PolicyKit : a no-code Slack integration for community decision-making

Spring 2023

A project by
The Social Futures Lab ^↗

Supported by
The Metagovernance project ^↗

Collaborating with researchers from the University of Washington and the Metagovernance project, I led the redesign project to enhance the usability and flexibility of PolicyKit.

I have also designed a complex no-code feature from scratch, enabling users to create and edit policies without writing code.

Context

The admin-user model frequently restricts governance options in online communities. PolicyKit, a research tool, prioritizes user experience and introduces a no-code UI for democratic governance tailored to community needs.

I was invited to redesign PolicyKit to enhance its user experience and introduce a new feature: a no-code UI for creating policies.

The homescreen interface before redesign

Goals

User Activation

At project initiation, there was no pre-install introduction, and post-installation, users faced a blank home page. Improving the install and sign-in flow aims to introduce PolicyKit's value, guiding users and eventually decentralizing community organization, as identified in past user interviews.

Unified Information Architecture

The platform's detached actions and objects required users to navigate a cumbersome 'propose action' flow, emphasizing the need for a more streamlined, object-oriented approach in the redesign.

No-code Policy Authoring

PolicyKit initially supported policies written in Python. A key goal of the redesign was to introduce a no-code interface, making policy authoring and editing accessible to all community members.

The platform before the redesign, including multiple flows for each object type

Design

Onboarding

Improving the installation and sign-in flow is crucial for introducing the value of PolicyKit to new users and providing guidance during onboarding. This enhancement aligns with the long-term goal of gradually decentralizing community organization, making it easier to get started with PolicyKit, as identified in past user interviews.

No-code Policy builder

The no-code interface is based on a cohesive and adaptable UI toolkit that empowers users to create, customize, and manage policies seamlessly.

The no-code UI helps developers leverage pre-built components, styles, and patterns to design for multiple and often complex JSON schemas behind policies.

Dashboard

PolicyKit's redesign introduces a unified dashboard and object-based UI for streamlined user experience, displaying key platform items and community actions, enhancing governance decision-making.

Next steps

Measuring Adoption

After launch, the team will collect user feedback to assess PolicyKit's impact on decision-making and community engagement.

Policy Library

Future improvements will focus on usability testing and building a library of policy templates with the community.