Ever wondered what goes into creating our features? Or who the people are behind the product?
As a software company MyTrucking’s Product Team play a vital role in what we do (in fact, we wouldn’t exist without them!). Sarah, from our marketing team, joined the team for a couple of days. She shares a glimpse into what she learned – and what our product team are busy working on for our customers.
MONDAY 2 DECEMBER: TESTING 1,2,3…
With Christmas just three weeks away – the product team were focused on troubleshooting and testing new releases today.
The product office looks out to beautiful Wairarapa scenery at the MyTrucking HQ (particularly stunning on a day like this!). It’s a gem spot for creative problem solving and deep technical work.
At 10am the team of nine gathered for their daily standup.
Led by Ivan, everyone shared the status – and any blockers – of their projects. These projects ranged from testing maps on our mobile app, working on ticket requests, reviewing release items, API access for customers, planning customer chats, and Daysheet development (to name just a few!).
The air con then went on – and they were straight into it for the day.
Building software that customers love
What’s Britt working on today?
Britt, our Senior Product Manager, describes what she does as “making sure we’re building software that customers love”.
“One thing I’m working on is refining our ticketing process. The ticketing process is a structured way of managing customer support requests – tickets are assigned to people based on expertise and availability. We’re refining how information gets shared from sales to development, so we can deliver value to our customers faster!”
We love feedback and suggestions from our customers, so refining our processes further will be valuable. A lot of our features are based on customer feedback – who are experts in what they do – so we love to provide efficient solutions for them.
Britt is also working on creating a system for more direct communication between our product team and customers, when the need is there. This helps us work faster and make sure we keep building the right things for them. Watch this space!
TUESDAY 3 DECEMBER: THE USER EXPERIENCE
It was another lovely day at the MyTrucking HQ (which saw 25 degrees at 9am!). A new face joined the team today – Mitzy, Martin’s dog 🙂
After the daily stand up, it was straight into a Product/Development cross-team meeting.
Today MyTrucking’s Product Team focused on performance improvements, user experience, benchmarks, research, and recommendations. This meeting included our people from product, support, marketing, and management teams. This was a brilliant opportunity for sharing different perspectives, discussing customer requests, and creating action items.
The user/customer experience is a focus for our product team. Our software and features are people friendly, so these discussions are important at each stage of development.
Our MyTrucking Mechanics: Digging into code and catching bugs
What’s Bob working on today?
Bob, Developer, describes his role as “fixing bugs, improving performance and working on software maintenance”.
“My daily satisfaction comes from making things work. Small things make me happy. My customers are the support team. I work on dirty data that needs a cleanup and things like our customer portal. That’s mainly maintained by me. I’m also working on creating a tool for a maintenance job for the support team.”
What’s Jay working on today?
Jay, Senior Developer, describes his role as “fixing bugs and issues, implementing new features and improving performance”.
“Today I’m working on a performance issue on the monthly edit job page. Digging into the code to see how I can improve the performance.
When there is an issue (on the ticket) I go into the description, then the attachment and identify the issue. I replicate the issue. Then it becomes easy for us to make the modification code from there. I like challenges and problem solving. No two days are the same here!”
The nature of software is that issues arise, and solutions are needed. Bob and Jay’s expertise in development allows a smooth transition between the two. You know there’s a level of skill involved when THREE computer screens are required!
ANY END OF DAY REFLECTIONS?
There’s a calm, efficient energy in our product office – MyTrucking’s Product Team clearly care about doing the best for our customers. It’s impossible to fully capture their skill, technical knowledge and expertise in just a couple of days.
This was a small glimpse into the workings of one amazing product team – with an adorable little sidekick!
