Cisco Data Shift

Instructional content for a new data migration tool.

Opportunity

Employees needed a reliable way to move their data from an existing company device to a new one during a hardware upgrade. I was brought in as the lead Content Designer to create clear, accessible instructions that would guide employees through the migration process.

Strategy

I treated the instructions as part of the overall product experience rather than a standalone piece of documentation. Because the product was still evolving, I worked closely with Product and Development to keep the content aligned with the experience and used research findings to identify where the broader journey needed improvement.

Design

I developed and refined the instructions across multiple iterations, using visual guidance, clearer step structures, consistent terminology, and failure-state guidance to make the process easier to follow. I also worked with Technical Writing to ensure the experience remained consistent across related support content.

Collaboration

I served as the Content Design lead across Product, Development, Research, and Technical Writing. Because the product changed throughout the project, strong communication was essential to keeping the content current and ensuring that research findings and product updates were reflected in the experience.

Iteration

Early testing revealed that the experience itself had reliability issues, even though the instructions tested well. Rather than treating strong content scores as a reason to move forward, I used the research findings to help advocate for additional product refinement and another round of testing.

Outcome

The refined experience performed significantly better in final testing, with reported migration failures reduced to 4% and overall satisfaction reaching 83%.