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

23

41

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

1

2

3

4

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

kayla.n.farrell@gmail.com

You can also connect with me elsewhere:

@kaylafarrell_

@kaylaf.arrell

https://www.pinterest.com/kaylafarrell_/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylafarrell