every point he has made.
@Cleoriff and @viridis also make very good points which I also agree with.
We were accused by a new member of not liking change, our biggest problem. Now I'm all for change that helps me work faster and smarter. Unfortunately, the changes made mean I work slower wasting my time navigating the forum when I should be answering a query.
The search box, a waste of space as you can never find what you want. I use Google for every search I do which never fails to provide the answer I'm looking for.
The banner is too big, takes up too much space and doesn't really reflect what this community is all about.
I also expect, as @Cleoriff has so correctly stated, the designers think we will eventually get used to the new design and quietly go away. Not going to happen, chaps. We'll keep complaining until you pay attention and do something substantive about our concerns.
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Just ONE example of time wasting. Take the heading Connectivity in the old banner'
In this CONNECTIVITY drop down box we had info about 4G and Wifi calling, Network Status, 4G, O2 Wifi, Wifi on the London Underground.
Now with that gone, I have to google for someone's network status, google for the up to date list on phones compatible with WiFi Calling and Google for O2 Wifi. In fact I am googling everything, or referring to old links in One Note.
If a mathematician could add up the additional time this takes me, I'm sure we would be shocked.
It's nothing to do with getting in first. Who cares about that?
It's all about giving the correct answer to a new member as quickly as possible.
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Very valid comments made by @Cleoriff
I have made a comparison of the 02 Community with that of a rival provider and found on their forum:
the banner is one-third the depth of that of the 02 Community with crystal clear images of users using their products
a narrow toolbar across the top with one click to Mobile; Broadband; their My ?; Help & Info
a site map on this the home page: each reached with one click
Welcome to the Community Mobile Devices Services
About the Community - Network queries
Latest News Home Broadband - Pay Monthly
Off topic - PAYG
Which begs the question, why cannot 02 Community users have the ease of navigating our site?
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@Mi-Amigo wrote:Very valid comments made by @Cleoriff
I have made a comparison of the 02 Community with that of a rival provider and found on their forum:
the banner is one-third the depth of that of the 02 Community with crystal clear images of users using their products
a narrow toolbar across the top with one click to Mobile; Broadband; their My ?; Help & Info
a site map on this the home page: each reached with one click
Welcome to the Community Mobile Devices Services
About the Community - Network queries
Latest News Home Broadband - Pay Monthly
Off topic - PAYG
Which begs the question, why cannot 02 Community users have the ease of navigating our site?
@Mi-Amigo That's pretty much how our home page used to look. It contained all those elements in blue boxes. One click and you were there.
For new members it gave them a clearly laid out format, so they could access the correct section easily.
For the regulars, it served exactly the same purpose. As said previously, it allowed us to post something quickly in that section if WE had queries.
