為什么選擇導師+ Linkedin平臺？ (Why mentorship + Linkedin platform?)

As a recent graduate, I went on Linkedin to seek career advice and mentorship. This idea came so naturally that I was quite surprised by the absence of a complete feature 🤔. As a product designer, I am curious about the “why” and believe this will be a good topic for a design exercise. Therefore, I invited my friend as well as a product designer, Fangzheng Zhu, to start this 4-week exploration with me. 😉

作為應屆畢業生，我去了Linkedin尋求職業建議和指導。 這個想法很自然，以至于我對缺少完整功能🤔感到驚訝。 作為產品設計師，我對“為什么”感到好奇，并認為這將是設計練習的好話題。 因此，我邀請我的朋友以及產品設計師朱方正與我一起開始為期4周的探索。 😉

這是一個很好的組合嗎？ (Is this a good combination?)

Examining the feature through the lenses of desirability, viability, and feasibility, we started with questions like: Are we solving the right pain point? Are we strengthen the foundation of the company and the competitive advantage of the business? Are we contributing to long-term growth?

通過對需求，生存能力和可行性的考察，我們從以下問題開始： 我們解決了正確的痛點？ 我們是否在鞏固公司的基礎和業務的競爭優勢？ 我們在為長期增長做出貢獻嗎？

We concluded that the mentorship feature is not only in line with the product’s core value proposition but also has significant potential in directing users to other services such as Linkedin Learning or Linkedin Premium.

我們得出的結論是，指導功能不僅符合產品的核心價值主張，而且在將用戶引導至其他服務(如Linkedin Learning或Linkedin Premium)方面具有巨大的潛力。

Statistically, according to Linkedin’s research, more than 80% of members on LinkedIn have stated they either want to have a mentor or be one to others, but have a hard time knowing where to start. Besides, based on the strong connection analysis ability Linkedin already have, implicit and explicit user input through mentorship feature can be fed to machine learning with more nuances.

統計數據顯示，根據Linkedin的研究 ， LinkedIn上超過80％的成員表示，他們希望有一位導師或與其他人成為一對，但很難知道從哪里開始。 此外，基于Linkedin已有的強大的連接分析能力，通過指導功能進行的隱式和顯式用戶輸入可以饋入更多細微差別的機器學習中。

但是，盡管看起來不錯，但為什么我們看不到完整的功能，而只是顯示“ 聯系主題 ”的簡單顯示？ (However, as good as it seems, why are we not seeing a complete feature but a simple display for “topics of contacting”?)

Research shows as early as 2017, Linkedin has launched/tested a mentorship feature that aimed to tap the entire user community to make matches between mentees and leaders with less commitment than traditional mentorship relationships; however, according to the post, while the registration rate remained high, the engagement was not ideal.

研究顯示，LinkedIn早在2017年就啟動/測試了一項導師功能，該功能旨在利用整個用戶社區， 以比傳統導師關系更少的投入來進行導師與領導者之間的匹配 ； 但是，據該職位稱，雖然注冊率仍然很高， 但訂婚并不理想 。

One of the reasons mentorships fail is because the mentee isn’t always able to articulate what they need or asks too much of a mentor.

指導失敗的原因之一是因為受指導者并不總是能夠闡明他們需要什么或要求太多的指導者。

Hari Srinivasan, vice President of Product Management

產品管理副總裁Hari Srinivasan

Therefore, what comes after high-quality matchmaking? What else support are users looking for? If the feature aims at a low-commitment Q&A for specific situations, can it be replaced by chat-bot service where users can get instant responses at their convenience?

因此，高質量的配對之后會發生什么？ 用戶還在尋找什么支持？ 如果該功能針對特定情況下的低承諾問答，是否可以用聊天機器人服務代替，以便用戶可以在方便時獲得即時響應？

To address those questions, we conducted a multi-methodology research effort with the help of “5W” to gain a holistic understanding.

