I created a new
analytics for VK users, overcoming uncertain project requirements
I created a new analytics for VK, overcoming
uncertain project requirements
I created a new analytics for VK users, overcoming uncertain project requirements
*VK is the largest social network in Eastern Europe
*VK — largest social network in Eastern Europe
Project goal
Revamp VK's statistics to provide users with a comprehensive and accessible analytics platform
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Why we needed it
Users and opinion leaders, expressed dissatisfaction with the existing statistics, finding them inadequate for their needs
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Business interest
Improving the analytics platform aimed to attract and retain content creators and their audiences
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
1. Unclear project requirements:
The project began without specific guidelines, making it difficult to define the scope and objectives
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
2. Absence of a project manager
Without a designated project manager, my team had to assume additional responsibilities
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
3. Balancing user needs and tech constraints
Aligning user desires for detailed statistics with VK's technical capabilities required careful planning and negotiation
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
It's important to stay in the loop with other teams at your company. It makes transitions smoother and allows you to reuse their successful solutions.
Imagine, one day you get a message from your product owner, saying that
opinion leaders are complaining about how statistics at VK works.
VK is a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU that you work at.
How are you going to react?
Imagine, one day you get a message from your product owner, saying that
opinion leaders are complaining about how statistics at VK works.
VK is a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU that you work at.
How are you going to react?
Imagine, one day you get a message from your product owner, saying that opinion leaders are complaining about how statistics at VK works.
VK is a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU that you work at.
How are you going to react?
Imagine, one day you get a message from your product owner, saying that
opinion leaders are complaining about how statistics at VK works.
VK is a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU that you work at.
How are you going to react?
Imagine, one day you get a message from your product owner, saying that
opinion leaders are complaining about how statistics at VK works.
VK is a large Russian social network with 100 million MAU that you work at.
How are you going to react?
Look, people say our statistics are useless, and many people agree with them. Can we do something about it?
Look, people say our statistics are useless, and many people agree with them. Can we do something about it?
Look, people say our statistics are useless, and many people agree with them. Can we do something about it?
I’ll check with the dev team if we can get something nice out of the data we have!
I’ll check with the dev team if we can get something nice out of the data we have!
Look, people say our statistics are useless, and many people agree with them. Can we do something about it?
I’ll check with the dev team if we can get something nice out of the data we have!
Making changes because
of a few complaints?
Making changes because of a few complaines?
We care about user experience,
but it was in business's interests as well
We care about user experience,
but it was in business's interests as well
We care about user experience,
but it was in business's interests as well
VK’s reputation has been struggling during the last few years, and we fight for good public reviews. We want people to enjoy the product at every step of their journey. That’s why it was important to make them feel at home.
Business:
needs to win over content creators and their followers to increase DAU/MAU
Team:
needs more context, and a clear plan of what to do
Users:
want to access detailed statistics of the content they publish on VK
Let’s dive into the project
Goal: make VK’s statistics great again
Goal: make VK’s statistics great again
Goal: make VK’s statistics great again
In another words, to take all statistics and metrics we show to users
that are hidden all over the social network and turn it into one usable product
Brave team members were there to help
Brave team members were there to help
Brave team members were there to help
VK’s old statistics dashboard was a dark wood of old code, it was hard to get something useful out of it. But our team of brave developers, analysts, and UX researchers wanted to turn it into a nice place to stay
Working on a task without clear requirements raises many questions
and brings chaos
Working on a task without clear requirments raises many questions and brings chaos
But once you make a plan, it becomes an exciting journey with your team
But once you make a plan, it becomes an exciting journey with your team
When we decided that our statistics needed an upgrade, we felt lost. We didn’t know where to begin — our goal seemed too big to bite. So I thought that maybe together we’ll find some answers — we scheduled a meeting, and during this hour we created a plan and shared responsibilities.
Determining the requirements
Determining the requirements
Determining the requirements
Understanding the technical constrains
Understanding the technical constrains
Understanding the technical constrains
What statistics do competitors provide?
What, when, and how should we do?
How users work with statistics and what metrics do they really need?
How users work with statistics
and what metrics do they need?
How should we connect users’ desires with our technical capabilities?
How should we connect users’ desires with our capabilities?
Can we really do everything we want to?
Collecting feedback & making adjustments
Prototyping & usability testing
Prototyping & usability testing
Prototyping & usability testing
Are we going in the right direction?
Beta-release & collecting feedback
Beta-release & collecting feedback
Beta-release & collecting feedback
Challenge in trying on a new role
Challenge in trying
on a new role
Our team consisted of developers, analysts, researchers, and me. Since we didn’t have a project manager, someone had to take on their responsibilities.
Planning and assigning tasks
Monitoring project progress
Solving issues that arise
Negotiating with other VK teams
Preparing project documentation
Ensuring stakeholder satisfaction
Planning and assigning tasks
Monitoring project progress
Solving issues that arise
Negotiating with other VK teams
Preparing project documentation
Ensuring stakeholder satisfaction
We launched the MVP in 3 months.
Was it easy? No. Was it fun? Yes!
During the last user tests 90% of participants successfully completed all assigned tasks and located all metrics they labeled as important.
“It works better than
YouTube Studio!”
“It works
better than
YouTube
Studio!”
“It works better
than YouTube
Studio!”
Key takeaways
Don’t know what to do — talk to your team
Don’t know what to do —
talk to your team
Don’t know what to do — talk to your team
There is no point in wasting time trying to figure out everything on your own, and there is no shame in asking for help. Communication is key to productivity.
Every team needs a leader
On this project, we did not have an assigned manager, so someone had to take the initiative and step into these shoes. Without a leader, our team felt lost and it was hard to make any decisions.
Users are the best source of information
We did not have clear requirements for this project. However, our users, the ones for whom we were creating this statistics dashboard, were willing to share their needs and pain points with us, so we knew where to start.
User page’s general analytics
