Data Maturity Assessment – User Research

Overview

There is a lack of understanding of FCDO’s current data maturity level, without which the organisation will not be able to define and prioritise challenges to focus effort and resources on.

Outcome

• A baseline of FCDO’s data maturity, utilising the UK Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) Data Maturity Assessment (DMA) framework, with good practices and areas of development identified.
• A collection of personas and user journey maps to better illustrate the pain points and challenges faced by people in different roles and functions across FCDO.

My Roles & Responsibilities

I was involved as a user researcher, working with various other teams within FCDO and an external consultant, as part of the project team to deliver a Data Maturity Assessment (DMA) for the organisation, assessing how people across FCDO are using and managing data.

Research Methodology

• A total of 52 research activities, including 31 interviews, 19 workshops and 2 observations were conducted with 56 people across different roles and functions and seniorities within the organisation, who are based both in the UK and in posts.
• Research data was synthesised to gain insights as to how data is being used and managed day to day.
• Personas and user journey maps were created to illustrate the challenges and aspirations, relating to using and managing data, of people in different roles and functions across the organisation.

User Groups

Five user groups were identified and the user research involved engaging with people belonging to each user group to mature our understanding of their goals, motivations, behaviours, needs and pain points.

People can also belong to more than one user group.

Personal Takeaways

1. People View Data Differently Based on Their Roles

Takeaway: Data means different things to different people. Some see it as a powerful decision-making tool, while others see it as an administrative burden. Understanding these perspectives was crucial in helping me frame the right questions during the user research sessions.

Future Application: When conducting user research, I will tailor my approach based on the user’s familiarity and attitude toward the subject matter, to ensure meaningful engagement.

2. Asking the Right Questions is More Important Than Having the Right Answers

Takeaway: Data can be an abstract concept, and some users struggle to articulate their challenges. Instead of pushing for specific answers, I learned to ask open-ended, exploratory questions that helped them uncover their real pain points.

Future Application: For user research activities, there is a need to focus on framing questions that encourage storytelling in order to uncover deeper insights rather than just gathering direct responses.

3. People Are Often Unaware of Their Own Data Habits

Takeaway: Many users thought they were making “data-driven” decisions, but their actual workflows relied more on intuition or convenience. Observing their processes uncovered gaps they weren’t consciously aware of.

Future Application: I will integrate more observational research methods alongside interviews, as what people say and what they actually do, can oftenly differ.

4. Building Trust is Key to Meaningful Conversations

Takeaway: Some research participants were initially hesitant to share pain points, likely due to their fear of being judged for not knowing enough about data or not engaging with good data practices. It can take time to build trust and create a safe space for them to open up and share their experience candidly.

Future Application: Rapport-building with the research participant is important during research, emphasising that the goal is to understand their experiences within their roles, and not to assess their performance as individuals.

5. Cross-Organisational Research Provides Deep Organisational Insights

Takeaway: The wide variety of research participants that I’ve interviewed, enabled a new joiner like me at the time, a fast track to make sense of the organisation, being able to make connections of the how different job roles are linked together.

Future Application: In future research projects, I will leverage cross-departmental studies not only to gather insights but also to map out organisational workflows and relationships. Understanding how different roles connect helps in designing more holistic, user-centric solutions that align with the broader system.

Outcomes

A collection of personas and user journey maps were created as complementary materials that would enrich the main paper, which was mainly text based, allowing the reader to understand the nuances of how data is being used and managed in different job roles, even though they might belong to the same user group.

There are generally three slides per user persona, with more details below, to flesh out how different job roles in different locations across this diverse organisation might work with data.

The third slide features the different kind of data roles that the user performs, with elaboration on the role and function. A quote associated with the use and management of data by the user is also included.