We continue to hear from customers about discoverability, findability, and wayfinding challenges while working in GitLab. Users have opted for short-term fixes like bookmarking pages, opening numerous tabs, and using To-Dos in unconventional ways. This epic is to prioritize and address the highest priority pain points. #### Activities: Measure - [x] Determine an appropriate measurement plan for this epic https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/1098 - [+Done+] cdybenko: This was completed and closed [here](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/1098#note_492171029) but it is not clear if that [process](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/ux-research-training/evaluating-navigation/) is being followed and with what regularity - [x] Conduct measurement activities - https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/4611 [+Done+] cdybenko: This was done but there is one issue left - asked Taurie and Ashley to investigate #### Activities: Improve **Priority #1 - Left Navigation &4436** Improve the organization of our Left Navigation to help users quickly find and discover features. How to solve: - [x] Establish a baseline based on UX Research navigation metrics - https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/4514 [+Done+] - [x] Propose an updated version of the Left Navigation based on completed UX Research https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5174 [+Done+] - [ ] Add `Planning` and ` Statistics` categories at the Group level to the navigation. (needs re-evaluation against current structure) [-cdybenko ?-] - [ ] Add `Statistics` category at the Project level to the navigation. (needs re-evaluation against current structure) [-cdybenko ?-] - [ ] Make additional organization changes to the navigation based on research outcomes. [-cdybenko ?-] - [ ] Determine if permissions-based navigation display is disruptive to the experience. [-cdybenko ?-] - [ ] Improve discoverability of the setting for enabling/disabling left side navigation features https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/233429 - [x] Ensure that all items in the left side navigation can be disabled ~~https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/259848~~ https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/3719 [+cdybenko moved into prioritization epic +] **Priority #2 - Groups and Projects &3389** Help users understand the relationship between Groups and Projects. How to solve: - [ ] Make changes to help distinguish Groups from Projects within the UI. - [ ] Find opportunities to show the hierarchy of the objects: Groups and Projects. - [ ] Improve linking between Groups and Projects (see Wayfinding) - [ ] Improve usefulness of the +Add function in top nav **Priority #3 - Wayfinding &3385** Help users understand where they are in GitLab and offer quick access to relevant actions. How to solve: - [x] Establish a baseline based on UX Research navigation metrics - https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/580 - [ ] Provide ways for users to more quickly traverse between Projects within a Group and switch between their Groups. - [ ] Offer the ability to `star` or `favorite` pages within GitLab (and access them in the future). - [ ] Fix the Frequently Used Project menu so that it doesn't rely on local storage. gitlab#254328 - [ ] Assign existing wayfinding-related issues to stage groups (i.e. add a link to milestones from within merge requests) **Priority #4 - UI Cleanup &3390 and &3384** Improve overall interaction and aesthetics to increase the usability of our application. How to solve: - [ ] Assign existing UI-related issues to various stage groups and treat it like a burndown list (possible shared OKR?). **Priority #5 - Keyboard shortcuts &3386** Improve keyboard-based shortcuts and navigation. How to solve: - [ ] Complete the existing 5 issues. NOTE: RELATED ISSUES TO BE ADDED TO THIS EPIC. #### Additional Context For existing user research, refer to these: - https://dovetailapp.com/projects/2557b692-39c6-461f-88c6-4d597293b1c6/insights - https://dovetailapp.com/projects/b93cd1fc-90e5-4bf9-b3a0-bb3cc8b378a5/insights - Summary of research conducted before 2020: https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/1555 - History of GitLab’s navigation blog post https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2019/07/31/navigation-state-of-play/ - Stakeholder interviews (2019): https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/1561 - Navigation feedback from SUS: [Dovetail highlights](https://dovetailapp.com/extensions/3d166abc-9031-48a8-8ef8-741ed3c5ef79/tags/a91f8500-e328-4119-968c-aeee356ab623#v=ewAiAHEAIgA6ACIAIgB9AA) - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/uxr_insights/-/issues/690 - Navigation Mural: https://app.mural.co/t/gitlab2474/m/gitlab2474/1589571490215/261462d0beb3043979374623710d3f2d6cfec1cb