The VTune Profiler Megabook

Context:

VTune Profiler is one of the most popular software products from Intel. The documentation for this product has grown over decades. In keeping with the innovation in the product, the docs have also seen many versions that continue to improve the user experience. These docs are popular, but because they are also voluminous, information can be tricky to find.

Work:

When the documents in the VTune Profiler doc set existed as individual documents, customers could not always find all the relevant pieces of information about a topic across the doc set. Some customers complained about the frequent need to switch between documents to learn more about a particular topic.

Since our team was passionate about delivering the best user experience for our customers, we conceived the idea of a megabook that tied together all the documents in a doc set. Because of its popularity, the VTune Profiler doc set was chosen as the pilot participant for this project.

I worked with our web team and the engineers who sustained our publishing processes to design a format for the VTune Profiler megabook. Eventually, we were able to introduce release notes and system requirement content as articles in this megabook. We also introduced a way to find the library of code samples available for use with VTune Profiler.

By stacking all these books, we solved the problem of findability, but we also discovered new problems. The hierarchy of topics needed attention, and content duplication was now more obvious. Over time, I addressed both of these problems by mapping out the levels of topic nesting. I also worked with the web team to redefine document titles and establish guidelines for other megabooks that followed.

Result:

When the VTune Profiler megabook was published, user engagement shot up by over 35% and navigation usage improved by 85%. 

As part of the subgroup that worked to bring this megabook to life, I was recognized with a Divisional Recognition Award (DRA) which was a huge honor for a considerable accomplishment.