An open source software co-design project
As open source software (OSS) teams become increasingly asynchronous, there are significant challenges with properly accounting for usability concerns for the human end users. Co-design, where multiple stakeholders for an OSS come together to work on the design of a project iteratively, is one way that usability concerns can be addressed throughout a project's lifespan. However, many OSS teams choose to focus on code and functionality rather than incorporating co-design methods. Moreover, when OSS teams are able to include end users in co-design methods, there are countless barriers encountered. Here you will find links to sketches and the Framer prototype following the first few rounds of iterative design.
The sketches, using the 10 Plus 10 method, can be viewed here.
The interactive high-fidelity computer prototype can be explored here on Framer.
Below is a diagram overview of the proposed system.
The following image shows proposed changes to the side bar along the home page of a repository to include a place for end users to contribute and be listed as collaborators.
The image below shows the main screen of the proposed new features to include asynchronous interviews and discussions with end users on usability features.
This feature not only provides a dedicated space for usability discussions between open source software contributors/designers and open source software end users, but also automatically creates unique usability artifacts and design decision artifacts. A new interview can be opened, just like an issue, where contributors and end users can participate in a conversation. If/when useful insights are found that lead to design decisions, these are marked as a 'decision' and can be assigned to developers to specifically work on the task. This is indicated in the final collumn in the image above. This system will help OSS contributers to incorporate usability concerns into their projects while allowing for a dedicated space to address usability with end users.