Improving
multi-network management in Motorola motosync
Role
Full-Stack Product Design
Tools
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Figma
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Figjam
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Adobe Illustrator
Summary
In order to improve the user experience of setting up and managing multiple home networks in the motosync app we introduced a multi-network dashboard that provides quick access to network status, frequently used actions, and a clear path for onboarding new networks and devices.
About motosync
The Motorola motosync mobile app allows users of Motorola network devices to easily set up, manage, and secure their home network.
Managing multiple networks in motosync was not good
New marketing strategies aimed to highlight the multi-network management capabilities of the motosync app.
This feature set was functional, but created to assist internal development and did not provide a well rounded user experience.
Enhancement would require a non-trivial reworking of the app’s information architecture.
How we made multi-network management awesome
We conducted a comprehensive review of feedback from product reviews, customer support, user analytics, and internal testing to identify the following pain points:
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Individual networks were siloed and cumbersome to navigate between
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New device onboarding paths were unclear
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Full network reboots required rebooting each device individually
Goals were set to address user pain points and support concurrent product initiatives.
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Key user workflows were explored and evaluated against project goals. From this exploration we identified the following features and requirements:
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High level view of status across all networks
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Quick access to detailed information on any network
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Quick access to frequently used functions, like full-network reboots
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A single entry point for device onboarding and network creation
Designs were drafted and iterated on through user testing and evaluation for technical feasibility. Initial drafts did not separate account and network level settings. Users found this to be confusing because the network settings were placed outside of the network hierarchy. It was not obvious that changing the active network also changed the network settings being shown in a separate part of the app. To remedy this, network-level settings were split from account settings and moved under the network tab creating a clear link between the network being managed and the settings that applied to it.
Additionally, the network-centric architecture of the app presented technical challenges for the team. Calls from the app to our API relied on passing the ID of the network being actively managed. Allowing app features such as Support to exist outside of the active network framework meant that we did not have a reliable way to show a user the correct support information. motosync is one of many versions of the Minim app, all of which share the same platform, and all of which depend on the active network ID to show the correct support info, whether that be Motorola support, as is the case for motosync, or the support info of the user's ISP, as is the case for our B2B2C customers.
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To resolve the issue I created a flowchart connecting each user persona to their brand, ISP, app version, and customer support version. I evaluated the paths to determine a method for allowing each type of user to see the correct support info without the need for an active network ID and presented the solution to the engineering and product teams. Through further technical discussion we refined the method to create a revised solution that met the aforementioned goal with fewer changes to the current implementation (as seen in the diagram above).
The resulting feature set consists of a central dashboard view with the high level status of all networks (online, offline, rebooting). The most frequently used actions are readily accessible for each network. Surfacing the ability to reboot all devices from this view greatly improved the user experience.
Animations for reboot button
Device onboarding and network creation were combined into a single flow with a single entry point, allowing the user to easily choose between creating a new network or onboarding a device to an existing network.
All network related functionality including Settings and Profiles have been moved from the main tabbed navigation and into the overview page of each network to more clearly delineate network and account level features and settings.
Reception
This feature was recently launched and initial feedback is positive.