DoorDash: Every employee a delivery driver? Not quite.
DoorDash is starting back up its WeDash program. Under the WeDash program, all its employees — even the CEO — will make deliveries at least once a month. The goal for each employee is to:
“learn firsthand how the technology products we build empower local economies, which in turn helps us build a better product,”
a DoorDash spokesperson said.
Some employees are not happy about this, at all.
“Mandatory ‘WeDash’ starts from next year. You need to dash once a month. WILL BE TRACKED IN PERFORMANCE REVIEWS!! What the actual f*ck? I didn’t sign up for this, there was nothing in the offer letter/job description about this,”
If you were head of design at DoorDash how would you implement this?
Let’s treat this like a series of experiments. I would start by articulating the company's given goal as a hypothesis.
At DoorDash, we believe that having each employee spend one day a month working directly with our customers will help us learn how we empower local economies. In turn, this will help us build a better product. We will know when we have been successful when we have…
First, I modified the delivery aspect of the experiment. If the goal is to learn how DoorDash empowers local economies, then DoorDash has to go beyond just the people making deliveries. They will need to understand all the perspectives: Those who make the deliveries, the partner businesses, and the people using the service. We need to look at the entire system.
Second, DoorDash would need to define “empower” and how this is measured. My assumption is they have some baseline measurements. NOW, how does the information gathered from employees doing monthly ride-alongs alone change this?
Third, don’t send non-UX employees out to do this sort of work alone. DoorDash employees are all novices at making deliveries or running a DoorDash partner business. Then on top of this, they are also novice UX practitioners. Even if they have the best intentions and genuinely want to learn, this will probably render lackluster results.
IF DoorDash is insisting that each employee still goes alone into the field then I would run a few parallel experiments.
One group of employees would be accompanied by UX practitioners and would NOT act as delivery people or business partners. Instead, they would observe and interview, in the context of these actions, the actual people using DoorDash products. The employees will not lead these sessions but will contribute, and participate as “junior” or “new” UX practitioners.
All the data across sessions will be aggregated and analyzed by the UX team and their partners. DoorDash can then show all employees how the information they observed/obtained in their individual sessions fits into the greater picture.
Then compare the results of employees working alone vs. paired with trained UX professionals.
I understand and commend DoorDash for moving towards a more user-centered approach. And for all we know, they might be running a series of UX experiments, in addition to the solo WeDash program.
If not, I would hope that they would see why sending each employee out by themselves, is probably not the best way to innovate.
Imagine if Patagonia told each employee that they had to spend one night a month out in the winter wilderness. They could use whatever Patagonia gear they want. What would they learn? What would they experience? What would be the quality of that experience? Would they survive and thrive?
Now imagine, the same goal, but slightly modified. Patagonia is going to send you out in the wilderness with Bear Grylls. He is going to guide you. He is going to teach you how to survive and thrive. Not one day a month. Just one weekend. What would they learn? What would that experience be like?
To make(someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights, they need to be guided. Sure they can figure it out on their own, but that’s a long inefficient path that may cause more than late deliveries or frostbite. If DoorDash truly wants to learn how their products empower then go for quality over quantity. Send your staff with paired UX professionals and I guarantee you will have better results!
