Follow-ups: Changing the way you build features
Congratulations! Time to pop open a bottle of champagne!
You and your team have just finished working on a brand new mind-blowing feature for your product.
We all know that creating a new working feature for a complex system is not an easy task.
*inhale*
From understanding the user request to doing broad UX research,brainstorming with the team, deciding what button will trigger action, determining where the feature will sit inside the product, and finally the high fidelity design, prototype, development, and last modifications.
*gasp*
And after all of that you probably ask:
“Great! ..now what?”
Before I get into the “how’s” I’ll start with the “why’s.”
Why do we even need to do follow-ups after finishing tasks?
- See whether the users are actually using the feature we’ve just created
- Minimize long term risk
- Check if there’s a bug that needs fixing
- Improve our work methodology
My personal view on the subject
Before I arrived at monday.com, I worked in a small startup where , we rarely had the chance to conduct a proper follow-up after releasing a new feature since we worked in such a fast-paced environment.
When the client feedback did go through the sales or cs team, we didn’t really have a way to measure it.
Which led to the uncertainty about the feature whether it was good or not.
Officially completing the task does not necessarily mean it’s really over. A lot can happen after we finally release it to production, and that is why it’s crucial to focus on what is happening and for that we have to follow up.
The how’s
Followup can be conducted and measured in many ways by different personas and here are some of them:
- Analyze feedback users leave with the company’s cx consultants about the pros and cons of their experience.
- Create a survey or a form to collect reactions from users
- Monitor the quantity of actions events (users clicked here and there, maybe got stuck at some point and abandoned the system)
- Interview selected users to learn about their experience with the product
Our work, our responsibility
We need to remember that every-time we release a new feature it is our reputation on the line, so we must make sure we can be proud of.
Scheduling follow-ups can help us make better product decisions. Essentially, it’s a win-win situation in both the short- and long-term.
So, next time you complete your awesome new feature, don’t forget to follow up!