為了解決這些問題，我們在“ 5W”的幫助下進行了多方法研究，以全面了解。

Why — Why people want to become a mentor/mentee? Who — Who will make a good match? What — What are people struggling with right now? What do people enjoy most? When — Does the cadence matter? How does duration play in? And Where — Where does the conversation take place; What products are they using?

為什么 -人們為什么要成為導師/受訓者？ 誰 -誰會做出很好的搭配？ 什么 -人們現在正在苦苦掙扎？ 人們最喜歡什么？ 什么時候 -節奏很重要嗎？ 持續時間如何播放？ 在哪里 -對話在哪里進行； 他們正在使用什么產品？

了解導師💡 (Understanding Mentorship💡)

Apart from high-quality matchmaking, in short, these are the additional user needs critical to maintaining a fulfilling mentorship experience.

簡而言之，除了高質量的配對服務之外，這些對于維持令人滿意的指導體驗也至關重要。

Mentors would appreciate support in managing contacts, knowing that they are offering helpful advice/seeing their impact, and improve their coaching/critique skills, especially for younger professionals.

導師會很高興在管理聯系人方面提供支持，知道他們會提供有用的建議/了解他們的影響，并提高他們的教練/批評技巧，特別是對于年輕的專業人??員。

Mentees would appreciate support in expanding their connection circles, initiating a natural conversation, and maintaining the relationship.

在擴大他們的聯系圈，發起自然對話并維持關系方面，指導者將不勝感激。

To capture all our findings in detail and push them to the next steps, we translated the user needs into design challenges through journey mapping and focused on those that can be solved by the interface design. For each step, we put together the identified mood, the job-to-be-done, and our first-round ideas.

為了詳細捕獲我們的所有發現并將其推進到下一步，我們通過行程映射將用戶需求轉化為設計挑戰，并著重于界面設計可以解決的挑戰。 對于每一步，我們將確定的心情，待完成的工作以及我們的第一輪想法匯總在一起。

Since most of the user journey is highly likely to happen on mobile, and overall mobile usage accounts for 57% of the traffic, we decided to start our exercise from mobile design.

由于大多數用戶旅程很可能發生在移動設備上，并且整個移動設備使用量占流量的57％ ，因此我們決定從移動設計開始我們的工作。

根據我們的研究，這是我們要通過設計實現的三個目標： (Based on our research, here are the three goals 🎯we want to achieve through our design:)

1. Encouraging thoughtful reach out
   鼓勵周到的服務
2. Facilitating authentic and equal rapport building.
   促進真實和平等的融洽關系。
3. Channeling the energy to foster a sense of supportive community
   傳遞能量以培養社區支持感

The ground rule for achieving that will be a central focus on quality in connection over quantity.

實現這一目標的基本原則將是集中于質量而不是數量。

👈In comparison to the current design, users are encouraged to connect based on minimal information such as profile pic, name, title, and mutual friends. This is what we want to avoid.

👈與當前設計相比，鼓勵用戶根據最少的信息(例如個人資料圖片，姓名，標題和共同的朋友)進行連接。 這是我們要避免的。

Taking both business and user into consideration, we positioned our mentorship feature as high-quality but lightweight, temporary by default connecting opportunity that leads to a goal-oriented, and time-sensitive conversations. Of course, users are free to stay in touch if they make a strong connection from there. 👏

考慮到業務和用戶的考慮，我們將指導功能定位為高質量但輕量級的，默認情況下是暫時的，暫時的連接機會，從而導致面向目標和時間敏感的對話 。 當然，如果用戶在那里建立了牢固的聯系，則可以自由保持聯系。 👏

競爭對手分析🔍 (Competitor Analysis 🔍)

Before we dive in, we took a look at what we can learn from the others. We didn’t limit our research on mentorship products. Instead, we looked across products that bring two strangers together, such as Wisdo for community support, Tandem for language exchange, and Hinge, the dating app.

