Design studio (Async): Commenting

Purpose

Commenting is a shared feature touching numerous parts of the product — issues/work items, MRs, wiki, and commits all include comments using the same overall pattern.

For the most part this pattern has not changed in quite some time, though there are a few areas of divergence (e.g. removal of 'start thread' from work items) as well as some added features (e.g. addition of 'rich text editor' mode switching).

As a frequent touchpoint for many users in the GitLab platform, even modest improvements here could have a notable impact.

Proposal

Phase 1: Exploration

• Deadline: (few days, tbd)
• Output: 1-3 design concepts per participant in a shared Figma file
• Process: Small cohort of designers each create a set of 1-3 design concepts representing a potential direction for commenting. This can be at any level of fidelity, but should account for any existing features in at least 1 product area (i.e. all features in an issue, or all in an MR). This can mean deprecating features as part of the concept.

Phase 2: Feedback

• Deadline: n+3d
• Output: prioritized concept(s)
• Process: Designers, including ones not part of exploration, use dot voting to select 1-2 designs they feel are worth pursuing further.

Phase 3: Refinement

• Deadline: n+2w
• Output: single refined design
• Process: one identified designer takes the prioritized designs from feedback and refines those concepts into hi fi designs, gets feedback from DRIs of feature areas affected by commenting

Phase 4: Implementation

• Deadline: tbd
• Output: improved commenting experience in product
• Process: create an issue describing the enhancements to be made w/ the new design and identify team(s) or individual(s) who can implement