https://www.aaronspencer.com/home daily 1.0 2021-02-08 https://www.aaronspencer.com/projects daily 0.75 2021-05-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/601f44bcd78d3824f6de7f41/1612663217873/Example+Quest+v2.png Projects - Style guidelines Quests cover many different areas of Windows and are submitted by employees with vastly different roles and writing abilities. The result was Quests with wildly different writing styles and organization. I created guidelines for Quests that followed Microsoft style guidelines and established a brand voice: Simple, conversational language that non-technical customers can understand Organized, clear flow of steps with beginning, end, and pass/fail test Spirit of adventure and community, as if you were on a journey in a fantasy novel I published the guidelines to the knowledge bases and worked to enforce them to partners while editing. The result was an increase in Quests completed and a decrease in non-actionable, “noisy” feedback that teams would receive when customers could not understand or complete the Quest. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/601f54e14ef9b65741c3196b/1612666139305/Quest+email.png Projects - Email campaign With a new submission process, as well as style and design guidelines, I kicked off a campaign to spread awareness of the Quest business. Among all feedback collection tools, Quests are the most popular with customers—they cover flashy features, and they are user-initiated, as opposed to system-initiated feedback mechanisms like surveys that can disrupt customers. However, Quests are not as popular with feature teams and engineers, who want their feedback about technical, unsexy scenarios and want it now. The campaign included broad awareness emails about the business, in addition to targeted emails to teams who were flighting new features. The targeted approach took much longer but worked much better than the email blasts. I was able to capture people’s attention, pitch them on Quests with white-glove service to start, and get their feedback on the service as new customers. I was able to generate excitement about Quests on new teams, bringing in repeat submissions. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/601f41cdf944e970155a234c/1612663217870/Quest+process.png Projects - Process improvements Before I started working on Quests, the process to create one included too many steps and risk of human error. Furthermore, the onboarding information and submission process lived on an older version of SharePoint, to which the team had lost full permissions. I created a new, modern SharePoint communications site and a submission process using a document library, content types, templates, and Word content controls. I also set up automated emails with Power Automate to alert stakeholders when a new Quest was submitted or changed. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/606663b6f1e80d02e19fa34f/1617322955543/Quests+overview.png Projects - Introduction “Quest” is a customer-friendly name for a beta-test script that appears on Microsoft Windows Feedback Hub, an app where Windows users can add feedback. Quests only appear for users who sign up for the Windows Insider program, which allows users to register for pre-release builds of Windows usually only accessible to software developers. Essentially, Quests are a way for Windows enthusiasts to learn about new features and test them. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/601f4e187dad3d4777d47545/1612666192631/Quest+images.png Projects - Image design Standards for the Quest cover images were initially along the lines of “take a screenshot.” This approach did not work for all Quests, and certainly did not result in Quests looking cohesive or aesthetically appealing. I created design rules for the cover images—broadly, show the feature in action in a simplified, language-neutral UI—and I made toolkit of elements that anyone with some design ability could use to create the images. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/601f57f6c655160d0690bcc5/1612666894119/Quests+social.png Projects - Social campaign After creating a visual, Microsoft-aligned brand identity for Quests, I partnered with the Windows Insider Program team to promote Quests on Twitter. I worked with a social media coordinator to write tweets that communicated the feature and called out availability nuances. I also connected feature owners to the tweets so they could engage with customers. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/602014685714ae7f749512f8/1612715150240/Bug+Bash+intro.png Projects - Introduction In the software industry, a bug bash is an event where many people test a product in a short amount of time in order to find bugs. Various teams at Microsoft initiate bug bashes collectively four or five times a year, and the teams use Quests to tell employees and Insiders which features to test. Bug Bashes are the busiest time for the Quest program, as Quests submissions increase from an average of five per week to 150 per week. This creates challenges for quality and scalability. Additionally, bug bashes are also the time when the company is relying on Quests and many more people inside Microsoft and in the public are paying attention to them. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/602029d3f6ab14290ab87dfa/1612755547420/SIUF.png Projects - Project details I managed an automated survey program on Microsoft Windows. The surveys are triggered by an event in the state machine—in other words, the user does something in Windows that the system is watching for—then a question related to the user’s action pops in a notification. When the user clicks the notification, a survey displays. These surveys are very popular with feature teams and engineers, as they can deliver relevant, in context feedback. However, these surveys can be potentially disruptive, so they are also high drivers of dissatisfaction. I drove change to identify possible annoyance the surveys could cause and mitigate it in a thorough review process. I assembled a team with representatives from user research, data science, marketing, and engineering to review all surveys before launch. I also wrote guidelines for question language, audience targeting, and triggering, and I recommended response volumes to work toward that would provide enough data while minimally bothering customers. Stats Published surveys up 16 percent in one year Survey responses up 29 percent in one year https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/609cbd60b65b6359f29073d3/1620884869647/bug-bash-poster.png Projects - Promotion Bug bashes are advertised internally on Microsoft’s campus leading up to the event with posters and digital slideshows on the hall monitors. Usually, the art features “ninja cat,” the unofficial, user-generated mascot of the Windows Insider program. I designed a poster featuring both the butterfly from the bug bash badge and ninja cat. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/602022465690494e7ecd9f08/1612718700673/Bug+Bash+badge.png Projects https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/6020229dfb20424c24ca8d4d/1612718767275/Bug+Bash+Quests.png Projects https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/602021e84ef9b65741cd7612/1612718584429/Bug+Bash+submissions.png Projects https://www.aaronspencer.com/newsletters daily 0.75 2021-02-08 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/601f23545d52e74622989f33/t/602030d77f8b33776c8cd950/1612756059428/Newsletter+cutouts.png Newsletters - Microsoft Feedback news The newsletter for the Microsoft Feedback team arose out of a need align many disparate teams across the organization to a coherent, cohesive feedback system. Teams at Microsoft currently collect feedback in different ways, with different tools and experiences, but the Microsoft Feedback team is working to coalesce these efforts into one system. The newsletter’s audience includes executive-level leaders and teams that gather feedback to improve products and features. Topics include new tools, planning, business reviews, initiatives, and accolades. I initially designed and coded the newsletter in HTML/CSS, but to allow non-coders to work on it, I switched to an Outlook table layout that was still responsive (ask me if you want to know how!) https://www.aaronspencer.com/technical-writing daily 0.75 2021-02-08 https://www.aaronspencer.com/journalism daily 0.75 2021-02-08