case study: engineer matching redesign
TRANSCRIPT
Engineer Matching Redesign Case Study
Project Brief:
Engineer Matching, created by Hakka Labs, is a
platform that provides better discovery and better
quality communication between developers by
matching developers to other developers based on
common languages, frameworks and interests.
Hakka Labs wanted to improve the onboarding process
and redesign the site to better demonstrate the
optimal use of site for users and provide clear
incentive for user return.
My Role:
This project was a two-person project. I led
project management, research and handled
client-facing from kick-off to project
completion. I led interviews, usability testing
and developed research insights from
proposal to final report. I also created early
iteration wireframes and assisted in high
fidelity visual design and organizing final
interactive prototype in InVision.
Time Frame: 3 weeks
Deliverables:
• Research Proposal, Plan & Final Report
• Usability Testing Insights
• Onboarding Flow Site Map
• Annotated High-Fidelity Wireframes
• Interactive Prototype
CONTEXT
Competitive & Comparative:
We conducted an overall analysis of
existing sites and digital services used
for relationship discovery (friendship,
mentorship, etc), social networking
between developers and sites that
developers currently used to
communicate with other developers.
Surveying the existing market revealed
that there is no true competitor for
engineer matching.
Existing sites are either project/
problem specific or lack the ability for
an intimate and collaborative
communication between developers.
Competitive Feature Checklist & Analysis
Public Chat/
Posting
Private Chat
File sharing/
uploading
User Matching
Log of Work
User Impact/ Analysis
Livecoding X X
Users can watch other developers work on projects and ask questions/ chat with
other users in a public chat. However, the chat can get confusing if users are
chatting with each other and the topic of discussion is focused primarily on the
video project.
Hackhands X X
Users are matched with an expert to help mentor them with their coding projects. This is a paid service (by minute) and is
most useful if there is a specific project/ problem that a mentor can assist with.
Glassbreakers X X X
This service is for female professionals. Users are matched with possible
connections that they can chat directly with. However there is no clear
indication or method of increasing match quality or changing match type/ settings
over time.
CodeNewbie X X X
The site is mostly blog/ podcast oriented and there is a separate Slack channel.
The slack channel is a public chat which can get disorganized. There is direct
messaging and private groups.
Stack Overflow X XPredominantly Q&A with only discussion through comments. Responses are public and discussion is focused on the question
posted.
GitHub X X
Users can follow other users, stay up to date on other user projects, and collaborate via pull requests and
organizations. However, there is no direct way to message and chat with
individual users.
USER RESEARCH
Key Take Aways:
• developers are very community/ open source oriented
• developers are interested in collaborating with other developers
• developers expect to see the experience of other developers in
order to assess their skill and establish trustful collaboration
Pain Points:
• negative feedback in public forums
• unresponsiveness in large public forums
• overlapping & disorganized conversation in public chatrooms
• lack of information about other developers
Survey, Interviews & Card Sorting:
A screener survey yielded a total
population of 46 responses.
From the total population, a sample
of 6 participants, ranging in level from
student to junior to senior developer,
underwent a 20-30 minute in-depth
interview detailing existing social
behaviors and project-sharing
behaviors with other developers.
Card sorting determined what
information the target user expected
to see on other user profiles and to
gauge user priority of features when
completing the task of connecting
with another developerQuestion pulled from our survey
USER RESEARCH
Diary Study & Observations:
We selected 2 participants to go
through the engineer matching on-
boarding process on the existing
site and either speak out loud while
they were going through the process
and/or record their thoughts via
‘diary entry’. Participants completed
an entry when first signing into the
site and whenever they received an
email from Engineer Matching (match
email or follow up email).
This process was documented
11/23/15 - 12/5/15.
Hakka Labs User Feedback:
We were provided with user feedback of existing users by Hakka
Labs. This feedback echoed our user research findings in that
users were confused by onboarding, unsure how to start a
conversation with their match, unsure how and what to log on the
site and unclear as to why they were matched with another user.
