By Meg Grounds (opens in new tab), Ph.D.
Once upon a time, when people worked together in offices and classrooms, they’d gather in conference rooms and brainstorm face to face. During those think sessions, ideas would be written across physical whiteboards and digital surfaces. These collaborations would become creative blueprints for future projects.
But with many offices and schools now closed because of COVID-19, people are having to re-imagine how they work together. If meetings in communal rooms are no longer possible, how will ideas be shared? And how will co-workers and students collaborate virtually on projects or assignments?
These questions served as an entry point for the Whiteboard research team as we began looking at ways to improve Whiteboard, Microsoft’s digital collaboration tool (opens in new tab). We wanted to understand how our customers are using the application, and how we can fill in the gaps between what they want and what is available.
The modern-day chalkboard
Invented in the 1960s, enamel whiteboards quickly became ubiquitous in meeting rooms, libraries, gyms, and any other communal space. Not surprisingly, this decades-old invention is one of the online whiteboard’s largest competitors. Those shiny and smooth tactile surfaces have certainly had universal appeal and staying power!
But as technology advanced the way that teams, employers, and teachers share ideas in a virtual space, digital designing platforms, and devices like Surface Hubs, became more relied upon for learning, sharing, and creative purposes. Students and teachers could communicate visually for assignments. Employees could easily share design ideas with their colleagues. And creatives could start their process on something as small as a cellphone screen.
Still, most of these scenarios required people gathering in one room—something that’s no longer possible because of COVID-19.
Whiteboarding without the physical element
Microsoft Whiteboard is a virtual workplace and intelligent canvas that allows its users to work in real time. They can participate from any device, anywhere. The app helps bring a collective imagination to life, as multiple users can collaborate, ideate, and solve problems at once, and in the same place.
For some, it has even filled a void created by the swift transition to remote work. As virtual employees and students, these users longed for their previous physical environments—spaces that typically included their beloved whiteboards. By using Whiteboard, some users feel connected to colleagues or teachers.
Since March, when many customers transitioned to work-from-home offices or distance learning, the Whiteboard Windows app, the web version, and the Teams version saw an exponential increase in usage. That growth has remained steady, as users continue to discover this design tool and look for new ways to maintain continuity with projects and communicate virtually (opens in new tab).
Shortcuts + Keystrokes
Because of the rapid adoption of Whiteboard on personal laptops, where the keyboard is the main input source, the research team needed to better understand our users’ mouse and keyboard interactions. Since the app was born on Surface hubs, user input is done by either touching the screen or using digital pens.
Studying how our users interacted with those keystrokes was helpful to improve their overall experience. We discovered that some users reported having expectations around using the ‘S’ key. When using a keyboard, users can rely on this key to save their work. So, they were surprised to discover that this keystroke corresponded to the ‘Select’ action, rather than the ‘Save’ action.
There was similar confusion around the keystroke for drawing a straight line. This was something many design users were excited to have available. Intuitively, they chose the letter ‘L’ (corresponding with the word ‘Line’). They discovered, however, that it required a different combination of the buttons—none of which included the letter ‘L’.
In another scenario, a user pointed out that multiple words can be used for one action item. For instance, the word for ‘eraser’ in the UK is ‘rubber’. The intuitive shortcut for them (the letter ‘R’) is different than those with the American understanding of the word (the letter ‘E’). Using a more universally accepted verb for that action would go far to help minimize confusion.
All this to say, users expect certain combinations of keystrokes, with specific letters, for specific actions. When there is a deviation from this norm, some users have difficulties. We recommend aligning Whiteboard’s often used keystrokes with what’s universally expected.
Back to work with Teams and Whiteboard
As more workplaces transition to all-virtual spaces, and usage increases across Teams, we’re learning from customers about their overall frustrations. These obstacles often stand in the way of remote collaboration.
To achieve more discoverability, and improve the Whiteboard’s integration with Teams, we interviewed a group of Information Workers (IWs) to learn how they interact with the app, and if they use it at all. The IWs were divided into two groups. There were active presenters, who typically draw on boards or gather information at meetings, and passive participants, who generally listen and provide verbal feedback.
As far as discoverability, some participants didn’t know that Whiteboard was available inside of Teams. Even though they’re in virtual meetings all day, and are familiar with Teams, they haven’t found Whiteboard. Only one user shared a scenario where their colleagues designed and brainstormed simultaneously—a feature of the app that allows multiple people to design and ideate at once.
Even with important information being shared in these virtual sessions, most users didn’t find value in revisiting old boards. They noted that they usually end their sessions and discard the work. If needed, they recreate the content. Because of this disposability, we’re considering an archiving or hide feature, where users can save and organize past boards.
On the contrary, several of the users reported that they liked the ability to download and export their boards as attachments. Making that feature more visible and easier to find would thus be beneficial.
As more users migrate to this virtual design space and continue replacing their physical whiteboards, we’ll update the blog. One design session at a time.
Do you use Whiteboard to collaborate? If so, how have your design sessions evolved with remote work and distance learning? Tweet us your thoughts @MicrosoftRI (opens in new tab) or join the conversation on Facebook (opens in new tab) and share your comments.
Meg Grounds is a UX researcher working on OneNote and Whiteboard with an interest in understanding collaboration experiences across different device form factors (Surface Hub down to mobile) using foundational, tactical, and mixed qual/quant methodologies. Before starting at Microsoft, Meg received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Washington where she investigated different cognitive and personality factors to explain human decision making, specifically weather and medical decisions. Before that she received a BA in Psychology and Mathematics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.