Silicon Labs
User Research for Enhancing Software Documentation UX
Silicon Labs is a prominent technology company known for its semiconductor and software solutions, facilitating connectivity and innovation across diverse industries, particularly in wireless technologies and IoT applications. Their focus on enabling smart, connected devices underscores their commitment to shaping the future of technology.
Role: UX Researcher
Tools: Survey Monkey, Figma
Timeline: Q2 2024
Objective:
The primary goal of this initiative was to conduct user research in order to assist the Software Documentation team in uncovering some of their users' most significant pain points and challenges. By understanding these issues in greater depth, the team can work towards delivering an improved user experience.
Challenges:
The limited availability of willing participants resulted in a smaller sample size for the study, potentially impacting the validity of the findings.
Coordinating interviews proved challenging because most participants were located in different time zones. This required careful planning and flexibility to accommodate varying schedules, often leading to delays or the need for early morning or late evening sessions.
Process:
In the initial stages of this process, I collaborated closely with the project manager to establish clear and actionable research objectives. This involved aligning on the overall goals of the project, identifying the key questions we needed to answer, and determining how the research findings would inform the design and development process. Together, we outlined a strategy to ensure the research would effectively address user needs and support the broader project vision.
After carefully defining our research objectives, we proceeded to develop an interview script that aligned with our overarching goals for the project. We further refined the script by incorporating valuable feedback from our pilot interview, which ultimately helped ensure that our script was both clear and focused on our main objective. This process not only enhanced the quality of our script but also increased our overall confidence in the research methodology.
After conducting user interviews and synthesizing the data, three key themes emerged:
Improved Documentation Organization
Users expressed a need for better organization, as the current structure does not align with their natural workflows, causing inefficiencies and frustration.Enhanced Cross-Linking Between Software and Hardware Documentation
Participants emphasized the importance of seamless cross-referencing, highlighting the inconvenience of having to perform separate searches to locate hardware-related resources.Preference for Online Documentation Over PDFs
Users found downloadable PDFs problematic, primarily due to the lack of update notifications, which created uncertainty about accessing the most current information.
After sharing my findings with the Documentation Software team I helped them prioritize the key findings, align with the necessary stakeholders, and define actionable recommendations for the team.