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

A presentation at EmberConf 2021 in March 2021 in by Regina Galieva

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

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The journey

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

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Sales Insights

Sales planning and data platform

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

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LinkedIn's Economic Graph

A digital representation of the global economy

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AUTH

Single Sign-on Multiple licences Custom permissions

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Ember

UI Framework

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CRM

Independent connections CRM Sync & Export Integration with Sales Navigator

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55M+

Companies

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722M+

Members

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2021

Destination

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2019

Origin

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Regina Galieva

Senior Software Engineer

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Regina Galieva

Senior Software Engineer

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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

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Achieve Stability Escape Stagnation

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Life & Tech

Personal journey Professional journey

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Consequences of breaking a travel (API) contract

…But I thought we agreed to go next week?

St Petersburg to Moscow 8 hours, 440 miles

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Consequences of breaking a travel (API) contract

…But I thought we agreed to go next week?

St Petersburg to Moscow 8 hours, 440 miles

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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

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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”

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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”

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~100 Bugs reported by a11y team

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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The journey

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

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Stability ✅ achieve

Stagnation ✅ escape

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COVID-19

New challenges

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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

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Team and global crisis

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

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Team and global crisis

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

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LSI Cross Stitch 2020

Team Kickoff Team Kickoff Oct 8, 2020

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Me and global crisis

● Decreased productivity

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

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Life & Tech

Personal journey Professional journey

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Problem Solving Strategies

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

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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?

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Values & Definition of success

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

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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

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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!

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Cheers!

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Thank you!

Cheers!