How will you improve GitHub for a new user?

Github

Product Case Study

Describe the Product A‍

Virtual workspace where you can store and organize all the files and code related to your project. It's like a big virtual storage cabinet where you can keep everything in one place. This way, you and your team members can access and collaborate on the project from anywhere, whether you're in the same room or different parts of the world.

Here's how GitHub works:

  • Version Control
  • Collaboration
  • Issue Tracking
  • Code Review
  • Public and Private Repositories

‍Clarifying Questions‍

Onboarding Process:

How is the current onboarding process for new users on GitHub?

What are the challenges or pain points new users often face when getting started?

Are there any specific features or concepts that new users find difficult to understand?

User Experience and Navigation:

How intuitive is the user interface for new users?

Are there any areas or workflows where new users tend to get confused or lost?

Are there any features or functionalities that new users frequently overlook or struggle to find?

Learning Resources and Documentation:

What resources are available to help new users learn how to use GitHub effectively?

Are there any gaps in the existing documentation or tutorials that new users find confusing?

Are there any areas where additional guidance or tutorials could be beneficial for new users?

Collaboration and Teamwork:

How do new users typically collaborate with their team members on GitHub?

Are there any challenges or pain points in the collaboration process for new users?

Are there any features or improvements that could enhance the teamwork experience for new users?

Support and Assistance:

What support channels are available for new users to seek help or ask questions?

How responsive is the support system in addressing the needs of new users?

Are there any common issues or queries that new users frequently encounter?

User Feedback and Metrics:

What feedback have you received from new users about their experience with GitHub?

Are there any specific user metrics or usage patterns that highlight areas for improvement?

Have you conducted any user research or user testing to understand the needs and pain points of new users?

Define the Goal‍

The primary objectives include:

  • Easy Adoption
  • Efficient Workflow
  • Effective Collaboration
  • Learning and Support
  • Positive User Experience

Identify User Segments‍

The various user segments of GitHub for a new user can include:

Individual Developers: These are developers who work on personal projects or contribute to open-source projects. They may be new to GitHub and looking to leverage its features for version control, collaboration, and project management.

Small Development Teams: Small teams working on projects, such as startups or small businesses, can use GitHub to collaborate and manage their codebase. They may consist of developers, designers, and other team members who need a centralized platform for version control and project coordination.

Students and Educators: GitHub is also used in educational settings, where students and educators utilize it for coding assignments, project submissions, and collaboration within classrooms or academic institutions.

Open-Source Contributors: GitHub is home to a vast community of open-source projects. New users may join GitHub to contribute to these projects, whether it's fixing bugs, adding new features, or participating in discussions and code reviews.

Technical Writers and Documenters: GitHub is not only about code; it also serves as a platform for documenting projects and creating technical documentation. Users who focus on writing and documenting projects, such as technical writers or documenters, can leverage GitHub for collaborative documentation efforts.

Project Managers and Product Owners: Project managers or product owners who oversee development projects may use GitHub as a central hub to track progress, assign tasks, review code, and ensure project milestones are met.

Designers and UI/UX Professionals: GitHub is not limited to code management; it also supports design-related assets and collaboration. Designers and UI/UX professionals can use GitHub to manage design files, collaborate with developers, and maintain design consistency within projects.

Community Managers and Maintainers: Open-source projects often have dedicated community managers and maintainers who curate contributions, manage discussions, and ensure the smooth operation of the project's ecosystem. GitHub provides tools for managing these community interactions.

List the Pain Points

Individual Developers:

  • Difficulty in understanding and navigating GitHub's interface and features.
  • Lack of clarity on how to set up repositories, clone projects, and manage branches.
  • Challenges in understanding and utilizing GitHub's version control system effectively.
  • Limited knowledge on how to collaborate with other developers and contribute to projects.

Small Development Teams:

  • Issues in coordinating and managing team members within GitHub.
  • Challenges in setting up effective workflows and branch management strategies.
  • Limited understanding of how to use GitHub's issue tracking system for project management.
  • Difficulty in integrating third-party tools or services with GitHub for continuous integration or deployment.

