User Flows And Pathways

We solved half the problem & thought we bridged the gap. Ever worked on a solution that looked perfect on paper… but ended up creating more problems than it solved? That’s exactly what happened when I was called in to review a telehealth solution. It was well-designed, checked all the cybersecurity boxes, & allowed patients to consult doctors remotely. The project requirement was clear: enable remote consultations. And the solution delivered exactly that. But here’s the thing: While healthcare systems often operate in silos, patients experience their care as one continuous journey. And this solution missed critical parts of that journey: 🔸 No easy way to book follow-ups. Patients had to call, leading to missed care. 🔸 Medication collection still required hours of travel, making the platform’s convenience meaningless. 🔸 Administrative staff were overloaded, causing delays in care coordination. We solved one problem & unintentionally created three more. The solution was designed for the system’s convenience, not the patient’s journey. To shift the perspective, we expanded the conversation to include voices we hadn’t considered: 🔸 Pharmacists: To integrate medication delivery into the process 🔸 Community Health Workers: To provide local, hands-on support 🔸 Family Caregivers: To highlight logistical & emotional challenges at home 🔸 IT Teams: To automate follow-ups & reduce administrative burden 🔸 Local Transport Providers: To enable last-mile delivery of medications With these insights, we redesigned the solution into a comprehensive care experience: ✅ Patients could book follow-ups easily & get automated reminders ✅ Medications were delivered directly to their homes ✅ Caregivers & community workers ensured patients didn’t fall through the cracks I later learned that: 🔸 Missed follow-ups dropped by 40%. 🔸 Medication adherence & health outcomes improved significantly. The redesigned platform didn’t just connect patients to doctors, it completed the care journey. Next time you’re working on a solution, consider these points: 1️⃣ Patients see one journey While systems operate in silos, patients experience care as a unified process. 2️⃣ Identify all stakeholders Both direct & indirect voices like caregivers, pharmacists & community workers, are essential to closing gaps. 3️⃣ Design for continuity Address every touchpoint in the patient’s journey, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. Have you worked on solutions where overlooked stakeholders made all the difference? What’s one gap you discovered that changed everything? #DigitalHealth #Innovation #HealthcareTransformation #PatientExperience #Collaboration 💡This post is part of 'Rethinking Digital Health Innovation' (RDHI), empowering professionals to transform digital health beyond IT and AI myths. 💡Find the ongoing series and resources on our companion website (URL in comments). 💡 Repost if this message resonates with you!

Beyond getting the code to work, a developer should step into the shoes of other roles to bridge the gap between 'Code and Customer value'.   Think like a, 🤔    👉 Product : 🔹 How is this feature helping users ? Is it solving a pain point ? 🔹 What is the impact it brings in - Is it engagement, retention or conversions ? 🔹 What success metrics looks like ? What are the measurable KPI's ? 🔹 Do we have the right instrumentation for measuring it in production ? 🔹 What is your A/B strategy ?    👉 Designer : 🔹 Is the design intuitive enough ? 🔹 Is it visually appealing to the user ? 🔹 Does it simplify or complicate the user journey ? 🔹 Are you using patterns that User are already familiar with ?    👉 QA Engineer : 🔹 What are all the edge cases beyond happy flows ? 🔹 How am I gracefully handling on all the errors, timeouts & failures ? 🔹 What is the impact to customer under high load ? 🔹 Is the experience same across different devices or network conditions ?   Most importantly,    👉 Be your own Customer : 🔹 Is the feature intuitive and straight forward to use ? 🔹 Are there any unnecessary steps, delays or friction ? 🔹 Is it Fast & Responsive ? 🔹 Is navigating from one screen to another seamless ? 🔹 Is data parity maintained throughout the App ? 🔹 Are the messages or nudges you see are clear and concise, but not too overwhelming ?   This mindset ensures that every feature not only functions correctly but also delivers a compelling user experience in the products we build. 🚀🚀   #tech #careergrowth #myntra

