On September 10, 2008, we (finally) announced the launch of our brand new website, ForeclosedHomes.com.
Here marks the end - and the beginning - of an important journey. It was, hands down, the biggest product launch anyone here at Bargain Network had ever worked on. For me, it was an exciting opportunity to have a significant product that I could take a great deal of ownership in. It would carry me off into the sunset of my career.
In many ways, my prediction was frighteningly accurate. Corporate transitions and restructuring made it nearly impossible to hire on the much needed talent for the planning and execution of this project, so I dove in head first to fill in where I could to make it happen. I quickly became the Product Manager, Information Architect, Visual Designer, and later sprinkled on a bit of Project and even Software Development management. The week we launched the website was the week I was invited and ultimately promoted to join the executive Bargain Network (dba ForeclosedHomes.com) team. While this has all been great experience for me and I've enjoyed great success as a side-effect, the truth is this has been one of the most challenging seasons in my life...and definitely in my professional career.
For now, I can honestly say we launched a beautiful Beta product that I am ultimately proud of. We decided early on that it would be a BETA launch. Looking back, I would say I lost sight of that towards the end. Having been the principal product owner and user experience and visual designer, I got so wrapped up in my "vision" that it became my baby. So, when it came down to the wire and product requirements got stripped and corners were cut, I took it personally. In the aftermath of the marathon our product and software development teams just completed, I'm trying to find solid footing so I can assess our current situation without making it a personal endeavor.
So today, we're talking Post-Mortem...which we all agree is a shitty title for a meeting that's supposed to help us improve our process. I'll go with Scott's suggestion of calling it "Did Well, Do Better". Regardless of what it's called, I believe this meeting will be critical to our go-forward success. Perhaps when I have time I can delve into a little more details of our product launch. For now I'll sum it up by saying I've been disappointed that it's not perfect. As a product manager, but especially as a user experience designer, I could really benefit from taking more pride in projects that are "good enough". If anything, to benefit the team by acknowledging the hard work and extra hours that went into the launch. Really, the "glass half full" analogy applies.
In any case, I'm hoping we'll see this meeting happen this week. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the wind down and am eagerly looking forward to hearing what our users like and don't like about our website. If you're reading this, let me know!
