Setting the stage
At Atlan, our product was initially tailored to serve the needs of data teams. However, as the platform matured, a new challenge emerged—how could we extend the value of Atlan to non-technical users while maintaining its core functionality for data experts? I led a design initiative aimed at expanding the product's across diverse user personas, while driving growth through higher data enrichment rates.
Goal: Drive product growth by creating an intuitive experience that bridges the gap between data experts and business users.
The challenge ahead
Data teams thrive in a world of complex tools, while business users need simpler, more intuitive interfaces that are more like other tools that they use on daily basis.
- Understanding the persona we are catering.
- Encouraging data enrichment across the product in a way that felt natural and low-friction for all users.
- Figuring out how we might be able to serve dual audiences.
Insights
I realized that the key to success lay in understanding those diverse personas. So I mapped out their journeys, which led to an “aha” moment: We could bring Atlan into Google Sheet/Excel and to Chrome browser via extension.
Google Sheet
Armed with insights, I dove into the prototyping, exploring a variety of directions. Each design decision was made with the user in mind—ensuring that every feature served a purpose.
As users arrive on the assets page, they can easily start a collaboration
through the ellipsis menu and select their preferred tools—Sheets or Excel.
Once the assets are ported into the Google Sheets or Excel, the end user can start collaborating with their teams and sync changes back to Atlan.
Browser extensions
We also quickly put together a Chromium-based browser extension that enabled our users to use Atlan and other data warehouses, etc.
We started by adding a new section on the integrations page where users can configure the extension company-wide.
While users are browsing their downstream data sources, such as Tableau, they can quickly view metadata for each asset without having to jump between tools.
Launch
As we moved closer to launch, excitement built within our team, At this stage we were polishing and ironing out those final details while incorporating feedback we gathered from earlier test users.
Impact
After launching the updated product, we saw significant improvements:
- Enrichment in metadata increased by 40%.
- Task completion time decreased by 25%.
- User satisfaction scores rose by 30%. These numbers spoke volumes about our efforts to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical users.