NUTANIX, INVISIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Redesigning the virtual machine creation flow

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👉  THE PROBLEM

Nutanix's current VM Creation flow does not support all user roles, all customizations and is not compatible with on-cloud infrastructure.

đź“ś  CONTEXT
Nutanix is a cloud computing software company that provides hyconverged infrastructure and virtualisation software such as Prism, Calm, Xi etc. Prism is Nutanix's flagship product, enabling end-to-end VM and storage management and global network visualization. The goal of the project is to design a VM creation flow on Prism that addresses it's issues. As a side project, I also conceptualized a VM chatbot that can deploy VMs for end-users.
đź‘©   ROLE
Worked with the Product Experience team to conduct user research, competitior audits, build user stories and to design and test the new VM creation flows. Details are omitted due an NDA.

Manager: Mr. Savio Aguiar, Director of Product Experience, Nutanix INC

⏱   DURATION
May - July 2018
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Need for re-design .

3 top reasons for rethinking VM creation


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Goals .

User Goals, Business Goals and Product Goals


USER GOALS

• To allow users to choose the right VM

• To enable all user types to create VMs efficiently

BUSINESS GOALS

• To increase retention by reducing the number of pain points that users' face

• To decrease the costs associated with support and maintenance.

PRODUCT GOALS

• To enable the product to cater to all user types

• To create a product that handles all VM creation use-cases on both cloud and on-premises infrastructure.

Research .

Studying users and product gaps


We followed a mixed methods approach to understand product gaps, users needs and behaviours.

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Check out the full competitor analysis report here.

Top Findings .

What do we know about our users and product?


Four user types were identified from user research based on VM creation goals and user tasks.

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INSIGHT #1

Varied Goals

Different users have different goals and hence use different number of customizations and have varied access types.

INSIGHT #2

Inclusivity

The flow is not optimized for those with low technical knowledge

INSIGHT #3

Lack of contextual help

Lack of contextual help and support affects domain and product learning.

INSIGHT #4

Lack of hierarchy

The flow lacks hierarchy that differentiates primary and secondary features.

INSIGHT #5

Lack of efficiency

• The form is heavily based on text fields and lacks accelerators.
• Lack of batch actions: The flow allows users to create only one VM at a time.

INSIGHT #6

Lack of scalable design

• The current design does not support the addition of new features and customizations while retaining usability
• The flow lacks a design that allows integration of cost-metrics - an integral part of cloud infrastructure.

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Concept and Design .

Ideation, user flows and design guidelines


Concept Generation

Several concepts were brainstormed and three top concepts were chosen after studying stakeholder feedback. These include the -
1) Flat view - where all types of templates are presented together
2) Hierarchical View - where templates are divided into verticals, and
3) The Wizard- where templates are suggested based on user needs.

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Proposed User flows

Based on concept feedback from stakeholders, we combined the flat view and wizard view into one concept and generated user flows.

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The Solution .

Features and Glimpses from Final UI


Users can create and deploy several VMs on both cloud and on-prem infrastructure.

VMs can be created in three steps either by choosing templates or by building their VM from scratch.

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PROGRESS AND COST

The progress indicator shows cumulative costs in each step.

Problems solved:
• Return and support features in the nav bar create awareness and build trust in users.

• Locally revelant analogies are used such as Bag for Cart.

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T-SHIRT SIZES

VMs are categorized and color coded into three tee-shirt sizes.

Problems solved:
• Return and support features in the nav bar create awareness and build trust in users.

• Locally revelant analogies are used such as Bag for Cart.

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CONTEXTUAL HELP

Link to related articles

Problems solved:
• Return and support features in the nav bar create awareness and build trust in users.

• Locally revelant analogies are used such as Bag for Cart.

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TOOLTIPS

Tooltips help beginner users understand the right VM fit for their tasks.

Problem solved:
• Beginners often go through a ton of documentation or reach out to seniors in order about the VM that is a best fit for the task at hand.

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ENVIRONMENT TEMPLATES

Suitable environments are presented as templates.

Problems solved:
• Environments are a collection of VM related settings and configurations such as network and storage settings.

• Pre-defined templates solve the problem of having to learn about configuring an environment.

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PRE-FILLED DETAILS

Certain pre-filled fields in personalization save user's time.

Problems solved:
• Mobile OTP based login and checkout eliminates the need for email ids.

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NAME, NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION

Batch actions such as batch creation of VMs and naming several VMs at once increases efficiency.

Problems solved:
• Mobile OTP based login and checkout eliminates the need for email ids.

• SMS based updates and feedback makes the process smoother for a mobile-first market.

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SUMMARY

Users can see a summary of the VMs created and associated costs.

Problems solved:
• Mobile OTP based login and checkout eliminates the need for email ids.

• SMS based updates and feedback makes the process smoother for a mobile-first market.

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Prototyping .

How did we iterate to design the final solution?


Wireframing

Lo-fi wireframes were made for all user flows.

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Prototyping

Based on Nutanix's style guide, the lo-fi wireframes were converted to mocks.

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Usability Evaluation .

RITE methodology


The designs were tested and iterated upon using a RITE methodology. We tested the designs in 3 phases:

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Ping me for more details about the process, findings and usability scores.

Results and Learnings .

More about my experience at Nutanix




Glimpses from the internship..

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