Role
UX Analyst Intern
Job Summary
Analyzed the data import, migration, and mapping processes for 83 best-in-class and out-of-category headless content management systems. My sprint is to document the migration methods for various data types such as contacts, datasets, sections, templates, and pages, emphasizing code-free methods that enable seamless migration without deploying CLI or package management system software (e.g. npm, yarn).
Overview
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been documenting my experience as a part-time UX intern at an enterprise-level, completely code-free headless CMS company.
Internship Structure & Design Process
My internship is structured around daily design meetings held Monday through Friday from 9:00–11:00 AM with a small UX team led by a Senior UX Architect. There are six designers on the team, each assigned individual sprints that we present and iterate on daily.
My sprint focused on one central challenge:
How can enterprise headless CMS migration become accessible to non-technical users without requiring code, CLI tools, or developer workflows?
To answer that question, I spent two weeks analyzing the import, export, migration, and data-mapping workflows of 83 best-in-class and out-of-category headless CMS platforms.
Research Goal
The primary objective of my sprint was to investigate how existing CMS platforms handle content migration between systems while keeping a non-technical audience in mind. Specifically, I focused on identifying workflows that allowed users to migrate content without relying on:
Command-line interfaces (CLI)
npm or yarn package managers
Custom scripts
Developer tooling
The company’s broader mission is centered around accessibility and reducing technical barriers for users with zero coding experience, so my research needed to evaluate competitors through that lens.
Research Methodology
To gather data efficiently, I reviewed all 83 platforms systematically using a documentation-first approach.
My process looked something like this:
Open 5–10 CMS platforms at a time
Search their documentation for keywords like:
“import”
“migration”
“CSV”
“XML”
“JSON”
Immediately eliminate platforms that required:
CLI installation
npm/yarn deployment
developer-only migration scripts
Investigate qualifying platforms further through:
product documentation
onboarding videos
YouTube tutorials
dummy test accounts
Capture screenshots and map workflows inside Figma for comparison
If a platform aligned with our code-free criteria, I documented its workflow step-by-step, including screenshots, navigation patterns, and mapping systems.
Key Findings
Out of the 83 platforms analyzed, only eight provided a fully code-free GUI-based import system capable of handling formats like:
.csv.xml.json
Even more surprising was the lack of migration support for more advanced content structures.
Most code-free workflows only supported spreadsheet-based contact imports, while very few platforms provided visual migration systems for:
templates
sections
pages
structured content models
Across the eight qualifying platforms, the migration flow generally followed the same pattern:
User exports content from their old CMS
User uploads the exported file into the new CMS
User completes a data-mapping process
User uploads or reformats content to match the new platform schema
Why This Matters
One of the most important insights from this research was recognizing how heavily the headless CMS industry prioritizes backend developers while unintentionally excluding non-technical users.
Most enterprise headless CMS solutions assume users are comfortable with:
APIs
terminal commands
package managers
JSON manipulation
schema configuration
That assumption creates a massive accessibility gap.
The fact that only eight out of 83 platforms offered a code-free migration experience highlights a major opportunity for innovation. By designing migration systems that remove technical barriers, we can create workflows that are approachable for marketers, editors, content strategists, and small business owners — not just developers.
What I learned
This sprint gave me a much deeper understanding of both UX research and technical content systems.
Some of the biggest takeaways included:
Understanding how data mapping works in migration systems
Learning the differences between traditional CMS platforms and headless CMS architecture
Seeing how database schemas translate into spreadsheet and structured content formats
Developing a more scalable workflow for collecting large amounts of comparative UX data
Improving my ability to communicate technical processes in a way that non-technical users can understand
One of the most valuable lessons was realizing how important clarity and onboarding are when designing enterprise software. Even powerful systems become frustrating if users don’t understand what’s happening during migration.