在我們深入之前，我們先看看可以從其他人那里學到什么。 我們對導師產品的研究沒有受到限制。 相反，我們查看了將兩個陌生人聚集在一起的產品，例如 Wisdo 提供社區支持， Tandem 提供語言交流以及 Hinge (約會應用程序)。

Here are our three main takeaways👇

這是我們的三大要點👇

1. To help two strangers quickly get to know each other more efficiently, providing context or product insights can help users digest and interpret information. On top of that, adding transparency in explaining product insights will earn users’ trust, thus boosting their confidence in taking advice from the products.
   為了幫助兩個陌生人更有效地彼此了解，提供上下文或產品見解可以幫助用戶消化和解釋信息。 最重要的是，增加解釋產品見解的透明度將贏得用戶的信任，從而增強他們從產品中獲取建議的信心。
2. Not just Yes/No, adding different levels of available actions into handling requests that align with users’ mental models would encourage users to stay active in managing contacts.
   不只是是/否，在處理與用戶心理模型相符的請求中添加不同級別的可用操作會鼓勵用戶在管理聯系人方面保持活躍。
3. Prompting users with questions and examples would reduce users’ mental cost in inputting information. At the same time, providing a quick preview would decrease users’ anxiety in maintaining the public profile.
   向用戶提示問題和示例將減少用戶輸入信息的精神成本。 同時，提供快速預覽將減少用戶維護公開個人資料的焦慮。

現在是解決問題??+💻的有趣部分！ 在這里，我們很樂意通過這5個設計挑戰分享我們的設計，研究發現和反思。 🤔 (Now came the fun part of problem-solving ??+💻 ! Here we’d love to share our design, research findings, and our reflection through these 5 Design Challenges. 🤔)

1. What are the best ways for mentors/mentees to access the feature based on the current LinkedIn info arch?
   根據當前的LinkedIn信息架構，指導者/受指導者訪問功能的最佳方法是什么？
2. How can we accommodate different expectations and gather preference for a quality match?
   我們如何適應不同的期望并收集對質量匹配的偏好？
3. How can we encourage thoughtful and confident reach out?
   我們如何鼓勵有思想和自信的參與？
4. How can we help mentors handle requests, and derisk their time waste?
   我們如何幫助指導者處理請求并消除他們的時間浪費？
5. How can we channel the good energy and keep the momentum going?
   我們如何才能轉移好能量并保持勢頭？

01 | 根據當前的LinkedIn信息架構，指導者/受指導者訪問功能的最佳方法是什么？ (01 | What are the best ways for mentors/mentees to access the feature based on the current LinkedIn info arch?)

According to our quick primary research with 12 users, the results validated our hypothesis that the mentorship feature will not be perceived as a core feature. Instead, it will weave up and support the core functions as it builds in a more nuanced way of making a professional connection.

根據我們對12位用戶的快速初步研究， 結果證實了我們的假設，即導師功能不會被視為核心功能。 相反，它將以更加細微的方式建立專業的連接，從而編織并支持核心功能。

In the research, we gave them a scenario. We asked them to imagine that one day, they are told by their friend that Linkedin just launched a new feature for the mentor and mentee matchmaking. We ask them where and how they expect to see the entrance, and then we check with them how similar our low-fidelity entry-point look to the interface in their mind and how they feel about the user flow.

在研究中，我們給了他們一個方案。 我們要求他們想象一下，有一天他們的朋友告訴他們Linkedin剛剛為導師和受訓者對接會推出了一項新功能。 我們詢問他們希望在哪里看到入口以及如何看到入口，然后與他們一起檢查低保真入口點在他們腦海中與界面的相似程度以及他們對用戶流的感覺。

According to the research, out of 12 people, 8 of the interviewees assume the entry point would take several clicks instead of on the home page or the main navigation menu, 2 of the interviewees said they imagine there will be a separate app like Linkedin learning. One of them, a senior product strategist, offered his opinion as “The current product should focus less on building more connections. It should think more about content creation and community building. ”

根據研究，在12個人中，有8位受訪者認為進入點將需要單擊幾下，而不是在主頁或主導航菜單上，其中2位受訪者表示他們會想象會有像Linkedin學習這樣的獨立應用程序。 其中一位是高級產品策略師，他的觀點是：“當前的產品應減少對建立更多聯系的關注。 它應該更多地考慮內容創建和社區建設。 ”

In the end, we kept 10 out of the 13 possible entry points across the mobile app that not only align with users’ mental models but also strengthen the current features.