Students and Educators:

  • Confusion about how to set up and submit assignments using GitHub.
  • Lack of clear guidelines on how to collaborate with classmates or teachers within GitHub.
  • Limited knowledge on utilizing GitHub's features for educational purposes.
  • Challenges in managing multiple repositories for different courses or projects.

Open-Source Contributors:

  • Difficulty in finding suitable projects to contribute to and getting involved in the community.
  • Uncertainty about the contribution process, including code submissions, code reviews, and pull requests.
  • Challenges in understanding and adhering to project-specific coding guidelines and standards.
  • Limited visibility or recognition for their contributions and difficulty in building a reputation within the open-source community.

Technical Writers and Documenters:

  • Unclear documentation on how to utilize GitHub for collaborative documentation efforts.
  • Challenges in managing and organizing documentation within repositories.
  • Difficulty in integrating documentation updates with code changes and version control.
  • Limited visibility and discoverability of documentation for wider audiences.

Project Managers and Product Owners:

  • Challenges in effectively tracking and managing project progress within GitHub.
  • Limited visibility into team members' work, especially in terms of task assignment and completion.
  • Difficulties in setting up project milestones and utilizing GitHub's project management features.
  • Lack of clarity on how to conduct code reviews and provide feedback to developers.

Designers and UI/UX Professionals:

  • Limited support and collaboration features for managing design assets within GitHub.
  • Challenges in integrating design-related tools or plugins with GitHub.
  • Difficulty in aligning design changes and updates with code changes and version control.
  • Unclear processes for design reviews and collaboration with developers.

Community Managers and Maintainers:

  • Difficulty in managing discussions, comments, and issue triaging within GitHub.
  • Challenges in guiding and engaging contributors effectively.
  • Limited tools for fostering community participation and recognizing contributors' efforts.
  • Lack of moderation features to manage code contributions and community interactions.

List the Solutions to the Identified Pain Points

Individual Developers:

  • Improve onboarding experience with interactive tutorials and guided tours.
  • Provide clear and concise documentation and resources for getting started.
  • Enhance the user interface with intuitive navigation and tooltips.
  • Offer in-app assistance or chatbots to address common questions and challenges.

Small Development Teams:

  • Develop templates or starter kits for common workflows and project setups.
  • Provide step-by-step guides for setting up branches, managing pull requests, and resolving conflicts.
  • Offer integrated project management features, such as task boards and project timelines.
  • Enable seamless integration with popular continuous integration and deployment tools.

Students and Educators:

  • Create educational resources, tutorials, and sample projects tailored for classroom settings.
  • Develop features that streamline assignment submission and grading processes.
  • Provide dedicated documentation and support for educational use cases.
  • Foster collaboration features specifically designed for student teams and teacher-student interactions.

Open-Source Contributors:

  • Improve discoverability of projects seeking contributions and highlight newcomer-friendly projects.
  • Enhance documentation on contribution guidelines and code review processes.
  • Introduce mechanisms for recognizing and rewarding contributors, such as badges or achievements.
  • Foster mentorship programs or forums where newcomers can seek guidance from experienced contributors.

Technical Writers and Documenters:

  • Offer dedicated documentation repositories with clear guidelines on documentation best practices.
  • Provide tools or integrations for seamless documentation updates and version control.
  • Improve search and discoverability of documentation within GitHub.
  • Collaborate with technical writing communities to gather feedback and improve documentation features.

Project Managers and Product Owners:

  • Enhance project management features, including more robust task assignment and tracking capabilities.
  • Provide visual progress indicators and team activity feeds for improved visibility.
  • Integrate code review and feedback mechanisms directly within GitHub.
  • Offer project analytics and reporting features for better insights into project progress.

Designers and UI/UX Professionals:

  • Develop features for managing design assets within repositories, such as design file previews.
  • Integrate with popular design tools and platforms to enable seamless collaboration.
  • Facilitate design reviews and feedback workflows directly within GitHub.
  • Foster dedicated communities or forums for design collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Community Managers and Maintainers:

  • Introduce moderation tools and features to manage code contributions, discussions, and issue triaging.
  • Improve community engagement features, such as recognition systems or contributor spotlights.
  • Provide resources and best practices for community management and fostering contributor growth.
  • Enable customizable community guidelines and code of conduct for open-source projects.

