That's a great area to dig into — drop-off during onboarding is often where you lose the most potential users.

Let me play back the key dimensions I see in this problem space:

Dimensions:

• Motivation clarity — Do users understand what value they'll get from creating a project?
• Friction points — Where do they get stuck, confused, or overwhelmed?
• Effort perception — Does the onboarding feel like too much work for uncertain reward?
• Confidence — Do users feel they know enough to start, or are they afraid of "doing it wrong"?
• Timing/context — Are they signing up at a moment when they can't follow through?

Now, there are a few angles we could take for your research question:

Great choice — understanding the specific barriers is foundational. This will help you uncover whether users are dropping off due to confusion, lack of motivation, perceived effort, or something else entirely.

Let me check what interactive formats I can build for you.

Now I have a clear picture of what I can build. Here are some exercise ideas that would help surface what's blocking users during onboarding — each designed to provoke reflection and capture their mental model:

Great pick — this will help you understand not just what stops users, but how much each barrier weighs on them emotionally. The sorting action combined with their verbal commentary will give you rich data on prioritization.

Let me build this for you:

Here's your exercise: Onboarding Blockers Sort

How it works:

• Interviewees see common onboarding blockers as draggable cards
• They drag each issue they experienced into one of three frustration zones: Major blocker, Annoying, or Minor issue
• Cards can be moved between zones to refine their ranking
• Hovering reveals an X to remove items they didn't actually experience

What you'll learn:

• Which specific barriers resonate with your users
• The emotional weight of each barrier (not just occurrence)
• Patterns in what people consider "major" vs "minor" — this often reveals underlying motivations

Analysis tip: During playback, pay attention to moments of hesitation or when users talk through their placement decisions — that's where the gold is. If multiple users debate the same card's placement, that's a signal the barrier has nuance worth exploring further.

Would you like me to adjust anything — maybe add different blockers specific to your product, or tweak the frustration labels?