SaaS Supply Chain Product
Overview
- Brand new SaaS platform
- First designer on a startup team
- Make-to-order manufacturing industry
- Design-first approach for a responsive web app
- Wore many hats to help manage branding, design system, product scope, backlog, roadmap, and UAT
- Collaborated closely with development team
Outcomes
- A 2-person team grew to a 8-person team improving the scope and timeliness of features delivered to our investor
- Users saved time and money by having more visibility into the status of their orders at their fingertips
- Users had more accurate communications and paper trails with a centralized tool purpose-built for their supply chain
Context – A Chaotic Industry with Room for Modern Solutions
In my latest design role at a startup, I had the opportunity to be part of the founding team for a new product in the manufacturing industry. A key stakeholder invested in us in order to both incorporate the tool into his own business, as well as to bring it to the rest of the industry.
The make-to-order manufacturing space is filled with organized chaos, where exceptions are just as common as the rule. For many buyers and suppliers, the best way they know how to manage their supply chain is to rely on emails and spreadsheets.
Current alternatives are either too old and clunky, or are modern but aren’t built with manufacturing in mind, and the proof is in the patchwork of solutions that manufacturers scrap together.
Goal – Build a Platform That Streamlines a Chaotic Supply Chain
Enable better communication, visibility, and record keeping over the life cycle of an order by designing a purpose-built product.
The platform needs enough structure to streamline collaboration and minimize menial tasks, but enough flexibility that the frequent exceptions can be managed without the need for workarounds.
Scope and Activities
- Established company branding and design system
- Wore many hats within the small startup team, taking on whatever tasks are needed
- Discovered current pain points in the industry
- Defined and prioritized proposed features
- Management scope, a backlog, and a strategic roadmap
- Designed responsive web app interfaces while communicating closely with a remote dev team
- Iterated and refined feature designs by collaborating with stakeholders, prospective users, and the dev team
- Championed QA and UAT efforts to ensure that designs looked, felt, and worked as intended
Conclusion – Initial Traction and Momentum
The MVP product went live with a robust set of core features. The initial investment partner used it within their own business, a new customer integration was underway, and additional prospective customers were being pursued.
Key lessons learned and experience gained include:
- How to develop a product with a design first mentality, allowing requirements to surface through communication with users and industry research
- How to adapt to shifting priorities while maintaining a backlog and roadmap
- How a deeper understanding of QA processes improves the design process
