Post Product Market Fit (Post PMF) Acceleration for B2B Frontline Workers Management Platform

The Client: Frontline Workforce Management Platform

The client offers a tool to allow companies to stay connected with deskless employees. The chat, newsfeed, schedules, time tracking, and additional features seamlessly integrate into a digital workspace accessible to all, even without a PC. It offers interactive functionalities akin to a social intranet, user-friendly navigation reminiscent of a messenger app, and robust security.

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The Mission: Interim Product Owners

The team consisted of four backend developers, one frontend developer, and an engineering manager, all of whom had been with the company for several years, along with two new frontend and backend developers who recently joined. A communication gap existed regarding the purpose of the technical work, leading to developers feeling excluded from the ideation and solution phase. Additionally, there was a lack of clear documentation for the features, and knowledge sharing primarily occurred during synchronous meetings. The senior product manager was overwhelmed as he was overseeing two teams, necessitating product owners to step in and deliver critical initiatives to support large enterprise clients.

The Product Manager found himself at the helm of two demanding teams simultaneously. One team had imminent deliverables crucial to multiple client projects, prompting a desire to prioritize attention towards the other team. Additionally, leadership sought to allocate more of the PM's time to strategic endeavors. We aimed to relieve him of the operational responsibilities of his second team and to ensure the delivery of essential initiatives vital for supporting our large enterprise clients.

Our objective was to assume the Product Owner role for one of the teams, thereby relieving the Product Manager of operational duties. This would enable them to dedicate more attention to strategic endeavors and the critical initiative being pursued by the other team under his management. We were tasked with ensuring the seamless progression of work for the team we were assigned to, while also taking over additional critical initiatives pledged to our enterprise customers.

The champion’s expectations included gaining the trust of the team by being knowledgeable of all open topics. Soft skills such as leadership, communication, and organization were also crucial, as we were expected to lead the team, align stakeholders, and run all the dailies, sprint planning, sprint review, and retro meetings. We also introduced more structured product processes and ensured the timely completion of product deadlines.

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Our Main Quest: Process Optimization & Advancing Product Features

Solved for the Client

The team at the client site encountered several challenges that necessitated a comprehensive review of their product and scrum processes, alongside the initiation of targeted features and operational improvements:

• Evolving Product Demands: The competitive nature of the workforce management landscape requires continuous adaptation and innovation to meet customer demands and maintain a competitive edge.
• Process Efficiency: The need to streamline operations, from bug resolution to feature refinement, to accelerate product development and enhance team productivity.
• Strategic Alignment: The importance of aligning product development with broader business goals, including legal compliance, user experience, and system security.

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Initiative 1 - Enhance Product and Scrum Processes; Precision in Practice

We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the team's product and scrum processes, with a keen focus on areas such as Refinements, Bug processes, UI/UX Research Alignments, and Backlog/Inbox Grooming. This assessment entailed collaborative sessions involving the development team, UI/UX researchers, and legal advisors to refine the product development lifecycle.

1. Our approach emphasized the introduction of a two-step refinement process, including a pre-refinement phase to engage the team early and gather questions, followed by a formal refinement session to prepare for the sprint effectively.
2. We implemented the role of a bug master, assigning a dedicated team member each week to oversee all bugs and distribute them among the teams. These measures exemplified our commitment to enhancing efficiency and focus within the team.
3. We established UI/UX Research Alignments to plan product discovery and user interviews, reinforcing our strategy for delivering user-centric solutions.

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Initiative 2 - Feature Development and Strategic Initiatives

Following the process optimization, we directed our attention toward delivering key features concerning user authentication & management, alongside driving additional initiatives like branding possibilities for business clients and admin capabilities.

For each feature, we crafted a Product Requirements Document (PRD) and defined the User Flow, engaging closely with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment with design, development, and legal requirements. These efforts were complemented by strategic sessions aimed at thematic improvements and system enhancements to bolster the platform's functionality and compliance posture.

The delivery of these features and the execution of strategic initiatives underscored our commitment to enhancing the team’s operational excellence and its strategic positioning in the market.

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User Authentication & Management

Problem:

The app's administrators cannot manage legal documents and privacy policies, which is crucial for ensuring legal compliance and enhancing customer satisfaction and retention. This feature commitment was made to two enterprise customers, and it's imperative to fulfill it to retain their satisfaction and loyalty.

What has been done:

To address the identified product problem, we took several strategic steps.

1. Recognizing the significance of user feedback, we collaborated closely with the UX Team to conduct and facilitate user interviews, gathering direct insights from customers. Following this, we collaborated with the product designer to refine and finalize the designs based on the feedback received.
2. Acknowledging the criticality of legal compliance, we collaborated extensively with the legal team to ensure our proposed solution adhered to all relevant regulations and standards.
3. We meticulously planned the defined features into sprints, ensuring alignment with the product roadmap and customer commitments.
4. Furthermore, to provide a comprehensive guide for development, we wrote a detailed Product Requirements Document (PRD), outlining the specific functionalities required to enable administrators to manage legal documents and privacy policies effectively.These concerted efforts were crucial in moving toward a solution that met both regulatory requirements and customer expectations.

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Custom Branding for Companies

Problem:

Customers could not tailor the app to align with their brand identities and color schemes. This limitation hindered their ability to create a cohesive and branded experience for their frontline workers. Thus, there was a need to implement a solution that enabled seamless customization of the app design based on each customer's unique branding requirements.

What has been done:

Regarding this problem statement, we took several actions to address the issue.

1. We gathered all the missing requirements necessary to achieve the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) scope. We collaborated with the product designer to adapt the feature designs slightly based on the feedback we collected, ensuring alignment with user expectations and enhancing usability.
2. We created the required user stories detailing the specific functionalities needed to meet customer needs.
3. We meticulously planned these user stories into the appropriate sprints to ensure the timely development and delivery of the solution.

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Mission Achievements: Delivered Outcomes

💡 We advanced the product delivery of two pivotal initiatives, a move that was crucial to retain two international customers.

💡 The Team was happier having well-defined processes and structured meetings.

💡  The Lead Product Manager started to have more free time to focus on other long-term strategic initiatives.