Building a beta from scratch
Redgate build straightforward, powerful database tools used by 91% of Fortune 500 companies.
During my time at Redgate I worked on UX copy, technical documentation and marketing content for several products.
The brief
For this project, we set out to discover if there was a user need for managing 'static data' in Visual Studio. This is data that rarely changes - for example countries and currencies.
Based on our findings, we started work on a Visual Studio extension to address the pain points in this process. As the sole technical writer in a small, lean product team, I helped to prototype, build and test this extension.
As the first Visual Studio extension Redgate had developed, this project presented unique challenges
What I did
I worked closely with a UX designer, developers and a product owner to:
- develop UX copy and documentation
- test different wireframes and prototypes with beta users
- produce tutorial videos and marketing copy
Adopting Lean UX principles helped keep the focus on our users during alpha and beta stages
Writing UX copy and documentation
Because we were building an extensioinside Visual Studio - rather than one of our own products - I had to keep a tight scope when writing copy for the UI.
As one way around this problem, I designed concise placeholder copy we could include in blank scripts at key parts in the journey.
This was a straightforward way to guide users through complex processes, without making changes to the Visual Studio UI.
While this started life as a workaround, it became an effective help tool.
As well as this in product microcopy, I developed supporting documentation throughout the beta process
Testing with beta users
To test and improve the microcopy in the interface, I worked with a UX designer to set up screen sharing sessions with experienced users.
Starting with wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes, I validated my assumptions about language and the user journey. Using low-fidelity designs meant I could quickly test different approaches to in-product help.
Once we had a more concrete idea of how best to approach the problem, I worked with developers to incorporate the UX copy into a more robust, functional tool.
We used very simple wireframes to explore user journeys and language before building anything functional
Scripting and producing tutorial videos
We'd identified a pain point for Visual Studio users, but this was a very new audience to us.
To help engage new and existing users, I scripted and produced a tutorial video aimed at helping users who experienced the problem we were trying to solve.
Through interaction with this video, we saw overall engagement with users increase. In turn, we started conversations with new beta users who could test future iterations of the product.
