YASMINE EVJEN: I'm Yasmine Evjen, the host of "Centered"--
a new series all about human-centered design.
And I'm in Bentonville, Arkansas meeting with Walmart
to learn how the world's largest employer design
an effective user experience for their 2 million plus employees.
I'm going behind the scenes in this local store and warehouse
to see firsthand what it's like for the Walmart associates.
and to meet with their design systems
team to learn how their internal apps were built.
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We don't think about all the hard work that
is put into making sure that your favorite cereal is
in stock, but there really is a lot
of people working behind the scenes to ensure that all of it
gets done.
We're here with Tina, who has been at Walmart for 15 years.
What was it like before?
TINA BUDNAITIS: So we've got all these nice little technologies.
And first and foremost, it fits in our pocket,
which old technology was really clunky.
But like I said, it operates just like your cell phone,
so with a simple swipe, I've got tons of apps at my fingertips.
And I can just do my entire job on the floor.
I can literally just click an app,
and then I can scan anything in the store.
So if we wanted to check on the in-stock of a particular apple,
we can come right over here to the counter.
We can get an apple and they all have codes on them.
And then once we've got it keyed in, it pulls all the data up.
So I can see exactly how many I have on hand,
when my next delivery is, and how much is coming.
I can see how much I normally sell
to see if my delivery is going to be enough.
And then I have all the research to tell me
when is the last time an item was delivered,
when's the last time I sold it.
So I can be comfortable that when I change the inventory
level on this, I get it right.
And this works for every associate in the building.
The old process was a little more clunky--
lots of screens, 10 or 15 different clicks,
sometimes even having to leave the floor,
go sit in an office to make the best decision possible,
and then come back out.
You could almost give this to you
and say, hey, why don't you play around with it for 10 minutes?
We'd come back, and you'd be a pro.
YASMINE EVJEN: I don't know if you want to give that to me.
I might buy you too many apples here.
TINA BUDNAITIS: So do you want to scan something else
and see how easy it is?
YASMINE EVJEN: Yeah, please.
Show me.
TINA BUDNAITIS: Let's come over here.
YASMINE EVJEN: I love how you have this yellow Quick Scanner
option right here.
It's pretty great.
Let's see, all right everybody?
[BEEP] Oh, OK.
So now, we can see that the mushrooms are out of stock.
And I can see when my next delivery is.
We need to get 12 of those.
That's pretty amazing.
TINA BUDNAITIS: So 12 is going to be plenty
to stay in stock, even for the upcoming weekend,
so we're going to be good.
YASMINE EVJEN: Let's go to the other-- oh, my gosh.
It's so easy.
Let's go find some more stuff to scan--
TINA BUDNAITIS: Yeah, let's do it.
YASMINE EVJEN: --because I'm like a little kid
in a playground now.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And since the story is so big, if you need a break, you know,
they got you covered.
So let's go meet with Travis, who
is one of the designers that is working on the products
that the associates use every day to help
you get the products that you need into your hands.
Hey, Travis.
TRAVIS FOLCK: Yes, Yasmine.
How are you good?
YASMINE EVJEN: Good, good.
Thanks for meeting with me today.
And I'm super, super excited to hear about all the work
that Walmart is doing for their associates.
First, I want to know how long have you been at Walmart
and what's your role here?
TRAVIS FOLCK: I've been with Walmart for 15 years.
I work at Walmart Labs in our design systems team.
So the design systems team came from this thought
of how can we go find patterns where
they know how to use the app without looking,
so when they tap the button, they
can expect some consistency within those applications.
We actually start with material design.
And we looked at our associates and we thought,
what does everyone use?
What can we go leverage that they already know how it works?
Google does such a good job documenting
and there are so many frameworks for our developers
that was an easy pick for us.
YASMINE EVJEN: Let's go to the warehouse
to find out how wearable devices make technology easy-to-use
and streamline the user experience.
KRISTEN CRAWLEY: For the small store sorting area,
the associates are building pallets for us.
They're physically taking cases off the conveyor
and putting them on a pallet to go to a store.
And so we really wanted to try to help
them be hands-free and not have to worry
or track down their device.
When we were designing the interface
for the handheld device, we knew that the screen real estate was
very small that we were going to be working with,
so it was really important that we
understood what information they needed and when.
We wanted it to be able to pulse for them
or provide alerts for them to capture their attention
to make sure they look at the device
and to help encourage accuracy.
FELIPE GARCIA: My name is Felipe Garcia
and I've been with Walmart for 13 years.
I started my career with Walmart as an actual stacker
here in the lanes.
Technology has helped a lot in especially
with the loading part.
You don't have to carry anything with you.
Sometimes coming in the shift, you
know you had to get your equipment ready.
Now, it's like you just go out front, you clock in,
you grab your TC70 or your Gladiator, and I mean,
you're ready to go.
I mean, you don't gotta worry about looking for this or that.
YASMINE EVJEN: I bet you have to train a lot of the associates
to ensure that they know how to get all these stacked
and loaded in the trailer.
Do you think you could train me?
FELIPE GARCIA: Definitely.
I'll go ahead and take my Gladiator off.
And get your ring scanner there.
And I'll just--
YASMINE EVJEN: Does this also check, you know,
my blood pressure?
FELIPE GARCIA: Uh, I think it will.
So you have your actual screen here and you've got your store.
YASMINE EVJEN: All right, so does this indicate a scan?
So this is how I start scanning something?
FELIPE GARCIA: Yes, so whenever you kind of point
your finger at that top, and then once you release it,
it will pick up.
YASMINE EVJEN: That's good.
FELIPE GARCIA: A quick scan.
YASMINE EVJEN: So pretty quick scan.
All right, so I'm going to play a game of "Tetris"
here and see where I can put this box.
All right, Felipe, is that a good place for it?
FELIPE GARCIA: Perfect, yeah.
YASMINE EVJEN: So I had a great time
chatting with the design team at Walmart
and actually meeting a lot of the users that
are using their apps.
And it was a really neat experience
to actually go in there and try a lot of the apps
that they're using, and put on even some of the hardware
and really get an experience of what
it's like to be a store associate
or be someone in the logistics that is stacking
pallets and loading them.
And one of the things that I really picked up on
is that it's very difficult to design an experience for them
if you don't put yourself in the environment.
As product creators, we have a responsibility
to create things that are focused
on the human experience-- things that are centered.
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