Use Prioritization Metrics to prioritize the solutions according to factors such as feasibility and ease of usage

Let's use the RICE prioritization framework to prioritize the solutions listed for GitHub for a new user. RICE stands for Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. We'll assign a score to each criterion on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest. Here's an example of how we can prioritize the solutions:

Individual Developers:

Improve onboarding experience with interactive tutorials and guided tours.

Reach: 8

Impact: 9

Confidence: 7

Effort: 6

RICE Score: 84

Small Development Teams:

Develop templates or starter kits for common workflows and project setups.

Reach: 7

Impact: 8

Confidence: 8

Effort: 6

RICE Score: 74.67

Students and Educators:

Create educational resources, tutorials, and sample projects tailored for classroom settings.

Reach: 6

Impact: 7

Confidence: 7

Effort: 7

RICE Score: 42

Open-Source Contributors:

Improve discoverability of projects seeking contributions and highlight newcomer-friendly projects.

Reach: 7

Impact: 9

Confidence: 6

Effort: 8

RICE Score: 47.25

Technical Writers and Documenters:

Offer dedicated documentation repositories with clear guidelines on documentation best practices.

Reach: 6

Impact: 6

Confidence: 8

Effort: 6

RICE Score: 48

Project Managers and Product Owners:

Enhance project management features, including more robust task assignment and tracking capabilities.

Reach: 7

Impact: 8

Confidence: 9

Effort: 7

RICE Score: 72

Designers and UI/UX Professionals:

Develop features for managing design assets within repositories, such as design file previews.

Reach: 5

Impact: 7

Confidence: 6

Effort: 7

RICE Score: 30

Community Managers and Maintainers:

Introduce moderation tools and features to manage code contributions, discussions, and issue triaging.

Reach: 6

Impact: 8

Confidence: 8

Effort: 8

RICE Score: 48

Define Metrics to measure the performance‍

To measure the performance of the solutions listed for GitHub for a new user, you can consider the following metrics:

User Adoption:

  • Number of new user sign-ups and registrations.
  • User activation rate (percentage of registered users who actively use GitHub).
  • Number of repositories created by new users.
  • User retention rate (percentage of users who continue using GitHub over time).

User Engagement:

  • Number of commits, pull requests, and code contributions from new users.
  • Number of issues opened or commented on by new users.
  • Number of interactions (e.g., comments, reactions) on new users' contributions.
  • Time spent on the platform by new users (daily or weekly active users).

User Satisfaction:

  • User feedback surveys or ratings regarding their experience as new users.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) or customer satisfaction scores.
  • User sentiment analysis of online discussions or social media mentions.
  • User support ticket volume and response time.

Feature Adoption and Usage:

  • Adoption rate of new features or improvements among new users.
  • Usage frequency of key features for new users (e.g., creating repositories, submitting pull requests).
  • Feature-specific metrics, such as the number of tutorial completions or guided tours taken.

Onboarding Effectiveness:

  • Time taken for new users to complete initial setup tasks or perform key actions.
  • Onboarding completion rate (percentage of users who successfully complete the onboarding process).
  • User feedback on the onboarding experience and ease of getting started.

Community and Collaboration:

  • Number of collaborations between new users and existing users or projects.
  • Growth of new user contributions over time (measured by pull requests, issues, or commits).
  • Community engagement metrics, such as the number of discussions or interactions within project communities.

Educational Impact (for student and educator segments):

  • Usage of educational resources and tutorials by students and educators.
  • Completion rates for educational assignments or projects on GitHub.
  • Academic performance or grades linked to GitHub-based assignments.

Business Impact:

  • Impact on revenue or business growth resulting from increased user adoption and engagement.
  • Cost savings or efficiency gains achieved through improved workflows and features.
  • Expansion of GitHub's user base and market share within specific user segments.

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