Humane Society Scheduling Process
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HSM* is a humane society in Ann Arbor that faces a high volume of trap-neuter-return (TNR) procedures, a process that is integral to managing the feral cat population. They want to keep up with demand to best serve the community, however it causes many internal issues in return. Our team was tasked with helping HSM innovate their TNR scheduling process to increase communication with TNR customers and improve the organization of internal scheduling.
*name was changed for confidentiality
Research Process
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To begin the research process, we met with the Director at HSM to understand how we can help streamline their scheduling process. We decided to conduct interviews with HSM employees to discuss their involvement in TNR, and interpret the results through interpretation sessions and affinity diagramming.
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We conducted interviews with 6 employees from HSM: 3 clinic administrators, 1 surgeon, and 2 cat wranglers.
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As a group we engaged in 3 interpretation sessions to organize the interviews data into meaningful themes.
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After organizing the data into an affinity diagram, one of the major findings was that employees felt overwhelmed by TNR responsibilities on a daily basis, and unpredictability in TNR appointments caused a majority of the stress.
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Finally, we met with HSM board members to discuss our recommendations to help streamline TNR their scheduling system.
Interview Protocol
Surgeon
Overarching question: What organizational issues hinder your ability to perform neutering on feral cats?
Warm-Up Questions
How long have you worked in this role?
Is there a high turnover in this sector of work?
Why did you choose to work in this role?
Roles & Responsibilities
Can you describe your role in the TNR process?
What other responsibilities do you have within the organization besides helping neuter animals for TNR?
If so, how do you manage your other responsibilities with the responsibilities for the TNR program?
Who is in charge of scheduling? What is that process like and what is your role in this process, if any?
If you could change anything about the scheduling process, what would it be?
General Neuter Process
Walk me through the last time you had to neuter a cat. What was that process like for you?
Reflecting about the overall experience, what was overwhelming about this specific experience, if anything?
Did you feel as if you were under a strict time constraint?
In the past week, what issues hinder your ability to neuter cats efficiently on an organizational level?
What do you think is the cause of these issues?
Affinity Diagram
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