Creating an experience for hunters and gatherers

This case study represents work that was done under NDA and as such, all graphics have been recreated to remove anything notable to the client.

overview

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The client has celebrated success as one of the largest local exchange telephone companies in the U.S. providing high-speed internet, phone and TV entertainment services to both residential and commercial subscribers. Currently, staff were required to jump between a suite of tools, leading to frustration, inefficiency, and missed context.

goal

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While the overall project had a much broader scope, the portion I led focused on creating an experience that allowed technicians to investigate and troubleshoot outages. The goal was to design a clear, interactive interface that made it easier to trace network issues—starting from regional infrastructure down to individual subscriber modems.

solution

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I designed a dual-view interface that allowed technicians to navigate the network using either a map or a table—depending on their preferred workflow. Both views were kept in sync and supported breadcrumb navigation, real-time status indicators, and quick access to related devices. This flexible interface allowed technicians to work how they think, whether scanning for patterns or zeroing in on specific issues, without switching between separate tools.

background

understanding network hierarchy

At its core, this project focused on making the invisible visible—mapping the full hierarchy of the network so technicians could move confidently from the big picture to the smallest connection.

Chart explaining five components of internet infrastructure—CLLI, CMTS, MAC Domain, Fiber Node, and Modem—across four columns: 'Item', 'What is it?', 'Impact', and 'Think of it as…'. The chart uses a tree metaphor to describe each component’s scale. CLLI is a forest, CMTS is a tree, MAC Domain is a branch, Fiber Node is a twig, and Modem is a leaf.

importance of getting it right

Within a single CLLI, there can be more than 10,000 interconnected devices — any one of which could be the root of a customer service issue. 

Showing the complexity of a CLLI with only 151 devices.

A visual representation of the homepage with various photos of magazine ads

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discovery phase

Finding shared goals between the organization and its users, revealed the sweet spot where both priorities align.

Venn diagram illustrating the relationship between Business Goals, Technician Goals, and Shared Goals

what was learned

User research revealed two primary technician mindsets:

Hunters-those who start at the top of the network and drill down
Gatherers-those who begin at the device level and work outward.

Technicians Need to Start from Different Entry Points

"Some users start at the top of the network and drill down, others start with a specific modem and work outward."

Desire for Hierarchical, Visual Exploration

“Users want to view the entire hierarchy — from region to modem — with the ability to zoom in and out depending on their focus.”

Mapping as a Mental Model

“Think in terms of geography” and need to see “devices and outages on a map” to diagnose effectively."

Workflow Fluidity

“Users don’t follow one linear path — they jump around based on symptoms, tools, and system behavior.”

Personas and Role-Based Differences

Field Techs prefer map-based, mobile-friendly UI.
Customer Service techs are more data-driven and want to zoom out for systemic patterns.

Hunter vs Gatherer
Aspect	Hunter	Gatherer
Mental Model	Top-down	Bottom-up
Starting Point	Begins at the system level	Begins at the problem point
Goal	Find and isolate systemic or regional issues	Diagnose specific device-level or local issues
Navigation Style	Drills down through the network hierarchy	Expands outward from a single point
Preferred Tools	Maps, visual hierarchies, aggregated views	Tables, search bars, detailed device diagnostics
Common Roles	Network operations, planning, supervisors	Field techs, customer support
Value in Interface	Needs to see system health and relationships	Needs to quickly isolate and resolve single device problems
Example Use Case	“What’s going on in CLLI STTLWA12 today?”	“Why is customer Smith’s modem offline?”

how to design for hunters and gatherers

Hunters

For hunters, the experience needed to highlight issues at the highest level and allow the user to drill down through each layer, ultimately reaching the specific device or source of the problem.

Gatherers

For gatherers, the experience needed to highlight issues at the highest level and allow the user to expand outward, moving across each level in their entirety to understand the full scope of affected devices.