Bridging the Gap: Fixing the Online-to-Offline Disconnect for Gen Z Shoppers Retailers talk about “connected retail”—seamless experiences, digital integration, and meeting customers where they are. Yet, for Gen Z—the most digitally savvy yet least brand-loyal generation—there’s still a glaring disconnect between online discovery and in-store experience. The Problem: A Fragmented Shopping Journey Gen Z’s path to purchase isn’t linear: • They discover products on TikTok, Instagram, or Snap. • They engage—saving, sharing, or adding to cart. • They expect instant access—online or in-store. But the in-store experience fails to acknowledge their digital footprint: • No connection between online and offline – A shopper who engages online walks into a store with no guidance, wayfinding, or acknowledgment of their interest. • Lack of real-time insights for associates – Store staff don’t have access to customer browsing data, leaving shoppers to navigate alone. • Missed conversion opportunities – Instead of real-world nudges, retailers rely on email reminders, ignoring the potential of geo-triggered incentives. This disjointed approach frustrates Gen Z and drives lost sales. The Fix: Using Gen AI to Personalise In-Store Retailers already have the data—they just aren’t using it effectively. By leveraging Gen AI, in-store media, and real-time personalisation, stores can transform into intelligent, interactive spaces that bridge the online-to-offline gap. ✅ Connected mobile experiences – Geo-fenced notifications and social media integrations can remind shoppers: “That jumper you saved? Aisle 4, 20% off today.” ✅ AI-powered digital screens – Personalized displays show trending products based on online engagement. ✅ Smart carts & RFID tracking – Shopping carts recognise items and suggest related products based on past interactions. Personalising the In-Store Experience ✅ AI-powered clienteling – Store associates can access real-time customer data, making recommendations based on online browsing history. ✅ Dynamic promotions – Online cart abandoners receive exclusive in-store discounts upon arrival. ✅ AI-powered wayfinding – Shoppers use their phones for a personalised store map guiding them to saved items. The Future: From Siloed to Seamless For Gen Z, digital and physical retail are intertwined. The brands that integrate these experiences will win, while those that don’t will see foot traffic decline. The future of retail isn’t just about digital ads—it’s about: ✔ Using Gen AI to personalise the in-store journey ✔ Eliminating friction between online interest and in-store purchase ✔ Turning retail media into an in-store shopping assistant, not just an ad platform Retailers who get this right won’t just sell more—they’ll build lasting loyalty and turn Gen Z into lifelong brand advocates. It’s time to fix the disconnect. The future of retail is seamless, intelligent, and real-time. #digitalcommerce #immersivetech #retailtech

Boomers can’t navigate patient portals. Gen Z won’t tolerate outdated tech. Healthcare leaders: When was the last time you experienced your patient portal through the eyes of a confused 70-year-old or an impatient 20-year-old? The digital divide isn’t a patient problem – it’s a UX design problem. Here’s why: 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀: • Less than 30% actually use portal features, despite 90% of providers offering them.[1,2] • Clunky interfaces, tiny fonts, confusing menus that no glasses can translate. • Digital confusion and trust issues prevent seniors from accessing critical care. 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭: • Zero tolerance for slow, outdated UX. • Quick to abandon clumsy apps and portals. • Expect seamless experiences like Instagram or Netflix. Anything less pushes them away. The good news? We can bridge the gap for both groups. Here’s how: ✅ 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀: Mobile-first designs, minimal clutter, clear language, intuitive navigation. ✅ 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: Multi-modal UX + AI (voice, video, chat) that meets users where they are – whether 25 or 75 years old. ✅ 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: Involve Boomers, Gen Z, and everyone in between to co-design solutions that actually work. ✅ 𝗔𝗜 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: Use AI to personalize and simplify tasks, not complicate them. Make it a UX ally, not a gimmick. The bottom line? Great UX bridges generational divides. Bad UX creates them. – What’s your best (or worst!) example of generational UX in healthcare? Let’s design digital healthcare that works for everyone – not just some imaginary “average” user. - Sources: (1) Pymnts https://lnkd.in/gUuQKkZj (2) Medsphere https://lnkd.in/gBWvRGFm