Key Take Aways:
• users don’t understand the function of ‘Logs’
• users are confused about what to record in their log
• users don’t understand next steps for communicating with
matches because matches occur off-site via personal email
• users are confused by irrelevant matches
• users are unsure how to get help/ instructions
• users assume they are signing into a chatroom
• users like the idea of being matched with another developer
Engineer Matching existing site Mock up of match email
RESEARCH SYNTHESIS
Feature Prioritization:
We combined research findings and
prioritized feature solutions based on
user pain points & user needs. The
features we decided to focus on
were a 1:1 chat function, match
listing on-site, a separate log for
tracking personal work and a
redesigned user profile that provided
users with clear information about
their match.
USER PAIN/ NEED FEATURE SOLUTION USER IMPACT
PAIN • negative public feedback • buried/ disorganized messages
Private 1:1 chat where users can communicate and share
projects with another developer
Private 1:1 chat will allow users to get quality responses and collaboration without having to share in public or
search through the multiple responses in a large forum.NEED
• quality communication with other developers
PAIN
• confusion over next steps to communicate with match
• off-site communication/ multiple emails
Match listing that shows suggested matches and current
match conversations
Matches appearing in one location will give the user a clear visualization of
suggested matches and make it easier to keep track of conversations they are
currently having with other developers.
NEED• an easy way to communicate
with other developers
PAIN
• confusion over how to talk to Matchbot
• confusion on what and how to log current work Separate log for keeping track
of current projects
Having a separate personal log will allow a user to type what they are
working on whereas the chat will be a conversation between two people.
NEED• a distinct location where
personal work is to be logged
PAIN• confusion over match
suggestions and lack of information
User profiles that will show information about other users
Users will be able to see user profile from match listing and have immediate
access to their GitHub and LinkedIn urls.NEED
• information about other developers they are matched with
DESIGN ITERATION
Low Fidelity Feature Breakdown:
1. Matchbot provided instructions to the user upon sign up
2. Personal log was labeled “Matchbot” to indicate where
the user could communicate with Matchbot
3. Side panel menu showed separate listing of suggested
matches and approved matches (“Matches”)
4. Users were provided with the option to accept or decline
suggested matches as well as given a direct link to the
match’s GitHub and LinkedIn account
Usability Testing Insights:
• Initial instructions from Matchbot did not
attract attention and were skimmed or
ignored by participants
• Isolating Matchbot within logs confused
participants who expect to be able to
access Matchbot from anywhere within
the site
• Participants were confused by the dual
functionality of the side panel and
expected that listing to remain consistent
• Participants were responsive to Matchbot
feedback/ confirmation messages
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Low Fidelity Usability Testing:
Testing included 4 participants. They were
given the task to connect with another
developer. They were encouraged to explore
and speak out loud as they navigated the site.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Final Prototype & Usability Validation:
Usability testing of the final prototype included
3 participants who had not been involved in
prior testing. Insights validated our design
decisions in that participants, for whom this
was a novel experience, were able to
understand the functionality and appreciate
the true potential of the site.
A final prototype can be found here.
Final Design:
1. Navigation separates Log and Matchbot is accessible
from Log and Chat via the @matchbot command or
selecting Matchbot from the side panel to chat with
2. The Matches side panel displays all matches in a
consistent singular list and users may choose to chat
with or close out matches
3. Matchbot introduces new matches by stating their
interests
4. Matchbot provides feedback and additional tips when
users log their work in their personal Log
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Onboarding Flow:
In order to answer to the initial confusion
demonstrated by participants in early testing,
we integrated an interactive onboarding tour
led by Matchbot. This can be seen in the final
prototype.
Let’s work together.Feel free to contact me. I can be reached via email at
You can also connect with me elsewhere:
@kaylafarrell_
@kaylaf.arrell
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