Persona UX audit - menu guides (2026-06-22)

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UNOFFICIAL/EXPERIMENTAL. Structured re-run of the persona UX strategy, scoped to the 8 guide pages reachable from the top menu (Upgrade→/private/ excluded as commercial, per the strategy's scope rule). 480 graded tests = 8 pages × 10 personas × 6 checks, each scored P=1 / p=0.5 / F=0 by a per-page audit that read the page's actual content. Colored matrix: matrix.html · raw data: tests.csv.

Headline: 52% overall - the guides orient but don't deliver

The clearest signal is per-check. The guides are strong at getting you oriented and weak at letting you act:

CheckScore
C1 CoreQ - answers this persona's core need76%
C2 Action - runnable command/action on the page33%
C3 Output - expected output/result shown16%
C4 Prereq - prerequisites clear (account/cluster/tools)31%
C5 Next - next step clear71%
C6 Scan - findable fast (not buried/jargon-walled)87%

Orient (scan 87%, core-question 76%, next-step 71%) ≫ deliver (command 33%, prerequisites 31%, expected-output 16%). A visitor can find the right guide and knows where to go next, but the guide rarely shows a runnable command, its prerequisites, or what they'll see - they have to leave for a doc to actually do anything. Expected-output (16%) is the single weakest dimension of the whole site.

By guide page (best → worst)

GuideScore/5
Get Started68%3.4/5
FAQ65%3.3/5
Docs60%3.0/5
Ops50%2.5/5
Home48%2.4/5
Helm Catalog43%2.2/5
Variants43%2.1/5
Apps42%2.1/5

Get Started is the model page (real commands + "you should see" blocks). Apps, Variants, Helm Catalog are orientation pages with almost no runnable action. Docs/FAQ route well but answer in prose+links.

By persona (best → worst served)

PersonaScore
Skeptic70%
LowHelm61%
HelmExpert61%
Novice57%
Maintainer57%
GitOps54%
ExistingApp50%
SRE43%
Security38%
AILead31%

The site is built for the Skeptic (70% - gaps, refusals, and proof are first-class) and underserves the doers: the AI-curious lead (31%) is nearly invisible across the guides (no AI content on Get Started, Apps, or Ops), and Security (38%) and SRE (43%) have no menu guide that lets them act on their core task.

Worst-scoring cells

Guide × personaScoreGap
Get Started × AILead0.5/6page never mentions AI/agent at all
Helm Catalog × Security0.5/6no secrets/OCI provenance content at all
Home × ExistingApp1/6no read-only adopt-running-stack path
Home × Security1/6secrets/OCI provenance barely mentioned
Variants × Security1/6no secrets, no OCI provenance
Apps × AILead1/6no AI-change or safety story at all
Ops × AILead1/6no AI-change or safety surface at all
Home × AILead1.5/6'AI with guardrails' prose only, dead-end card

Ranked fixes (the output)

  1. [technical voice] Add an expected-output block to every command on every guide - the weakest dimension site-wide (C3 16%). "You should see …" under each cub/npm/kubectl line.
  2. [technical voice] Put a runnable command on the orientation guides (Apps, Variants, Catalog) - at least one copy-paste action + result, instead of prose that routes to a doc (C2 33%).
  3. [technical voice] State prerequisites inline per guide - account / cluster / cub install / inputs, near the first command (C4 31%; only Get Started + FAQ do this).
  4. [marketing voice] Give the AI lead, Security, and Existing-app personas a home - AI content on Home/Get Started (not just a dead-end card), a security/provenance section, and a read-only "adopt my stack" command on Apps.
  5. [marketing voice] Complete the Ops guide - it names rollback/observe/patch but ships none; add those cards so SRE can act.

Re-run after Codex lands changes and diff the matrix.