UX analytics are very good at telling us what happened. Users clicked here, spent some time there, and dropped off at a specific step. We can reconstruct funnels, session lengths, and conversion paths in great detail. What is much harder to see is why those behaviors happened in the first place. Why did a user pause right before completing an action? Why did they repeat the same step multiple times? Why did they abandon a flow that looks perfectly reasonable on paper? This is where Hidden Markov Models become useful for UX research. Most behavioral data captures actions, not mental or experiential states. A click, a scroll, or a delay is observable, but engagement, uncertainty, or frustration are not. HMMs are built around this exact gap. They assume that users move through hidden states over time and that those states generate the behaviors we can measure. Instead of focusing only on the last action before drop off, an HMM asks a different question. What state was the user likely in, and how did they transition into it? A session becomes a sequence, not a snapshot. Take a health tracking app as an example. Analytics might show that some users log their data smoothly, others browse features without completing tasks, and some repeat the same actions before leaving. Those patterns are visible, but their meaning is ambiguous. Are users exploring? Are they confused? Are they becoming frustrated? An HMM helps by inferring the most likely hidden states behind these behaviors and, more importantly, by estimating how users move between them. You can see when engaged users start drifting into uncertainty, or how often exploration turns into frustration. The value is not just in labeling states, but in understanding the dynamics between them. That shift enables a more proactive approach to UX. Instead of waiting for users to drop off, teams can detect early signals that typically precede disengagement. Onboarding can be triggered when users appear to be struggling. Design experiments can reveal not just which version performs better, but which one keeps users in productive states longer. Friction can be identified before it pushes people away.

I got rejected after this Interview answer 💔 Not proud of it. But this one still lives rent-free in my head. Company: One of the top product companies Round: Product Design Challenge Question: Design a feature to help users discover relevant content in our app? What I did: I jumped straight into wireframes. Added a "Recommended for You" section on the homepage, designed some cards with thumbnails and CTAs, picked nice colors, and called it a day. Result: A polite rejection email the next week. Here's what I should have actually done: Before jumping to solutions and wireframes, a good answer starts with thinking. 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱'𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴:  - Who are the users? (new users? power users? different personas?)  - What kind of content? (articles, videos, products, connections?)  - What does "relevant" mean? (based on past behavior? trending? personalized?)  - What's the current discovery problem we're solving?  - What are the business goals? (engagement? retention? revenue?) 𝗔 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: 𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 & 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁  - Understand user pain points through data/interviews  - Map the current user journey  - Identify where discovery fails today 𝟮. 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀  - What does success look like? (time spent? click-through rate? return visits?)  - How do we measure relevance? 𝟯. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀  - Consider multiple approaches (algorithmic, social, editorial, hybrid)  - Weigh trade-offs of each  - Don't marry one solution too early 𝟰. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲  - Information architecture first, visuals later  - Think about empty states, loading states, error states  - Consider personalization vs. serendipity  - Design for accessibility and inclusion 𝟱. 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻  - How would we test this? (A/B test? prototype testing?)  - What could go wrong?  - How do we handle edge cases? 𝟲. 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗳𝗳 & 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁  - How does this scale across platforms?  - What's the technical feasibility?  - What's the rollout plan? This way, the solution is user-centered, strategic, and actually solves a real problem.

UX alone doesn’t create business value. Designing for users is crucial... but if it ignores the business side, even the most elegant interfaces can fail. True impact happens when UX bridges what people want and what the organization needs to succeed. This means stepping into the business model, understanding what drives growth, collaborating with stakeholders, asking tough questions, and designing within real-world constraints. Measuring outcomes and aligning with business goals is as important as crafting delightful user experiences. Empathy for users is essential... but empathy for the business is what turns your design from a concept into measurable value. Designs that balance both don’t just look good... they drive real results.

