Mural Research
Overview
This project dived deep into the understanding of qualitative research, including both interviews and qualitative surveys.
Goal
Understand the different pain points within in-office and remote workers when collaborating both online and in person.
Role
UX Researcher
Tools
Mural, Taguette, Google Forms, Figma
Timeline
January 2023 - May 2023
Background
How It Started
My workplace consisted of many hybrid workers, some working more remote hours than others, resulting in many Zoom collaboration sessions.
We were using tools like Mural to make collaboration seamless, but it seemed like it made things more difficult. That thought led to the research question: Why weren’t digital tools like Mural working effectively for design teams in synchronous, hybrid meetings?
I wanted to dig deeper, beyond the technical challenges, and uncover the underlying "felt needs" of these teams. The goal wasn’t just to propose new solutions, but to understand the real pain points first.
Research Focus
This study was focused on design teams using digital collaboration tools like Mural during synchronous meetings, where team members work together in real-time, either remotely or in-office. I wanted to explore how these teams used Mural and uncover what features were either helping or hindering their collaboration.
Research Questions
What are the pain points design teams experience using Mural during live, hybrid meetings?
How are design teams using Mural’s features, and how do these impact collaboration?
Research
1:1 Interviews
I started with 1:1 interviews, conducting five Zoom interviews, each lasting 15–30 minutes. The goal was simple: let the participants share their experiences using Mural during meetings, focusing on how the tool impacted their team dynamics.
Each interview brought something new to the table. One web developer described Mural as “more of a necessary evil” when working remotely. A UX designer mentioned the tool worked well in fully remote settings but fell short in hybrid meetings. This qualitative feedback was a treasure trove of insights
Qualitative Surveys
I then launched a qualitative survey with 14 respondents. Here, the focus was on capturing a broader view of how teams worked together in hybrid meetings. The participants shared detailed responses based on their most recent experiences with Mural, revealing recurring challenges and frustrations. I learned that unfamiliarity with Mural was a major hurdle for many, and other tools like Miro and Figma often came into play to fill the gaps.
Methods Approach
To ensure the research was well-rounded, I took a staged approach. I started with interviews to gather early insights, which helped inform the survey questions. By collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, I could paint a more comprehensive picture of the collaboration landscape.
Participants were recruited through various methods, including work community lists, relevant subreddits, and word-of-mouth. The final pool included employees aged 18+ who were either part of a design team or frequently collaborated with designers, both remote and in-office.
Analysis
1:1 Interviews
Once all the data was collected, I began my analysis:1:1 Interviews: The interview transcripts were uploaded to Taguette, where I identified common themes. By organizing the data into a codebook, I was able to trace recurring pain points across multiple interviews.
Qualitative Surveys
Google Forms helped generate summary graphs and diagrams, which I exported into a spreadsheet for deeper analysis. This allowed me to pinpoint specific patterns, especially around the difficulties of hybrid collaboration.
Preconceived Notions
Through this process, I took care to avoid letting my own experiences with Mural affect the data. This was crucial to maintaining objectivity and ensuring that the findings were truly reflective of the participants' perspectives.
Impact
Key Insights - Interviews
Mural Is Primarily Used by Remote Teams
It’s Seen as an Organizational Tool, Not a Brainstorming Platform
Meeting Structure Plays a Bigger Role Than the Tool Itself
Hybrid Meetings Are Less Preferred
Across both interviews and surveys, participants indicated that Mural was primarily used when all team members were remote. Hybrid meetings, however, made its use more complicated.
While Mural’s purpose is often to facilitate brainstorming, participants found it more useful for organizing information rather than sparking creativity during meetings.
Four out of five interviewees felt Mural was effective—but only when the meeting structure was right. When meetings were hybrid, challenges arose not necessarily because of Mural’s features, but because of the hybrid nature of the meetings.
Three of the five interviewees expressed a strong preference for meetings to be either fully remote or fully in-person. Hybrid settings, where some team members are in-office while others are remote, introduced unnecessary complexity.
Key Insights - Surveys
The survey reinforced these findings, with participants mentioning the use of additional tools like Miro and Figma to complement Mural during hybrid meetings. This layering of tools seemed to be a workaround for Mural’s limitations in these settings.
Key Learnings
This research highlighted that the challenge wasn’t just about Mural’s features—it was about how teams structured hybrid meetings. The tool works best in all-remote environments, but hybrid formats introduce participation challenges that need addressing beyond technical fixes.
While my sample size was small, the findings consistently pointed to the need for rethinking hybrid collaboration. Mural can’t solve structural issues on its own—it’s about creating environments where team dynamics thrive.
