Appfire's acquisition of Digital Toucan introduced several key apps to its portfolio, including OKRs for Jira, a powerful tool designed to manage Objectives and Key Results within Atlassian's Jira environment. However, to maintain competitiveness and meet evolving user expectations, it became essential to update the codebase and enhance the user experience. This case study outlines the strategic approach taken to revamp OKRs for Jira, focusing on desk research, user studies, and incremental performance improvements.

The project's primary objectives were to:

1. Conduct comprehensive research and competitive analysis to identify areas for improvement.
2. Perform an initial onboarding study to understand user journeys and pinpoint key user experiences.
3. Utilize research findings to map outcomes and prioritize efforts using a value vs. effort matrix.
4. Opt for an evolutionary rather than revolutionary redesign to retain familiar user interfaces.
5. Focus on key areas: marketplace listing, first-time user experience, OKR creation flow, Jira issue linking, drag-and-drop OKR prioritization, and a quick view side panel.
6. Implement performance improvements incrementally to maintain user satisfaction.

The project faced several challenges:

1. Legacy Codebase: Updating the inherited codebase to meet current standards.
2. User Experience: Enhancing the user experience without overwhelming existing users.
3. Performance: Improving app performance, which required significant effort but had to be done gradually.
4. Competitiveness: Keeping pace with major competitors in the Jira Marketplace.

Preliminary research:

1. Desk Research: Conducted to gather comprehensive information about the current state of OKRs for Jira and its place in the marketplace.
2. Competition Research: Analyzed features, strengths, weaknesses, and user feedback of competing apps.
3. Heuristics Evaluation: Evaluated the existing app using established usability heuristics to identify critical areas needing improvement.
4. Protopersonas: from given data and desk research main protopersonas were created for further evaluation

Initial Onboarding Study:

1. Conducted with 12 users, splitted between 3 main personas, focusing on the main user journey, including the "happy path" and identifying the "AHA moment."
2. Gathered insights on initial impressions, ease of use, and areas causing friction.

Study and Research Outcomes:

1. Mapped research findings and used a value vs. effort matrix to prioritize enhancements.
2. Mapped user journey to visualise main painpoints.
3. Identified high-impact areas that could be improved with reasonable effort.
4. Updated personas with insights and additional study outcome data

Evolutionary Design Approach

1. Decided to evolve the existing layout rather than completely redesigning it, ensuring users retained familiarity with the interface.
2. New features and performance improvement was a must. User journey mapping and effort matrix clearly has shown what path has to be taken.

Key Areas of Focus

1. Marketplace Listing: Enhanced the listing to better communicate the app’s value proposition and improvements.
2. First-Time User Experience: Streamlined onboarding processes to provide a smoother initial interaction.
3. OKR Creation Flow: Redesigned the flow to make it more intuitive and efficient.
4. Jira Issue Linking: Redesigned from scratch to simplify linking Jira issues to Key Results.
5. Drag-and-Drop OKR Prioritization: Introduced a drag-and-drop feature for easier prioritization of OKRs.
6. Quick View Side Panel: Implemented a side panel for quick access to key information, improving overall usability.
7. Timeline: New tab with visually appealing timeline reflecting OKRs start & end dates and periods they belong to was introduced

Incremental Performance Improvements

1. Performance enhancements were integrated into each sprint alongside new functionality.
2. This approach ensured continuous improvement without overwhelming the development process or the users.

Introduced changes had unquestionable impact:

1. User Satisfaction: Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Customer Effort Score (CES) increased by approximately 20% month-over-month and quarter-over-quarter.
2. Quick View Panel: Significantly improved metrics such as time on screen, time on task, and CES, showing substantial user satisfaction growth.
3. Issue linking component: This particular component had big impact on overall usability. Component was adopted amongst other apps in company portfolio.
4. Performance: Support cases related to performance issues dropped to almost zero.
5. Competitiveness: The app continuously narrowed the gap with main competitors, keeping pace with market leaders.

The revamp of OKRs for Jira was a success, marked by meticulous planning, user-centric design, and continuous performance improvements. Key takeaways include:

1. Research-Driven Design: Comprehensive research and user studies are crucial for identifying improvement areas.
2. User-Centric Evolution: Evolving the interface while maintaining familiarity ensures smoother transitions and higher user retention.
3. Incremental Improvements: Gradual enhancements, especially in performance, can yield significant long-term benefits.