I’m Eddie Meardon and…
I like solving problems, articulating complex ideas, and debating word choices. I have opinions about gerunds and believe that technically correct is the best kind of correct.
Or if you’re into job titles, I’m a Content Designer, and I think I’m pretty good at it.
For six years, I worked on Jira, a project management software used by companies like Ford, Visa, and NASA. Over this time, I:
• incorporated a plugin created by a third-party called Advanced Roadmaps for Jira into Jira
• helped it grow into a key part of our Premium and Enterprise offerings
• redesigned core features in Admin settings to make Jira easier to learn for the first time and to use every time
To do this, I created:
Terminology, standards, and strategy
• creating scalable content frameworks that lead to consistent and intuitive experiences
Intuitive end-to-end journeys
• designing end-to-end experiences that are powerful and easy to use
Informative documentation
• explaining how existing features work and helping customers get the most from new ones
Let me show you what I mean:
New Navigation Early Access Strategy
To validate that our new navigation was an improvement over the old, I was tasked with creating an Early Access Period plan. Through the feedback and interactions, we would then refine the experience before migrating all customers into the new experience.
Writing Interfaces and Experiences for Non Tech Teams
Historically, Jira has catered to those with more technical software backgrounds. However, we’ve recently started moving Jira to be more open to non-technical users in terms of design and content. I explored what this means from a Content Design perspective.
The New Navigation Onboarding Tour
New users can view a multi-step spotlight tour that covers the basics of the tool and highlights the features. I capitalized on the chance to rewrite the content of the tour to be more human and interesting.
Top-Level Planning Template
Making a plan in Jira can be complicated. To make to easier for new users, I designed a basic plan builder template that prioritized the information new users needed to know while also helping them setup one of the key features of Plans: extra hierarchy levels.
New Feature Docs – Program Board
The Program board is a planning interface that aligns to the concept of PI Planning in SAFe methodolgy. While also helping create the feature, I wrote the documentation that describes the product and specific functionalities planners will find helpful.
The Case for Retiring ARJServer
Advanced Roadmaps used to have an old interface called Live Plans. I made the case that, years after the last version of it shipped, we should close our old documentation site that we were keeping open for that content alone. I did so by demonstrating how our reasons for keeping it alive were no longer relevant, then quantified the size of the customer impact.