DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
@saschaeggi
When designers code UX Paper Cuts at GitLab
Sascha Eggenberger Staff Product Designer at GitLab
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
@saschaeggi
Sascha Eggenberger Staff Product Designer at GitLab Best known as the creator of the Gin Admin Theme in the Drupal world.
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
But before we start we need to first answer a specific question!
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Should designers actually code?
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Hell yeah!
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Hell yeah! It depends.
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We can’t expect designers to learn how to code
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https://bradfrost.com/blog/post/should-designers-code/
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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That doesn’t mean designers should code
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But we can expect them to understand the basics
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Do all designers at GitLab code?
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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No! But we encourage designers to do so
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
GitLab UX Paper Cuts team What is a Paper Cut? Lessions learned How to adapt Q&A / AMA
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
GitLab 🡐 UX Paper Cuts team What is a Paper Cut? Lessions learned How to adapt Q&A / AMA
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We’re an all-remote company
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We have 1500 team members across 60 countries
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Ability to work from anywhere
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We do asynchronous communication
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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Collaborative, employee written handbook handbook.gitlab.com
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
GitLab is an open-core product
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We do monthly releases
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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Fully transparent what we’re working on
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
GitLab’s mission is Everyone can contribute https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/company/mission/#mission
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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GitLab UX Paper Cuts team 🡐 What is a Paper Cut? Lessions learned How to adapt this Q&A / AMA
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
UX Paper Cuts is an extension of the Design Systems team
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We look at high-traffic areas of the product and try to improve it
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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We usually start with a Merge Request https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/communication/#start-with-a-merge-request
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We work mostly in code
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Our work can be shortterm and destined to be overwritten
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We collaborate with a lot of other teams
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We temporarily own features when we don’t have a designer available
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Each milestone has a theme
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We also have long term initiatives
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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We have a meta issue where people can post issues and ideas
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We plan 3 milestones in advance
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Open issues, Research and customer feedback
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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We also monitor Slack channels like the #is-this-known channel
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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GitLab UX Paper Cuts team What is a Paper Cut? 🡐 Lessions learned How to adapt this Q&A / AMA
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vimeo.com/189919038
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
We all know how painful a tiny cut on your fingertip can be
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Painful enough to always remind you but not worth a doctor’s visit
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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A «UX Paper Cut» is a minor problem that can frustrate users
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
These problems can reduce the overall satisfaction of the product
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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The goal is to improve user satisfaction
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Cosmetic issues & frustrating patterns
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Improvements to boost convenience & ease of use
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Readability & Accessibility issues
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Broken features
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/155319
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/156025
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/164339
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163197
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163612
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163612
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/132462
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/133501
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163739
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/153949
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/114083
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/88908
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/121245
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/166295
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163591
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/163591
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Bigger initiatives
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/160374
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/162045
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https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/154922
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Since the start in 2023 we merged more than 1400 MRs
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Want to see more? papercuts.gitlab.com
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GitLab UX Paper Cuts team What is a Paper Cut? Lessions learned 🡐 How to adapt Q&A / AMA
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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It was wild west in the early days
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Setting a theme per milestone gives guideance
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Over)Communication is key
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Raise awareness of changes
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Plan in advance
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GitLab UX Paper Cuts team What is a Paper Cut? Lessions learned How to adapt 🡐 Q&A / AMA
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Plan a one week «Bug Smash» sprint
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
Pair up designers with engineers
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DrupalCon Barcelona 2024
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Day 1 Use your product and find bugs
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Day 2 5 Create MRs to fix them
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Repeat that every quarter
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Thank you Sascha Eggenberger Staff Product Designer at GitLab