This document discusses conducting user research for an API management product. It outlines the research process of empathizing with users through interviews and personas, defining problems by synthesizing findings, ideating solutions through design studios, and prototyping and testing solutions. The research uncovered that API consumers want easy discovery and secure access to APIs without involving operations. It also found that API managers want observability into API usage. Outcomes of the research included API discovery and documentation pages and secure access pages. The value of user research is building empathy, validating assumptions, and providing structured feedback.

1. Developers Are
Users Too
Erick Arias
Sr. Product Designer / VMware
Sept 3, 2020

2. 2
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this presentation.

3. 3
Erick Arias
Sr. Product Designer
Spring Cloud Services
VMware Tanzu
3

4. 4
Spring Cloud Services
Spring Products for Tanzu
8 Engineers, 2 PM, 1 Designer
4 Countries / 5 Time Zones

5. 5
Spring Cloud Gateway + API Hub for VMware Tanzu
• Developer manages
gateway deployments and
route configuration
• Decoupling of cross-
cutting API concerns, like
SSO and Rate Limiting
• Developer portal for
discovering and managing
APIs
Developer-friendly API Management Solution

6. 6
Spring Cloud Gateway + API Hub for VMware Tanzu
• Developer manages
gateway deployments and
route configuration
• Decoupling of cross-
cutting API concerns, like
SSO and Rate Limiting
• Developer portal for
discovering and managing
APIs
Developer-friendly API Management Solution

7. 7
Spring Cloud Gateway + API Hub for VMware Tanzu
• Developer manages
gateway deployments and
route configuration
• Decoupling of cross-
cutting API concerns, like
SSO and Rate Limiting
• Developer portal for
discovering and managing
APIs
Developer-friendly API Management Solution

8. 8
Spring Cloud Gateway + API Hub for VMware Tanzu
• Developer manages
gateway deployments and
route configuration
• Decoupling of cross-
cutting API concerns, like
SSO and Rate Limiting
• Developer console for
discovering and managing
APIs
Developer-friendly API Management Solution

9. 9
36%
39%
41%
48%
59%
69%
72%
73%
% of Respondants
Most Important Factors when Evaluating API Tools
Ease of Use Ease of Implementation Integrations with Existing Tools Re-Usability
Cost Impact on Efficiency Open Source Learning Curve
by Smartbear
The State of API 2019
Source: https://static1.smartbear.co/smartbearbrand/media/pdf/smartbear_state_of_api_2019.pdf

10. 10
11%
20%
25%
28%
53%
58%
58%
76%
% of Respondants
How developers Measure Success of APIs
Performance Usability/DX Uptime/Availability Calls Made to API
Issues Resolved # of Subscribers Revenue Rate of new accounts
by Smartbear
The State of API 2019
Source: https://static1.smartbear.co/smartbearbrand/media/pdf/smartbear_state_of_api_2019.pdf

11. 11Confidential │ ©2020 VMware, Inc.
“Developer engagement should
therefore be a priority. APIs
require product teams[…],
feedback cycles, and
iteration.”
Gregory Brail, Google
https://medium.com/apis-and-digital-
transformation/great-developer-experiences-and-
the-people-who-make-them-b97b544caba9

12. 12
API Hub
User Research

13. 13
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

14. 14
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype
Generative Research

15. 15
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype
Evaluative Research

16. 16
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

17. 17
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

18. 18
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

19. 19
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

20. 20
Research Process
Empathize Define Ideate Prototype

21. 21
Goals should be broadly defined,
measurable, and user-centered
1. To give API consumers a way to discover
and securely access available APIs across
their organizations.
2. To give service providers a way to
manage access to their APIs.
Empathize
Setting Goals

22. 22
Empathize
22

23. 23
Empathize
User Personas
API Consumer API ManagerAPI Producer Operator

24. 24
Empathize
User Personas
API Consumer API ManagerAPI Producer Operator

25. 25
Empathize
User Personas
API Consumer API ManagerAPI Producer Operator

26. 26
Empathize
User Personas
API Consumer API ManagerAPI Producer Operator

27. 27
Empathize
User Personas
API Consumer API ManagerAPI Producer Operator

28. 28
Assumption Generation
Empathize
Assumptions are things that we believe
to be true BUT which are not based on
facts or evidence.
1. Consumers want to access API
documentation for endpoints
2. Consumers have trouble securely
accessing APIs
3. Consumers want to try out (test) an
API before using

29. 29
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

30. 30
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

31. 31
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

32. 32
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

33. 33
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

34. 34
Conducting Interviews
Empathize
Before
Recruit
Generate Questions
During
Roles
Interview Norms
After
Discuss Feedback

35. 35
Define
35

36. 36
Define
Research Synthesis
The goal of
synthesis is to
make sense of
your research
data. Identify
patterns that
improve your
understanding
about users and
summarize your
finding into clear
insights and
problems.

37. 37
API Managers want key
observability
"Information would be absolutely useful"
"Observability would help identify bad
customers”
“Audit trail would be helpful because it
would tell us who accessed what when.”
Define
Tracking Assumptions

38. 38
Ideation
38

39. 39
Design studio helps us understand how we
could solve the problems we uncovered
during generative research.
“How might we help API Consumers quickly
and securely access APIs without involving
operations?”
Ideation
Design Studio

40. 40
Prototype
40

41. 41
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

42. 42
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

43. 43
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

44. 44
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

45. 45
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

46. 46
Usability Tests
Prototype
Before
Write Scenario
Identify Tasks
Create Prototype
During
Track Tasks
After
Discuss Results

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Outcome
47

48. 48
Outcomes
API Discovery
API Search Page API Documentation Page

49. 49
Outcomes
Secure access for APIs
Consumer API Key Page Manager API Key Page

50. 50
Value to the users
Products that delight
Opportunity to share perspective
Inside look at new features

51. 51
Value to the team
Builds empathy and
understanding
Structured feedback gathering
Validates assumptions and
solutions

52. 52
Value to the business
Most important factor for developers
“Happy developers are chatty developer”*
*https://www.samjarman.co.nz/dxguide

53. 53
Getting Started
Start small
Make it a habit
Decide if dedicated researcher is
needed

54. Thank You
earias@vmware.com
@erickarias