Rethinking Atomic Research by introducing the RICE product prioritization framework
An inside look at how France TV, the French public broadcaster, developed their product strategy through Atomic Research
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Background
Michael Baeyens, Team Lead Designer, and I, Yolaine Mercier, Product Ops Manager, are commissioned to introduce user-centric and data-informed approaches at France TV. France TV is a big media company that consists of 8 digital products and 100+ people in the product organization (VP of Product, Heads of Product & Design, Product Managers, Product Owners, Product Designers, UX Researchers, QA and SEO experts).
The first step for us was to collect data: we needed to collect good quality data in the most efficient way. We immersed ourselves into the design and product teams. We started a lean approach by experimenting and testing Design Thinking workshops, Product Discovery methodologies, strategic framings and prioritization tools in order to find out our (perfect) product framework. Very quickly, we were able to build our own Double Diamond model, and fully integrate the Product Discovery approach and user-centric mindset into our product organization.
OK cool. So far so good right?
Problems and questions
This was only the beginning of a great adventure before we obtained any actionable insights for the product teams:
- With 8 products and 30+ UX Researchers and Product Managers, we received a large number of user insights in a very short time. As the VP of Product, a Product Manager or a Developer, how to find the right information I need, as quickly as possible?
- Insights came from our 8 different products and from different people. Sometimes it came in the form of a simple message sent to someone in the company. How do we maintain this log of insights? How do we create consistency in the documentation so that each product can use the data in the same way?
- User research is expensive. We estimate that 20% of user research for one specific product could be used to solve the problems of another one. How do we turn an individual initiative into a solution shared among other products? How can we be sure that we don’t already know the needs of the user?
- Our users are looking for a unified and fluid experience when they navigate between our 8 products. They don’t need to feel that in reality each product has its own organization and dedicated teams. How do we ensure the structure of our organization is not perceptible in the various user journeys of our products?
Solution
We didn’t believe it at first, but we came across one solution that worked. It’s called “Atomic Research”, and then it grew so big in our teams that it quickly became “Product Atomic Research”.
This approach allows teams to better analyze, share and act on the knowledge generated by your user research. You can read great articles from Daniel Pidcock and Tomer Sharon to better understand the Atomic Research model. To sum it up in one sentence:
“The concept is breaking UX knowledge down into its constituent parts:
Experiments “We did this…”
Facts “…and we found out this…”
Insights “…which makes us think this…”
Recommendations “…so we’ll do that.”
By breaking knowledge down like this, it allows for some extraordinary possibilities.”
And today, I can confirm this is true!
First of all, we had to adapt the initial Atomic Research model to our needs as an organization. We believe the “Product Atomic Research” method creates synergy with your teams and saves considerable time as you go through the Product Discovery process.
At France TV, Product Managers and UX Researchers work together on strategy and product roadmapping according to user research and Product Discovery results. It was not always the case, and we know several products in the market still work separately and do not work well together. It was therefore essential to change the last “Atomic Research” step, called “Recommendation”, to “Prioritized insights“ in order to directly integrate our prioritization methods to completely finalize the product thinking before moving on to OKRs and planning phases in our roadmaps.
Most of our Product Managers use the RICE methodology to prioritize. The framework was widely approved by several people internally, so we decided to formalize it more concretely within our Coda doc in the Prioritized insights page.
Benefits
We were able to accomplish a lot in just a few months for all 8 of France TV’s products. Thanks to Product Atomic Research and this Coda doc, we are sharing with great excitement, the benefits to our product organization:
Synergy
transversality of knowledge vertically and horizontally, between products and within products
We break all the silos that could exist between product and design teams (Heads of Product & Design, Product Managers, Product Owners, Product Designers and UX Researchers).
Symmetry
standardizing our ways of working when relevant
We collect all the knowledge in the same place and through the same framework for every member and every team.
Symbiosis
traceability of each action from end to end in the product chain
We organize all the data so that everyone can find the information they need as quickly as possible and can go back to the source of the data — thanks to good tags — and multiple ways of referencing information consistently.
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