Our Process

A well balanced product development process is what helps us build successful solutions.

At Traackr, we use a standard product development process. But where we spend our time and how we work cross-functionally is what helps us build successful solutions.

Prioritize Problem

Define Problem

Design Solution

Build Solution

Beta

Launch

Roadmap

Project Brief

User Research

Development

Test Hypothesis

Announcement

20%

15%

There are no rows in this table

⁠

Spend time picking the right problem

A solution can only be as good as your understanding of the problem you’re addressing.

At Traackr, how we spend our time should look more like this: 40% of our effort spent before we’ve even started designing anything. We need to obsess about problem prioritization and problem definition.

Understand the constraints early

Great products are often a combination of two things: a technical breakthrough and a never-before-seen design it enabled.

It’s essential designers understand the possibilities and restraints of the technology they’re working with, before they can properly delve into the design. Technical questions can heavily influence design decisions and should be asked and addressed as early as possible by talking with engineers. The constraints you discover are often advantages in disguise.

Design together

There’s no hand off in product design. There is hand hold.

A product designer should be responsible for sharing designs early and often with engineers. That doesn’t mean something neatly packed up and polished. It could be the roughest prototype imaginable. Great designers can’t always have the “eureka” moment. What they can do is frame the problem for their team, and create a design process to extract the best solutions from that team. If you’re splitting your product process between design and engineering, you’re more likely to become protective of “your” area, shutting out potential perspectives and feedback which could lead you to a solution you might not have thought possible.

Build & iterate together

Designing as you build allows you to identify opportunities to strengthen your original solution.

High-level product decisions are usually nailed down long before engineering starts. However, in terms of interaction and visual design, details reveal themselves as the product is being built. Instead of handing off pixel-perfect designs to your engineering team, embrace the opportunity to design alongside them as they build. Details are often missed first time around, so use your opportunity to improve the flow, offering alternative forms of feedback. It means you can design with a clearer, more realistic perspective – based on real data, technical constraints, and an overall sense of how the product feels.

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