Democratizing content design at Okta
Leading content design education to help cross-functional teammates develop content skills and become advocates.
The challenge
I was the only content designer supporting 30 product designers, 10 product managers, and 25 technical writers on Okta’s Workforce Identity Cloud. I consulted with my cross-functional teammates on as much of their content as I could, but I couldn’t help everyone and still meet their deadlines.
The solution
I needed to educate and empower my teammates to recognize content issues and help improve content design across Workforce products. I used every channel and event available, from video clips on Slack to in-person presentations to focused workshops to help my teammates understand content issues and take action to prevent or correct them.
Each improvement adds up to create a better product.
Solving common issues
As I collaborated with designers on their content, watched them present their work, and answered content questions in Slack, I would see repetitive issues. For example, using questions in all of their subheads and field labels or labeling buttons “Create new {object}” instead of following best-practice button label patterns I created for the design system.
Creating Content Clip videos
Since these issues were scattered across Workforce products, I needed a way to explain them to the entire team. I also wanted make this guidance available on demand.
I started an educational video series, called Content Clips, and posted each video on the team Slack channel.
Building a video library
I also wanted to make all the videos available without having to search Slack. So, I made a Confluence page to host all of the videos.
A Content Clip video explaining common actions: verbs to use consistently in Okta products, from headlines to button labels.
Click the image to enlarge it.
Evangelizing content design best practices
In July 2024, the Workforce team held a conference for all of the women on the team. I proposed a content design talk and was selected to deliver a 1-hour presentation.
Why product content matters
With a cross-functional audience, it was a huge opportunity to make my case for product content.
I used real product examples to show how content design helps Okta’s users understand the risks and benefits of choices they make while configuring products.
Learning by doing
I created a quiz at the end of my presentation so everyone attending could start practicing content design.
This exercise also sparked great questions and dialogue between women of different disciplines. It showed how we all need to collaborate to create good content.
“Using real-life examples, [Gretchen] demonstrated the difference between good and bad content decisions, leaving a lasting impression on everyone in the room. Her ability to teach and inspire others enhances not only her projects but also the larger community at Okta.”
Leading a heuristics workshop
Okta’s Information Development Group creates documentation for both administrators using Okta and developers building for Okta. The group was receiving frequent user complaints that they couldn’t find or tell documentation apart: They may use Okta Identity Engine (OIE), but end up on a page of almost identical documentation for Okta Classic Engine (Classic).
They asked for help identifying how the doc sites could help users find and identify the information they needed.
Clarifying issues with heuristics
I looked at the sites and used heuristics to surface issues, including discoverability and clarity. (I also included recommendations on improving SEO and site personalization.)
Teaching the IDG team to evaluate site usability issues with heuristics
I created a workshop on usability heuristics for the team. The workshop:
Guided the team to select appropriate heuristics
Explained how to conduct a heuristic evaluation.
The team began working through the process to improve documentation discoverability and SEO.
Discoverability heuristic: Keywords and labels are used
Finding
While the site uses tags to label internal search results, the tags use the full product names. Since they are almost identical, it may be difficult for users to easily tell them apart without close reading. Okta Classic Engine vs Okta Identity Engine
Recommendation
Use shorter tag labels that are scannable and instantly understandable: OIE vs Classic
The results
I received positive feedback from teammates. The Information Development Group is now using heuristics to identify and prioritize site improvements. Time will tell if any of my teammates are so interested in content design that they change disciplines… at Verizon I converted two product designers to content designers!