One preview plan to replace four prototypes

Writers on the documentation authoring platform need to see how a change will look before it ships. In a Q2 2026 UX audit, 70% of users said the preview workflow got in their way.

Four prototypes were trying to fix this at the same time. Each covered part of the problem, and they were all competing for the same engineers.

• I wrote one vision and strategy doc that combined the four efforts instead of choosing between them.
• It had three parts: show previews in code review, generate them in the analysis pipeline we already ran, and let writers share a preview link.
• I also wrote the requirements for shareable previews so that part could start right away.

• I based decisions on the audit findings rather than on which prototype happened to be furthest along.
• Success meant fewer steps between making an edit and being confident it looked right.

• The plan became the platform's roadmap for Q3 and Q4 2026.
• The separate prototypes were wound down and their engineers moved onto the shared plan.