Design Influence & Upstream Collaboration

Throughout my work on ROSA and Amazon EVS, I embedded with product and engineering teams early in development cycles to influence console UX, API design, and product decisions before documentation plans were finalized. This upstream participation allowed me to act as a customer experience advocate in design discussions, surface friction points before they became documentation challenges, and contribute cross-service insights that informed integration strategies.

By treating documentation as product feedback rather than a downstream task, I helped shape experiences that reduced customer friction and operational overhead. This approach demonstrated that technical writers bring valuable perspective to product design when engaged early in the development lifecycle.

Approach & Philosophy

I participate in weekly design workshops with product managers, UX designers, and console developers to review Figma mockups and provide feedback on UI workflows. During these sessions, I identify opportunities to improve customer experience through clearer UI text, better information architecture, and more intuitive workflows. I also leverage cross-service operational knowledge to inform design decisions, sharing learnings from one product team with another to accelerate development and prevent repeated friction patterns.

My upstream work spans multiple surfaces: console UI text and help panels, API parameter naming and validation messaging, error response structures, and product integration strategies. This embedded approach enables me to create more effective documentation because I understand the design rationale behind product decisions and have already surfaced customer experience concerns during development.

Featured Projects

These detailed case studies demonstrate the depth of upstream collaboration and its impact on product quality:

ROSA with Hosted Control Planes Console Integration

Designed console UI microcopy, help panel content, and comprehensive user documentation for new AWS Marketplace billing model launched in Q2 2023. Collaborated with AWS and Red Hat product teams to standardize terminology and design workflows for both Classic and HCP deployment models.

Impact: Integrated console UI and documentation reduced customer friction in AWS Marketplace billing workflows. Clear help content enabled customers to choose between HCP and Classic deployment models and complete independent cluster deployment.

EVS Day 1 Deployment Experience

Created help panels and console UI text for net-new console experience supporting VMware Cloud Foundation deployment. Collaborated with product and engineering teams to surface network configuration requirements earlier in workflow, preventing mid-deployment validation errors.

Impact: Reduced deployment failures through coordinated console validation improvements and documentation. DNS hostname validation addressed a primary source of configuration friction, enabling self-service deployment for VMware administrators.

Additional Design Contributions

Beyond major projects, I contributed targeted improvements across multiple product surfaces:

Console & workflow design:

Network prerequisites visibility: Advocated for surfacing VPC Route Server requirements on first screen rather than buried in navigation, preventing mid-deployment validation errors
Cost presentation clarity: Proposed receipt-style format with table structure for ROSA contract flow, improving customer understanding of pricing

API & parameter design:

Parameter naming clarity: Influenced parameter names like serviceAccessSubnetId to make purpose self-evident without requiring paragraph explanations
Mutual exclusivity documentation: Identified parameters that couldn’t be used together (e.g., dedicatedHostId and placementGroupId) for upfront API documentation
Validation constraint documentation: Ensured CIDR block size limits (/28 to /24) documented in parameter descriptions, not just error messages, enabling correct planning upfront

Error messaging & validation:

Error message improvements: Replaced vague errors like “Invalid CIDR block” with specific guidance: “CIDR block must be between /28 and /24”
Validation timing optimization: Advocated for earlier validation surfacing to prevent mid-workflow errors

Terminology & consistency:

Cross-company terminology coordination: Aligned ROSA terminology across AWS and Red Hat product surfaces (console, documentation) and influenced upstream OpenShift Container Platform documentation updates, maintaining consistency while managing dependencies to prevent breaking changes
Cross-service VLAN terminology standardization: Coordinated EVS and VPC team alignment on VLAN terminology strategy, influencing VPC API reference and documentation updates to ensure cohesive narrative across dependent services for both VMware and AWS audiences

Collaboration Approach

Methods & tools:

Weekly UX design workshops with product, design, and development teams
Figma mockup review and design feedback
Cross-service operational insights and knowledge transfer
Customer experience advocacy in API and console design discussions
Technical review coordination with product and engineering stakeholders

Key principle: Embed early, contribute often, and treat documentation expertise as design input rather than post-launch cleanup.