From 600 Tools to 1 Console: A UX-Driven Transformation

TL;DR

This paper describes a UX-driven approach to consolidating Google's internal infrastructure tools from 600 to 1, emphasizing user research, strategic planning, and incremental improvements to enhance developer productivity.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive UX methodology for tool consolidation, including visualization, strategic planning, and impact measurement, applied within a large tech organization.

Findings

Improved developer productivity through tool consolidation

Effective visualization of internal application relationships

Incremental improvements secured executive support

Abstract

In 2021 the Technical Infrastructure (TI) User Experience (UX) team sent a survey to 10,000 Google Developers (Googlers) and uncovered that Google's internal infrastructure tools were fragmented and inefficient, hindering developers' productivity. Using user centered research and design methodologies the team first created a story map and service blueprint to visualize the relationship between internal applications, then formulated a strategic vision to consolidate tools, streamline workflows, and measure the impact of their work. We secured executive buy-in and delivered incremental improvements.