Explore user flows of creating/editing pipelines with the CI/CD Catalog

Overview

For the last few months, we have worked hard to make the first release of the CI/CD Catalog 🎉

We had some discussions around the placement of the feature for the past few months:

• #393623 (closed)
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/2401

Now, I’d like to take a step back and create a user flow to visualize where in the process of creating and editing pipelines users would need to get into contact with the CI/CD catalog. The flow map will allow us to have a better understanding of the context of users and give us ideas on where to put this feature.

Expected outcome

• A set of the user journey map
• Document different ideas for the placement of the CI Catalog placement
• Compare the pros and cons of each placement, like the cognitive efforts that users need to take to leverage the CI catalog within different flows (Relevant research: SUS Verbatim cross-functional analysis)

Checklist

• Review the previous research outcomes - Google docs - internal
• Explore competitors (quick version) - FigJam / https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/competitor-evaluations/-/issues/39
• Work on the user journey map
• Review and discuss the workflow
  • CI/CD UX team + Managers (@rayana + @mvanremmerden)
  • Team members working on the Catalog project (PA team + @fabiopitino + @enf)
  • Pair designer @aregnery
  • Feedback on the onboarding journey @p_cordero (optional)
• Work with teams to decide on the next steps (e.g., research study, implementation details https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/2632)
• Inform Foundations team @cdybenko + @chrismicek

Sidetrack

• 👀 Check out the Idea board
  • Convert Pipeline Editor to WebIDE/VSCode plugin (#422373 - closed)
  • Scope change for the private catalog #423844 (comment 1545231315)
  • Direction change for the global catalog &11674 (closed)

Action items

Theme	Issue	Note	Status
Group 1: Global catalog	CI/CD Catalog go to Beta (&11674 - closed)	Direction change to have a single view	Design WIP, Request issue (#428145 (closed))
Group 2: Actionable items	Frontend: Add an indicator to the catalog resou... (#394818 - closed)	Additional indicator in the project view (badge)	workflowverification (as of 2023-10-20)
Group 2: Actionable items	Frontend: Entry point to the CI/CD Catalog in t... (#425888)	Additional entry point from the file view	workflowdesign TW review
Group 2: Actionable items	Frontend: on-boarding existing CI users to the ... (#423710 - closed)	Additional entry point in the onboarding screen	workflowplanning breakdown, See the epic about onboarding (&11350)
Group 3: IDE edition	Design: Provide a link to the components reposi... (#402621)	First iteration	Dependency on (#422373 (closed))
Group 3: IDE edition	Ideation: Surface catalog on the IDE (#428913)	Second iteration and more	Dependency on (#422373 (closed))
Group 4: Promote catalog in the context	Design: Prompt users to use CI components based... (#426105)	Provide a filtered list to the catalog based on the repository language and topics	Design exploration done, refine the scope with the team after the global catalog MVC