Features Launcher Manager
The command center of your SaaS platform. A unified space where you can total control of your product to deploy targeted feature releases, audit users and accounts, manage subscription plans, and much more.
The Problem
When a SaaS product is growing, it becomes more complex to manage the feature release process as the company wants to do soft launches, alpha or beta tests with specific accounts, or even with specific users.
When the number of active users increases, more people from your team need to have visibility on multiple aspects of your SaaS product.
Current issues found:
- Difficult to find information about feature releases and which accounts can access specific functionalities.
- No centralized place to access and manage customer accounts, subscription plans, renewal dates.
- Complexity and troubles to manage the SaaS product operations smoothly.
The Challenge
Define and design a centralized solution that allows all the selected team members to access specific information to control features deployment, users, and accounts management.
Build a tool that provides enough visibility and flexibility to the product and support team to check what features are available to which accounts.
Access to users’ and accounts’ profile details in case of need as well as the ability to create or deactivate specific customers.
Understand the Problem
Research
User Journeys and Navigation Flows
Ideation and Sketch the Solution
Mockups and Interactive Prototypes
Usability Testing
The Process
To understand the scope of the project, the first step was to conduct in-depth interviews with the engineering team and the product team to understand the process behind feature launching and creation.
At the same time, in-depth interviews with other stakeholders to understand their pains and their specific needs.
- Customer Support representatives: To understand their working process and needs related to customers’ information.
- Product Managers: To understand their needs related to deploying and tracking features.
Research
Understanding the different needs and goals
- User Proto Personas to define the different expectations of the team members with the solution.
- Map the needs and prioritize them to ensure that the solution covers the most relevant ones.
Ideation
Transform insights into actionable items
- Sketches and paper prototype early solution ideas
- Proposals for the main navigation flow
- Interactive prototypes for the usability testing sessions
The Solution
After understanding the problem, frequent requests, and needs, the final solution addressed the main aspects to ensure that product managers and customer support representatives can access the most relevant information helping them to do their work improving their experience using the admin module of the platform.
The main goal was to increase business visibility, provide autonomy, and support informed decisions of team members from different departments.
- Introduce a tagging system for each feature that allows differentiation between the all features that are being developed.
- Build a “command center” where product and engineering managers can browse across the different features and select which ones are going to be released to all users and which one will have a targeted audience.
A-ha moment!
“It should be like turning on/off a lightbulb and be as flexible as my email”
Having this in mind, the work was done around key information needed to make decisions and also have UI controls that help people to focus on their main task (the feature release).
My role in the project
Main UX Designer
Design Strategy
Define the design strategy and support ideation sessions
Project Definition
Determine and define target personas, use cases, and user journeys
User Research
Conduct interviews with users to gather qualitative information
UI and Interaction Design
Define the user flows and connections between modules and design the final screens
UX Deliverables
Mockups and interactive prototypes with finalized UI design
Usability Testing
Conduct usability testing sessions with the prototype
Gather feedback from the users
Disclaimer: Due to NDAs and contractual obligations, this project branding and some details have been anonymized