GIMO

High Level Overview

I was brought into GIMO to take responsibility of the apps for two of the agency’s clients: NetBet and Casino777. Shortly after arriving, we decided we needed to rebuild…

Review

After conducting a heuristic evaluation and performance review of the products, it became evident that the UX did not adhere to accepted usability principles and the code was highly coupled.

Strategy

After the initial review, I proposed a vision and product strategy. This aimed to restructure the development process, define the phased development of the products, and establish both business and user success metrics.

Product Redesign

Having outlined the value of a adopting a customer-led approach, I enlisted the expertise of Claudio Jimenez, a top Senior Product Designer, who immediately hit the ground running in defining the UX for both client products.

Expectation Management

I put a strong focus on ensuring the vision for the products was aligned at every stage. This included weekly reports with the C-suite, steering meetings with stakeholders and regular alignment with cross-functional teams.

Native Design

All UX was based on Human Interface Guidelines and Material Design

Compliant List View

Designed a new list view to be compliant with new Apple Guidelines.

Server-Rendered UI

Server-rendered UI allows for us to develop the app in a fashion akin to web.

Data-Driven Analysis

Early integration of FullStory provided enhanced analytics during dev and launch.

Configurability

Remote configuration means we can adapt promotions and compliance on the fly.

Revolutionary Download

This will be the first app in the industry to allow users to manage their downloads.

Some more information…

Rebuilding the apps from scratch was a huge undertaking , and has led to an incredibly exciting journey, with unexpected twists and turns…

Background How it was Built My Scope

What led to the decision to rebuild the apps, and was this truly the best course fo action?

When I first joined GIMO, and after being introduced to the brands, stakeholders and other members of the C-suite, my first priority was to understand the current products. I wanted to put myself in the frame of mind of the user and look at the products through their eyes. Taking this approach I identified a number of areas of improvement.

I began by testing the products, I carried out functional, performance, compatibility, usability and accessibility testing, and felt the users deserved the very best gaming experience. With this in mind, I quickly went about defining the product strategy…

Within the first month, I defined a SWAG (stupid wild-ass guess) approach. I worked with the business to define the product we sought to build, this consisted of identifying:

  • What is it?
  • What benefits do we hope to deliver?
  • What will the personality of the product be?


After this, it was time to define the brand promise, we wanted to dent the universe by creating something revolutionary, and navigate Apple’s casino compliance regulations, creating a feature we expected the industry to copy, this eventually came in the shape of ODR game download management. The brand promise aims to build inspiration, this is something Netflix has become known for in the industry with the “Movie Enjoyment Made Easy” mantra.

My next step was to outline the product vision, I wanted to dramatically enhance the gaming experience, and drive engagement through perfection. Not product perfection (not yet, anyway) but iterative perfection. I needed to expand on what was working and change what wasn’t, I needed to challenge long established assumptions, and get big (really big) on data and insights, as this was lacking. We weren’t at the stage at which we could start enhancing marginal product gains (since we were rebuilding), but that’s only because there were so many other wins that could be leveraged, and experiences which could be entirely rebuilt.

I led my product strategy adopting the GEM model, which is driven by growth, engagement and monetisation. The critical factor for me was the engagement metric, which defines the product’s quality. With this I then created my rolling four-quarter roadmap, which always comes last since this is an expression of the product strategy. The challenge with roadmaps is that they come with time commitments, which can sometimes run the risk of being the enemy of iteration. Typically, I can always commit to the near quarter, but not too much beyond. “But you’re building a product from scratch, Kris…” I hear you say… “Shouldn’t this essentially be more akin to waterfall, than lean agile?”.

Not necessarily. When I joined, there were four developers, I have since doubled this, we didn’t have a product designer, now we have two, the now Project Manager was the caretaker Product Manager, and we didn’t have a backend developer; the team are new to working with each other. In addition to this the Senior Backend Architect left suddenly, and we discovered there was very little API documentation. When you bring these factors together, priorities, especially when dealing with an MVP and strict timelines, can require making strategic changes on the fly, whether it’s to reallocate resources to unblock a dependency, or whether that means redefining the MVP and aligning this with stakeholders.

Once all our ducks were in a row, we kicked off the project… development was underway. “How was it built though?”, next tab for that…


How do you rally the troops who are disillusioned from working on a stagnating product?

We decided to take a server-rendered UI approach to the development of the Andorid and iOS apps. This was something new to the team, who had had to work with no backend resources, no UX resources and by being briefed to “copy the website” up until this point. Suddenly everything changed… quarterly planning vision boards, spring planning meetings, retrospectives, and short and sweet 15 minute stand-ups became normal, and the team thrived.

There are thirteen of us, based across five countries, in three time zones, and by giving the team the tools they needed, and allowed the various tribes to complement each other, they were empowered to create greatness. Quarterly trips to the Bucharest development offices (even though we all work remotely) ensued, and a team culture quickly formed, leading to an exciting journey.

Now we’re on track to deliver eight apps, across nine regions, complying with six licenses for two separate clients.

What were my main areas of focus?

Strategic

  • Developing and executing a long-term product strategy aligned with the company’s overall goals and vision with a focus on compliance and automation across the board.
  • Conducting market research to identify customer needs and preferences, and leveraging this information to guide product development decisions.
  • Analysing market trends and adjusting the product roadmap to stay ahead of the competition.
  • Ensuring that products are scalable, sustainable, and future-proof by implementing best practices in product development and management.
  • Monitoring industry trends and emerging technologies to identify potential disruptions and opportunities for innovation.
  • Developing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, partners, and vendors, to ensure that product strategy is aligned with their needs and interests.
  • Translating Apple guideline updates into a product vision and strategy.
  • Defining app release and update strategies and schedules.Assessing and driving opportunities in new markets.


Product

  • Defining the product vision and strategy for the product portfolio.
  • Conducting market research and gathering customer feedback to inform product decisions.
  • Turning data insights into product features with actionable outcomes to the customer.
  • Developing and maintaining a product roadmap that aligns with the company’s strategic goals and vision.
  • Prioritising product features and requirements based on customer needs, business objectives, and technical feasibility.
  • Collaborating with cross-functional teams, including design, engineering, and marketing, to bring products to market.
  • Leading the product development process from ideation to launch, ensuring that products are delivered on time.
  • Defining and measuring key product metrics, such as user engagement, retention, and revenue, to evaluate product performance and identify areas for improvement.
  • Ensuring that products are compliant with relevant regulations such as  Apple App Store Review Guideline 4.7 and industry standards.
  • Working with product owners to translates product roadmap features into well-defined product requirements including features, user stories, and acceptance test criteria.


Testing

  • Streamlined the testing process such that every iteration came with enhanced release notes, and each stage of the testing process was signed off at SV, QA and UAT levels.


Reporting

  • Weekly calls to report directly to C-suite.
  • Quarterly steering meetings including progress reports.
  • Monthly client progress meetings.
  • Presenting feature demos to internal and brand stakeholders.


Academic

  • Developing a deep understanding of how Apple’s guideline updates impact the business’s iOS apps.
  • Keeping a sharp focus on new markets and potential legislative impacts on my roadmap.