Product People Drove User Engagement and Customer Satisfaction for Firefighting Software

The Client: Software Solutions for Emergency Services

Our client specializes in developing software solutions for emergency services, particularly fire departments.

Their main product is a comprehensive management system designed to streamline administrative tasks for fire departments. It offers modules for personnel management, equipment tracking, training administration, and financial oversight, enabling efficient coordination of resources and operations.

Their second main product is an alerting application that ensures secure and reliable communication among emergency responders. It facilitates rapid mobilization through instant notifications via SMS and push messages, supporting effective incident response.

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The Mission: Interim Product Manager

The main products of our client have been on the market for over 15 years and are used by a large customer base despite the small team size.

When we joined, the team lacked a Product Manager. Each product was supported by just two developers—a senior and a junior. We collaborated closely with three Customer Success team members and a Marketing and Sales Manager.

Our primary goal was to drive and deliver the key initiatives planned for the year. This involved conducting necessary discovery work, detailing requirements, drafting tickets, planning deliveries, and resolving any potential blockers.

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Our Main Quest: Enhancing Customer Experience Through Product Discovery and Delivery

Aligned with leadership, we identified the key roadmap initiatives for the client’s two main products. We assessed the current state to understand existing challenges and gaps, then planned and structured a clear timeline to address missing steps, ensuring smooth execution and measurable impact.

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Explore and Conquer: Solved for the Client

Initiative 1 - Discovery to Identify, Prioritize, and Resolve Gaps in the Fire Prevention Planning Process and Preventive Fire Protection Modules

Problem:

The fire prevention planning process and preventive fire protection workflows were incomplete and contained logical errors, making it difficult for users to evaluate protection targets and manage related activities effectively. Additionally, certain features like recurring events and document embedding were missing, hindering the user experience.

What has been done:

• Conducted research and documented the current user flow in Miro, including a detailed introduction to the topic and identified milestones.
• Created high-priority tickets in GitHub for the development team to address capacity constraints.
• Addressed logic errors in protection target calculation for the fire prevention planning process module.
• Scoped and refined requirements for preventive fire protection Module features with the development team, including:
  • Implementing recurring inspection appointments.
  • Embedding documents from the survey module into the documentation module for activities and processes.

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Initiative 2 - Enabling Interlinking Between the Fire Department Management System and the Fire Alerting System

Problem:

There was no existing interface between the fire department management system and fire alerting system, limiting integration opportunities, potential cross-selling, and additional customer value.

What has been done:

• Created a Google Doc with an introduction to the integration concept, features offering the highest customer value, current implementations in the market, and project milestones.
• Organized a customer exploration call with key customers to assess interest in the integration. The call is to gather insights on customer demand and estimate potential revenue from the project.

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Initiative 3 - Rejuvenating Fire Department Management Mobile App

Problem:

The bugs and missing functionalities on the app for Fire Department Management limited its usability on mobile devices, particularly for managing users and events. Development was blocked by the unavailability of backend APIs.

What has been done:

• Created initial mockups for the user management functionality in Miro.
• Conducted a team kickoff with key stakeholders.
• Defined the MVP scope for the app with the team.
• Started drafting tickets and designs in preparation for development once the APIs are available.

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Our Side Quests: Spearheading a New Customer Request Handling Process

As Interim Product Managers, we noticed that the process for handling customer requests was unclear and lacked a standardized workflow, leading to inefficiencies.

• Had alignment calls with customer success to understand the current customer request process and prioritization methods
• Coordinated with engineering on the best way to receive and handle requests
• Drafted the initial version of the customer request process in a Google Sheet, gathering async feedback to update and reiterate on the process.

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

💡 Defined and prioritized key roadmap initiatives, aligning with leadership and customer needs.

💡 Led discovery and resolved critical gaps in fire prevention planning workflows, improving usability.

💡 Drove integration planning between the fire department management and alerting systems to enhance cross-product value.

💡 Revamped the mobile app strategy, defining the MVP scope and preparing designs for development.