Context:
RepairDesk is a point-of-sale (POS) system specifically designed for the repair industry in North America. With a presence in the market for about 10 years, they have established dominance in the mobile repair sector. When I joined RepairDesk as a Product Manager, their growth had reached a plateau, and they were seeking strategies to increase their market share, overall growth, and develop a solid exit strategy.
Problems:
1.Over-Complicated ERP System:
Required a mandatory 4-week training for new users.
Led to fewer user conversions.
Resulted in low month-over-month growth.
2.Over-Specialized Product for the Mobile Repair Industry:
Limited flexibility in market expansion.
Impeded overall growth.
3.Poor Coding Practices & High Technical Debt:
Changes introduced multiple unintended consequences, leading to missed SLAs.
Challenges in adding new features, causing missed project deadlines.
Resulted in increased customer support costs.
Goals:
Primary Objective:
Develop a user-friendly, scalable, and adaptable self-service product.
North Star Metric
Conversion Rate
L1 Metrics:
Time-to-Activate
Time-to-Go-Live
Approach:
Product:
Revamp Strategy: After consulting with the engineering and design team, we came to a conclusion of revamping our product from the ground up. The idea was to maintain the database and reuse existing code from the legacy monolithic application to speed up development and ensure seamless migration of existing users to the new product.
User-Centric Approach: We aimed to incorporate live user feedback into our development process, and within 3 months, we successfully shipped our Proof of Concept (POC). The new POS module seamlessly integrated with the existing legacy app, allowing users to access all the complex features while enjoying a more user-friendly POS interface. This allowed us to continue building out those features while still providing a positive user experience.
Successful Launch: In less than 18 months, we were able to launch a product that was not only significantly more user-friendly, but also more stable and flexible to accommodate users across different industries. Additionally, it required minimal assistance from the Sales, Training, and Customer Support teams.
Process:
Agile Transformation Journey: The team was initially unfamiliar with Agile software development. However, in a short period of time, we were able to fully embrace agility and quickly adapt to user feedback and dynamic company priorities.
Tackling Scaling Challenges: As we scaled to three separate product teams working on this product, we encountered issues such as complex coordination, impeded flows, and ripple effects. To ensure seamless delivery, I adopted concepts from the Scaled Agile Framework and devised an effective branching structure with my engineering team, complemented by strategic roadmaps.
People:
Navigating Rapid Growth and Team Dynamics: Leading such a significant change, especially with a team that was set in its ways and had decades of professional experience, required navigating very delicately.
Outcome:
North Star Metric:
The conversion rate went up from 8% to above 20%.
L1 Metrics:
We were able to reduce
Time-to-Activatefrom 3 days to 15 minutes.We were able to bring down
Time-to-Go-Livefrom 4 weeks to 1 week.
