08. Iterate and improve frequently

Make sure you have the capacity, resources and technical flexibility to iterate and improve the service frequently.

User research was carried out to identify several key user groups and their key user needs, at both Discovery and Alpha stages of the project. These identified user needs were incorporated into the Beta product, and tested against user experiences with the product.
We initially launched the product in a private beta in January 2022. However, we have continued to develop the product from this point onwards, adding key post-MVP features. This included API access, based on requests from satellite operators and orbital analysts for such a feature.
The private beta gives the users the opportunity to test the service, identify any technical problems, highlight key areas for improvement and increase usability. The interface was also tested before private beta in a user testing event with 10 students from Cranfield University.
Since first commit, pipelines have run more than 1000 times to iterate and make amendments. We continue to design, develop and deploy new features to improve the product.

Although a Minimum Viable Product was launched in January 2022, continuous improvement has been a key part of through private beta until March 2022 and public beta.
Before the product launched, post-MVP features were identified (such as API access, as mentioned above), as well as a menu of additional features. These were based on user needs identified at the Discovery and Alpha stages, as well as conversations with operators and analysts at Beta.
Following the launch of the product, these additional and post-MVP features were prioritised based on user feedback.
We continue in public beta to continuously improve the service. For example, we are soon to release a ‘Contact an analyst’ feature due to user feedback. We have also made improvements such as sorting by threshold, adding incident banners and developing our interactive miss distance and probability graphs on the site since March 2022.
We have also explored extending the service to a wider range of users across the UK Government, undertaking further user research through both a Discovery and an Alpha from September to December 2023. This will enable us to deliver the benefits of Monitor Space Hazards to a wider range of users.

We have always tried to have the right team available and throughout the project more or less analysis/ ur/ tech team have been available.
UKSA have allocated their own staff and budgeted for continual improvement, eg by completing a separate tech strategy piece of work so as to understand how to cope with military and development needs of the software.

Monitor Space Hazards uses the third-party service providers Logit and PIWIK Pro to monitor the health of the service.
- Logit is used to log and monitor errors or system crashes. It takes in metrics from our hosts at GOV.UK PaaS to provide a single radiator view.
- PIWIK Pro is used to track front-end analytics. It tracks and reports website traffic. It will track user-related metrics.
Monitor Space Hazards also features a feedback page, linked from the Beta banner. Users are asked, “Overall, how did you feel about the service you received today?” and are given the option to provide more details. This feedback is passed onto our team and we will respond and iterate the product based on this.

This page was last reviewed on 7 December 2022. It needs to be reviewed again on 7 June 2023 .

This page was set to be reviewed before 7 June 2023. This might mean the content is out of date.