Guided onboarding experiences for AWS services.
Project Howser accelerates AWS service adoption by creating a consistent, story-driven journey from initial discovery to hands-on implementation, enabling users to start using services like Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker Canvas, and Transcribe effectively in less than a day.
Role
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
Sept. 2023 – Jan. 2024
Team
Collaboration with 3 AWS Service Teams
The Challenge
AWS service teams struggled with getting users to quickly understand and implement their services. The traditional onboarding experience was fragmented, with disconnected demos, documentation, and tutorials that often led to extended learning curves and delayed adoption.
We needed to create a unified framework that would accelerate service adoption by maintaining story consistency across all touchpoints while being scalable for service teams to implement.
The Solution
We developed a comprehensive onboarding framework that guides users through a consistent, story-driven journey from initial discovery to hands-on implementation.
Process & Implementation
We developed and validated our framework across multiple AWS services. Here we'll showcase how the framework was implemented for Amazon Bedrock as an example.
Amazon Bedrock
A fully managed service that simplifies building generative AI applications by providing access to foundation models from leading AI companies through a unified API.
SageMaker Canvas
A no-code machine learning service that enables business analysts to build, train, and deploy ML models without coding experience
Amazon Transcribe
A speech recognition service that automatically converts audio into accurate text transcripts
Understanding Service Goals
Each service implementation begins with understanding the team's specific needs and challenges. For Amazon Bedrock, we identified key use cases that would resonate with AI developers and data scientists while demonstrating the service's unique value proposition.
Key Alignment Points
- Identified target personas and their primary challenges
- Defined First Time Service Activation goals
- Mapped technical requirements and constraints
Crafting the Story
The story development process begins with collaborative lo-fi sessions, bringing together Design, Product Management, and Engineering leads from the service team. These sessions focus on identifying key features, understanding technical capabilities, and mapping the ideal user journey.
Story Development Process
- Collaborative whiteboarding sessions to map user journey and key touchpoints
- Feature prioritization to highlight service's unique value proposition
- Technical feasibility discussions to ensure story aligns with service capabilities
- Iterative refinement through cross-functional feedback and validation
Validating the Experience
After the initial story development, we move into rapid prototyping to validate our approach. This involves creating interactive prototypes that demonstrate the complete user journey, from initial service discovery through hands-on implementation.
Validation Process
- Rapid prototyping with Figma to test story flow and interaction patterns
- Early feedback sessions with service team stakeholders
- Usability testing with target personas to validate comprehension
- Iterative refinement based on technical feasibility and user feedback
Building the Learning Experience
With our story and features validated, we expanded the framework into multiple learning formats. Each format is designed to reinforce the same narrative while catering to different learning styles and depth of engagement.
Learning Format Development
Hands-on Lab Development
Creating an interactive environment where users can implement the service hands-on, with guided steps that follow our established narrative. This provides practical experience while maintaining the story's context.
Course Creation
Developing a structured learning path that combines conceptual understanding with practical application. The course breaks down complex topics while maintaining engagement through our narrative approach.
Video Production
Partnering with creative agencies to produce engaging overview videos that introduce the service and its key capabilities. These videos serve as the first touchpoint in our story-driven journey.
Content Strategy
Our content strategy focuses on maintaining narrative consistency while adapting to each format's strengths. We ensure technical accuracy in hands-on materials, create clear progression from overview to implementation, and design for different learning preferences and time commitments.
Collaboration Approach
Success relies on close collaboration across teams. We partner with service teams for technical accuracy, work with learning experts to optimize course structure, and coordinate with video agencies to ensure compelling storytelling. Regular alignment meetings help maintain consistency across all assets.
Key Innovations
Unified Storytelling
Consistent use-case narrative from intro video through hands-on implementation, maintaining context across all formats.
Multi-format Experience
Integrated video, interactive demo, hands-on lab, and course content working together to accelerate adoption.
No login required
New users no longer need to create an AWS account and provide payment details to get started.
Scalable Framework
"Demo in a box" solution with Cloudscape components and implementation playbook for service teams.
Impact
<24h
From discovery to successful service implementation
3
30 - 60% increase in FTSAs between the 3 services