最后，我們在移動應用程序的13個可能的入口點中保留了10個，這些入口點不僅與用戶的思維模式保持一致，而且還增強了當前功能。

02 | 我們如何適應不同的期望并收集對質量匹配的偏好？ (02 | How can we accommodate different expectations and gather preference for a quality match?)

Observation ?🏻: With a stronger motivation to connect and address specific concerns, mentees are more likely to give information in detail.

觀察?🏻： 由于有較強的聯系和解決特定問題的動力，因此受訓者更有可能提供詳細信息。

The answers we collected from the mentees are 2 times longer than what we received from mentors when asking to explain why they want to join a mentorship program.

我們要求從受訓者那里收集的答案要比他們從導師那里得到的答案要長兩倍，因為他們要求解釋他們為什么要加入導師制。

From the co-founder of self-organized mentorship program from IIT, Institute of Design

來自印度理工學院IIT自組織導師計劃的聯合創始人

Therefore, we differentiated the setting flows. For mentors, they just need to set basic preferences to get started, while for the mentees, they are required and supported to articulate their goals. For both of them, we created 2 different structures to guild them through the process, provide prompts for them to input more qualitative answers.

因此，我們區分了設置流程。 對于指導者，他們只需要設置基本偏好即可上手，而對于指導者，則需要并得到他們的支持以闡明他們的目標。 對于他們兩個，我們創建了兩個不同的結構來引導他們完成流程，并提示他們輸入更多的定性答案。

03 | 我們如何鼓勵有思想和自信的參與？ (03 | How can we encourage thoughtful and confident reach out?)

Observation ?🏻: Title intimidates young professionals. 80% of the mentees said they experienced anxiety while reaching out. The more commonality they find, the less anxious they are likely to feel. I strongly resonate with these findings but at the same time I feel in a lot of cases, the anxiety is just unnecessary. When it’s a good fit, the conversation flows naturally. “Homework” helps a lot.

觀察?🏻：標題會嚇到年輕的專業人??員。 80％的受訓者說，他們在伸出手時會感到焦慮。 他們發現的共性越多，他們可能就越不感到焦慮。 我對這些發現深感共鳴，但與此同時，我覺得在很多情況下，焦慮是沒有必要的。 合適時，對話自然進行。 “作業”有很大幫助。

Therefore, how might we show enough information to help mentees understand their potential mentors without compromising the efficiency in browsing? Also, confidence and expectation matter. How might we set the tone for building equal rapport?

因此，我們如何顯示足夠的信息來幫助受訓者了解他們的潛在導師而又不影響瀏覽效率？ 同樣，信心和期望也很重要。 我們如何為建立平等的關系定下基調？

This is what went behind the scene👇. We made several comparisons before we landed on our final design. We tested them with 6 junior designers, and solution 4 stands out as the most intuitive and efficient one.

這就是幕后故事。 在進行最終設計之前，我們進行了幾次比較。 我們與6位初級設計師進行了測試，而解決方案4是最直觀，最有效的解決方案。

04 | 我們如何幫助指導者處理請求并消除他們的時間浪費？ (04 | How can we help mentors handle requests, and derisk their time waste?)

Our survey shows 89% of the mentors care about the number of mentees they take on at the same time. Therefore, we want to support mentors in managing their contacts by building in a default 3-month duration for each new connection. They can opt-out, pause if goal achieved ahead, or extend if there is more to discuss, etc. It is intended to build in a natural off-ramp for both sides, a timing reference to reflect on goals and progress.

我們的調查顯示，89％的導師關心他們同時接受的導師人數。 因此，我們希望通過為每個新連接建立默認的3個月持續時間來支持指導者管理其聯系人。 他們可以選擇退出，如果提前實現目標則暫停，或者如果還有更多討論需要延長，等等。其目的是為雙方建立一個自然的過渡，作為反映目標和進度的時機參考。

The contact list is comprised of three big buckets: pending, active, and past with different call-to-action options.

