Objective

To conduct in-person user research with core customers to gather deeper insights into their company strategy, evolving business needs, product feedback, and co-creating pathways for future growth.

Emotional goal: Come back discovering what we don’t know and reinforcing the “partner, not vendor” narrative by collaborating closely with our customers.

Participants

• Team members:
  • Rishi: Lead researcher, responsible for coordinating logistics and designing engagement materials.
  • Dhruv: Customer liaison, focused on identifying participants and facilitating conversations.
  • CSM team: Mandeep and Adriel, supporting engagement and execution.
• Customers: Selected from Atlan’s European customer base for their:
  • Stage in the customer journey.
  • Openness to in-person engagement.
  • Geographical accessibility.
  • Willingness to invest time in planning for the upcoming year.

Steps and process

1. Planning phase

1. We began by reviewing customer lists to identify participants:
   1. Selection criteria: Customers providing critical product feedback or at pivotal adoption stages
   2. Focus areas: Insights on collaboration challenges, data workflows, and team dynamics.
2. We coordinated with internal teams to align on company strategy:
   1. Key areas of focus included Atlan’s vision for collaborative data management and its roadmap for new features.
   2. We discussed how insights could directly influence product iterations and marketing narratives. These insights directly shaped engineering cycles for new features and marketing initiatives, such as the ‘Data in Transit’ LinkedIn series.

2. Variables to consider (we never worried about these in the Zoom world!)

1. Travel constraints:
   1. Navigating city-to-city logistics was a stark contrast to Zoom’s convenience. On Zoom, we could conduct multiple meetings on the same day.
   2. In the real world, we had to account for delays, meeting reschedules, and unforeseen issues like lost luggage. How do you really get things done if you lose your luggage and have nothing to wear? (This happened twice with us, haha!)
2. Customer dynamics:
   1. Creating psychologically safe environments was crucial for honest discussions. Power dynamics within customer teams influenced how openly feedback was shared.
      1. When leaders from various business vertices join the same room, they may not share openly.
      2. Workplace dynamics also come into place – no one wants to appear as if they don’t know about something. In the real world, this adds a lot of friction in getting to know the true feelings.
   2. Icebreakers became essential to bring everyone together (physically and mentally) in the same room, so they can truly collaborate.
3. Material preparedness:
   1. We designed custom engagement tools, such as scribble cards to encourage brainstorming.
   2. Supplies like sticky notes, markers, and whiteboards supported on-the-spot ideation.
4. Human dynamics:
   1. Energy management was critical. Post-breakfast or post-lunch lulls were real. How do we ensure folks can participate and do it well? How do we bring the energy to the room?
   2. Maintaining attention was also crucial. How do we ensure we can continue to capture the attention of the individual especially when in a physical room? Just because folks are not on their phone or laptop doesn’t mean they are present. So, we designed special physical cards where people could scribble without judgement from peers.
   3. Right at the beginning of the conversation, we also established that these notes are meant for scribbling, drawing, ideating, so the mind can be agile and has space for imagination.
5. Environment design:
   1. From curated music to welcoming activities, we aimed to create a space that felt open, positive, and inspiring. When the customers enter the room, they need to feel the space is for them to free up and let their thoughts flow. If we fail here, we can’t spend any quality time together.
   2. We planned meetings around customers’ schedules, ensuring peak energy levels. We meticulously designed each 15-minute part of the day we spent together. As a result, customers had space to engage in deep focus, let their minds run wildly, and imagine future worlds together.

3. Execution

1. On-site activities:
   • Hosted icebreaker sessions to relax participants and build rapport.
   • Conducted structured feedback sessions focused on:
     • Usability of Atlan’s features.
     • Challenges with data collaboration and workflow management.
     • Suggestions for feature improvements.
     • Strategic alignment with customers’ long-term data goals.
   • Leveraged physical tools (scribble cards, stationery) to encourage participation and creativity.
2. Customer feedback highlights:
   • Several customers praised Atlan’s intuitive interface, but highlighted a need for better cross-departmental data sharing. Because multiple teams were together, we could do deep discovery!
   • The scribble cards were a huge hit–one participant even took extras home for her daughter, saying “My daughter will love these”!

We learned tons of things from the roadshow about usability, company strategy, and more. And all of that is great of course, but this was my absolutely favorite moment from the workshop!