Launching an enterprise web product at scale during the COVID-19 pandemic

The journey

  1. Requirements
  2. API & Travel validation
  3. A11Y & Sandboarding
  4. L10N & Floating staircases
  5. Pandemic & RCA
  6. Destination

Sales Insights

Sales planning and data platform

● Enterprise sales software ● Sales strategy ● Territory planning ● Uncovering new opportunities ● Relationship-strength data

LinkedIn's Economic Graph

A digital representation of the global economy

AUTH

Single Sign-on Multiple licences Custom permissions

Ember

UI Framework

CRM

Independent connections CRM Sync & Export Integration with Sales Navigator

55M+

Companies

722M+

Members

2021

Destination

2019

Origin

Regina Galieva

Senior Software Engineer

Regina Galieva

Senior Software Engineer

Checklist

Key components of development workflow

Processes Considerations Enterprise Bonus Dev, test and ramp plans Development and production risks Enterprise authentication and profile Privacy and security Enterprise design system Cross-team dependencies Ramp and release plan by enterprise contract Localization sign-off A11Y audit Graceful degradation Tracking setup and validation Monitoring A/B testing …etc. Scalability Reusability Discoverability Stability …etc Enterprise security Custom SKUs Customer support within SLA …etc

Achieve Stability Escape Stagnation

Life & Tech

Personal journey Professional journey

Consequences of breaking a travel (API) contract

…But I thought we agreed to go next week?

St Petersburg to Moscow 8 hours, 440 miles

Consequences of breaking a travel (API) contract

…But I thought we agreed to go next week?

St Petersburg to Moscow 8 hours, 440 miles

Mocked data and validation

ember-restli-mirage

● Standard Mirage APIs and workflow ● Generation of mock responses that conform to the API contract ● Support for locally-defined schemas ● Easy setup via single entry point

Great Sand Dunes National Park and First A11y Audit

“one of the most heart-pumping outdoor activities you will find on the planet” “similar to snowboarding”

Great Sand Dunes National Park and First A11y Audit

“one of the most heart-pumping outdoor activities you will find on the planet” “similar to snowboarding”

~100 Bugs reported by a11y team

~100 Bugs reported by a11y team 30% With axe-core (ember-a11y-testing), you can find up to 30% of WCAG issues automatically

Ember A11y

ember-a11-testing

● One-time or individual setup ● Axe-core rules and options ● Optional audit ● Error messages as instructions

LinkedIn’s approach to automated accessibility (A11y) testing

Floating staircases and Localization

“only if the wall is not a load-bearing one should an amateur attempt to remove it”

  • image on the left - expectations
  • images on the right - reality

Visual regression

ember-backstop

● Manages your test and reference files ● Works in your existing Acceptance and Integration tests ● Reference-only mode

Ember-Backstop Visual Regression Testing Tutorial

Localization

ember-backstop

● Manages your test and reference files ● Works in your existing Acceptance and Integration tests ● Reference-only mode

Ember-Backstop Visual Regression Testing Tutorial

The journey

  1. Requirements
  2. API & Travel validation
  3. A11Y & Sandboarding
  4. L10N & Floating staircases
  5. Pandemic & RCA
  6. Destination

Stability ✅ achieve

Stagnation ✅ escape

COVID-19

New challenges

Product and global crisis

● Decline in engagement ● Newfound uncertainty on market fit ● Shift in priorities and/or reduced resourcing ● Key roadmap items no longer relevant or feasible

Team and global crisis

● Frequency of communication ● Documentation of decisions ● Transparency and vulnerability ● Culture and compassion

Team and global crisis

● Frequency of communication ● Documentation of decisions ● Transparency and vulnerability ● Culture and compassion

LSI Cross Stitch 2020

Team Kickoff Team Kickoff Oct 8, 2020

Me and global crisis

● Decreased productivity

● Decreased focus ● Imposter syndrome ● Decreased motivation ● Never-ending Hydra fight

Life & Tech

Personal journey Professional journey

Problem Solving Strategies

Root cause analysis ● Define the problem ● Aggregate data ● Deep analysis ● Locate the root cause

Airstream and Crisis of Faith

Did I still want to invest my life in this product knowing it might never be released? What was my definition of a successful journey?

Values & Definition of success

Tech - stability without stagnation Impact - solve real-life problems Team - integrity, humor and candor

Good News: Virtual Selling Takes Off

● Sales is becoming more virtual ● Sales Navigator thrives

“B2B companies see digital interactions as 2-3x more important to their customers than traditional sales interactions.” -McKinsey study

Key takeaways

  1. Invest in the foundation as early as possible
  2. Know your tools and reuse them
  3. Be truthful to your values
  4. Have fun along the way!

Cheers!

Thank you!

Cheers!