聯系人列表由三大類組成：待處理，有效和過去，并帶有不同的號召性用語。

05 | 我們如何才能轉移好能量并保持勢頭？ (05 | How can we channel the good energy and keep the momentum going?)

Last but not least, we believe this is one of the most meaningful questions to answer for the long-term community cultivation. According to our research with young designers (3–5 years’ of working experience), the top motivation is to give back! We heard a lot of great stories about the generous help they recieved at the beginning of their career and how much they are willing to offer their time now.

最后但并非最不重要的一點是，我們認為這是長期社區建設最有意義的問題之一。 根據我們對年輕設計師的研究(3-5年的工作經驗)，最大的動機就是回饋 ！ 我們聽到了很多很棒的故事，這些故事講述了他們在職業生涯初期獲得的慷慨幫助，以及他們現在愿意付出多少時間。

Therefore we asked ourselves questions like: How can we acknowledge mentors’ contributions? How can we help mentees to reflect and express gratitude in a meaningful way? The task flow we identified here starts with a thank you letter that can be easily turned into a public post. The post will serve as an entry point for others to participate.

因此，我們問自己一些問題，例如：我們如何承認導師的貢獻？ 我們如何幫助受訓者以有意義的方式反映和表達感激之情？ 我們在此處確定的任務流程以致謝信開頭，該信很容易變成公開帖子。 該帖子將作為其他人參與的切入點。

最后非常感謝🙏 (A lot of thanks at the end 🙏)

Thank you for reading! Like any other design project, there is always more to improve! Therefore, I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions, comments, and questions 🩺.

感謝您的閱讀！ 像任何其他設計項目一樣，總有更多需要改進的地方！ 因此，對于任何建議，評論和問題，我將不勝感激。

Also, a big thanks to designers from the Linkedin team for such a good learning experience and my partner for pulling through this design exercise with me! Here is one piece of his takeaways that I strongly resonate with:

同時，還要感謝Linkedin團隊的設計師們提供的如此出色的學習經驗，以及我的合作伙伴與我一起完成了這項設計工作！ 這是我強烈共鳴的一小部分：

When I tried to challenge the existing system, I found so much random surprise along the way! It is a great opportunity for me to learn design with a product perspective by throwing myself into this excellent product and contemplate every design decision behind it.

當我嘗試挑戰現有系統時，一路上發現了很多隨機驚喜！ 對于我來說，這是一個很好的機會，可以從產品的角度學習設計，將自己投入到這款出色的產品中，并考慮其背后的每個設計決策。

On top of that, I didn’t realize the tremendous mentoring I received while working on this mentorship feature until this moment in retrospect. Alumni from IIT, ID formed a tight online community to support each other right after the lockdown. One of the biggest takeaways, the best mentor already sits aside me. Do not underestimate peer mentoring! Here a special thanks to Yenan Lin & Jinjia Huang for their thoughtful critiques along the way 😊.

最重要的是，直到回顧這一刻，我才意識到在從事這項指導功能時獲得的巨大指導。 在鎖定之后，來自IIT，ID的校友組成了一個緊密的在線社區，相互支持。 最大的收獲之一，最好的導師已經坐在我旁邊。 不要小看同行的指導！ 在這里，特別要感謝林延南和黃進佳的批評along。

Also, a big shout to Amazing Design People List that allows me to connect to more than amazing design practitioners who are so generous to offer their time and career advice.

另外，對“ 驚人的設計人員名單”大喊大叫，這使我不僅可以與驚人的設計從業人員聯系，他們還慷慨地提供他們的時間和職業建議。

To wrap up, I’d love to share a quote I heard from 2020 AIGA Portfolio Festival that I believe points out the essence of keeping the good energy going and forming a supportive community.

總結一下，我很想分享我在2020 AIGA投資組合節上聽到的一句話，我相信指出了保持良好能量并形成支持社區的本質。

The best way to find a mentor is to become a mentor.

找到一名導師的最好方法是成為一名導師。

Michael Bierut

邁克爾·比魯特