Design decisions don’t create impact on their own. Design only creates impact when decisions are aligned, intentional, and implemented… not just talked about. In my experience, that means navigating the “trough of uncertainty,” where teams often get stuck between ideas and outcomes. This middle zone is where momentum slows, good ideas fade, and alignment breaks down. Getting through it requires keeping users, the technology, and business goals all in focus… and being active participants in the decision-making process. Too often, design gets split into either execution or strategy. But the real value comes from owning the decisions in between. The ones that turn ideas into direction. It starts with making thoughtful design decisions. But even good decisions can get lost in the chaos of delivery. The trough of uncertainty presents common challenges like: → No decision is made The problem is too complex, or no one is accountable for making the call. Design can get flat footed here. → Misaligned recommendations Interfaces are often designed without a clear understanding of what users actually need. Sometimes, design just takes the business cues without challenging the assumptions. → Tech-first choices Engineering decisions are based on constraints or existing structures, not the intended user experience. → No strategy connection Design isn’t tied to business goals, or leadership hasn’t framed the problem. Sometimes, the design team hasn’t presented a plan that addresses the business opportunity. → Resetting everything Teams start over without a clear alternative or stay stuck due to the sunk cost fallacy and politics. Sometimes, the right decision is to start over much faster, with much more intent. To move forward, design teams need to: • structure recommendations based on user goals • align work with user journeys and system architecture • influence technical decisions with UX signals • tie the design strategy directly to business goals This is where UX metrics come in. We use UX metrics with Helio to give teams visibility through the uncertainty. They create clarity across each decision point, from validating interface recommendations to checking alignment with user journeys, to showing how experience quality supports business strategy. Instead of guessing or relying on opinions, teams can use metrics to guide decisions, measure outcomes, and make a stronger case for design’s impact. #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

This week I’ve been talking about how Support no longer just closes tickets — it informs innovation. From the feedback I've received it does appear many agree with me and most have pointed out that there is a gap many organizations still need to close. Support sees everything — friction points, recurring patterns, early warning signs of product issues. Yet too often, those insights stay trapped in case notes or siloed in systems that never make their way back to Product or Engineering. That’s what we will call the Support Intelligence Gap — the space between what we know from our customers and what we act on as a company. Bridging that gap isn’t about adding more dashboards or reports. It’s about redesigning how we work. It's time to be honest and answer these questions for yourself but worth an ask to others in your company: 1. Do we consistently give Support a voice in product planning? 2. Are we consistently using AI to surface trends before they become problems? 3. Are we consistently treating every escalation as a learning opportunity, not just a cost of doing business? When we connect the dots between Support and Product, we don’t just improve customer experience — we accelerate innovation. And the companies that do this best? They’ll be the ones who listen smarter and move faster.

Growth made no sense until I looked at the structure. That’s what I told the CEO after three weeks inside the company. They asked for a growth report. I gave them something else: A systems map. And suddenly, everything made sense. The real problem wasn’t speed — it was structure The product had features. The market had demand. But the system had gaps: – Disconnected flows – Misaligned value messaging – Friction across core user journeys – No visibility into how the product supports business goals We didn’t need a marketing sprint. We needed to re-architect the logic behind the offer. What I did — step by step 1. Mapped the full user & business flow from first touch to revenue I created a wall-to-wall diagram showing: – Entry points – Landing logic – Conversion mechanics – Post-signup friction – Activation leakage – Monetization mismatch I tracked not just UX flows, but also revenue flows. That’s what changed the conversation. 2. Identified system nodes, not just screens Each “node” in my map represented a decision point or value transfer. Examples: – Does the product deliver value before asking for commitment? – Is pricing shown before or after trust is built? – Are onboarding steps aligned with actual user goals? Every drop-off had a reason. Every delay had a cost. 3. Visualized tensions and contradictions I used red lines and friction markers to show: – Where growth was blocked by the product structure – Where the messaging promised one thing and the experience delivered another – Where internal priorities (sales, marketing, dev) pulled in different directions It wasn’t a Figma prototype. It was a living map of operational truth. 4. Translated it into a reframed offer Once the map was clear, I rebuilt the logic of the offer: – Realigned feature messaging with user outcomes – Repositioned the pricing page to follow clarity – Removed “dead zones” from the flow – Added missing conversion points that gave users reason to commit ▸ If your product has users, funding, and a roadmap — but still resists real growth, structure is likely the missing layer. Not what the team sees on the surface, but what holds it underneath: the logic, the sequencing, the actual spine of how value moves. That’s where I work. I enter at the point where velocity stops helping, and stability becomes non-negotiable. ▸ If your product is funded, functional, and still not growing the way it should, this is where to look. Not in the interface. Not in marketing. In the underlying system that holds or leaks your value. And this isn’t just about SaaS. I’ve employed the same architecture-first approach in health tech, fintech, AI platforms, and internal enterprise systems. The logic is always the same: Unstable structure blocks scale. I work exactly there. Quietly, structurally, end-to-end. Follow Tanya R. for more. ⤷ Lead UX/UI Product Designer ♻️ Repost this to share with others!