Should we include images in issue boards?

Aim of this research

In products such as Trello and JIRA, images are included for each issue card on a list, so that users can see an overview and understand what the issue is about. We would like to consider adding this feature to GitLab but are concerned about the design and usability.

Understanding the need and use cases for images in issue boards. Identifying the workflows/users this feature will help and potential usability/design requirements that we have not considered.

Research Questions:

• Do users want to see images on issue boards?
  • Do users want images on boards to be the default or just an option?
  • Would users who do not want images on boards be more open to the idea, if they could turn the setting off?
• Which image should be displayed as the cover for an issue? Where should this image be pulled from?
• Which workflows or personas do issue boards with images fit?
  • There might be different uses for issue boards. Are we able to confidently separate/recognize those use cases in order to offer the functionality only when it makes sense? (think of lists or board configurability) - #107 (comment 113193364)
  • If images are shown on issue cards, do all issues benefit from having an image? Or do images work best for only certain kinds of issues, like bugs or feature requests?

What assumptions do you have?

• This is a common feature as seen in Trello and JIRA
  • "As human are more visual than willing to read text, you get a lot better overview of what cards are where, if the cards have images (of course only, if the images make sense), it really helps to achieve this goal." (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7692#note_103371107)
• Worries that introducing this could worsen the experience for the majority of people. (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7692#note_107847710)
• Users may be more receptive to this feature if the default is no images but they can opt-in to the feature. (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7692#note_103371114)

Methodology

• User interviews with GitLab users who also use/have used Trello or JIRA.

Who we spoke with

• User 1, Development Team Lead, using GitLab for about 6 years for work and personal use, organization size of 11-100 people, using Core
• User 2, Site Reliability Engineer, using for about 2.5 years for work use, organization size of 10,000+ people, using GitLab Core
• User 3, Executive, using GitLab for about 2.5 years for work use, organization size of 1-10 people, using GitLab.com
• User 4, Executive, using GitLab for about work use, organization size of 11-100 people, using GitLab.com
• User 5, Data Scientist, using GitLab for about 1 year for both work and personal use, organization size of 10,000+ people, using GitLab.com
• User 6, Executive, using GitLab for almost 2 years for work use, organization size of 11-100 people, using GitLab.com

Key Findings

Full Research Report

• Which types of issues/task descriptions do users tend to add images to?

  • Bug reports
  • Design discussions (flow charts, user journeys, mockups)
  • “Mindmaps” attached to parent issues
  • Error tracebacks
  • "Stories"

• Do users want to see images on boards? Of the 6 users we spoke with, 4 users did not want to see images on boards, according to their personal workflows. The following reasons were given:

  • Images would clutter the board and make it difficult to see an overview
  • The board may get filled with repetitive images that are hard to distinguish
  • Not all images are meaningful enough to serve as a summary of the issue
  • User 1 specifically sees this as a workaround. He says that the focus should be on writing more descriptive issue titles rather than relying on an image to tell the story.

• Most users were open to the feature as long as the images are not added automatically (user adds the image themselves) and they have the option to opt out.

  • User 2 says it wouldn't be very useful to see just the most recently added image. However, if the goal was to have an overview of the issue information at a glance, it’d be useful. He’d rather have control over the images shown in the issue because sometimes GitLab may randomly pull thumbnails or images that are not very relevant.
  • User 4 thinks the image from the description should be default image for the cover but you should be able to update the image as discussion progresses.
  • User 5 specifically stated that she thinks this feature may suit designers or product managers who are looking at images related to various features so they'd benefit from a visual reminder.

Next Steps

• As described in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/7692#note_103371114 and discussed in the interviews, having images on board does not fit everyone's use case. I would recommend the opt-in approach as a non-obtrusive way to introduce this feature.
  • Next step would be to do design exploration for this question: where should users go to configure the option to see images on their boards? (e.g. toggle on the issue board to disable viewing issues with images or in settings)
  • Additionally, how should we handle feature discoverability, if the default is set to "no images"?

Progress

• Discuss plan of action with Plan PM & designers [Deadline: Fri Nov 9th]
• Write screener survey [Deadline: Thurs Nov 8th]
• Advertise screener survey on Twitter [Deadline: Fri Nov 9th]
• Write interview script [Deadline: Fri Nov 9th]
  • Get feedback on interview script [Deadline: Tues Nov 13th]
• Schedule 5 users [Deadline: Mon Nov 12th]
  • Email users who were not selected (via MailChimp) [Deadline: Tues Nov 13th]
• Conduct interviews [Deadline: Tues Nov 20th]
• Pay users [Deadline: Weds Nov 21st]
• Edit videos [Deadline: Mon Dec 10th]
• Communicate results in issue
• Determine next steps
• Write up findings into a report [Deadline: Tues Dec 10th]
• Add link to report to issue description [Deadline: Mon Dec 10th]

Deliverable added so issue shows up on UX team board.