EDS 2.0 Conversion

Project Objective #

The objectives of the project were to align the setup configuration for door products within Paradigm software to a standard they referred to as Entry Door System 2.0 (EDS 2.0). These changes needed to be completed across five different retail catalogs.

Before #

The previous configuration functioned but was cumbersome to maintain often requiring duplicate effort to add or remove even a single item. This made it error prone. The extra development and testing made releases take longer.

This is the sort of project that is hard to get moving without a high-impact stakeholder. Luckily, the retail customers were driving this initiative and they made it a requirement of doing business.

There is never a good time to do this sort of change. Internal stakeholders were not happy that some of their priorities were being moved around. With an ambitious timeline and the business relationship on the line we prioritized some things and got it done.

Outcome #

The outcome was three retail catalogs were updated to meet this new standard per the requirements of the retail customers.

My role #

My role was the Product Owner.

My responsibilities #

I worked with the retail customers to understand the request both in scope and timing of deliverables. I then worked with internal stakeholders to align on a plan for delivering this request.

This involved reviewing each catalog’s backlog and prioritizing these new items to deliver on time to meet customer expectations. The change is related to how dimensions are used in the set up of product within the catalogs, so I worked with the relevant stakeholders to document the information required to make this change.

I helped resolve conflicts that arose between cross-functional teams. After the initial stakeholder pushback there was some disagreements on dimensions that should be used in the catalog. I was able to get in touch with the right folks and document the standards for implementation.

Changing how dimensions are set up impacted both pricing and integration with ERP systems so it was important to keep communication ongoing throughout the project.

Catalogs that received this conversion first encountered an increase in defects so I worked with the team to change the scope on later conversions to help mitigate this issue. To eliminate compounding difficulties with size changes later catalogs in this process only included things necessary for this change and all other updates were postponed.

This project was complete when the last catalog went live in stores. I used sprint retrospectives throughout to help gather insights in improving the process. The team stayed together at the end as the group is part of a dedicated scrum team.

Deliverables #

The deliverable of the project was the catalogs rolled out in retail stores utilizing the new standard of EDS 2.0.

Reducing setup time and errors also reduced time to market by approximately 30%.

Lessons Learned #

By framing the delay as a necessary step to ensure stability rather than a missed opportunity, we turned the conversation from ‘why aren’t we shipping?’ to ‘how do we ship safely?’ The overhaul of the entry door system was more than enough for a single release. In fact, if it could have been it should have been spread out over multiple releases but the software would not support that sort of phased approach.

I felt the pressure of stakeholder anxiety to roll out the next new thing and didn’t want to disappoint them. For later releases we did a better job of communicating to stakeholders, customer service, and sales about what was going to be in the catalog and when. We did end up having to launch new products without them being configurable in the catalog but we were able to give an estimate of when they would be there.

This is day 39 of 100 Days To Offload.