In this ProductTank Sofia talk, VP of E-Commerce at SumUp, Patryk Pawlikowski, explains how he and the team at SumUp adapted their product roadmap on the fly to cope with the disruption caused by the pandemic. The key points of his talk include:
- Unforeseen circumstances
- Re-thinking products to a new reality
- Adapting a product roadmap on the fly
Watch the video to see Patryk’s talk in full or read on for an overview.
Unforeseen circumstances
SumUp provides card readers and terminals that enable small merchants in 31 countries worldwide to get paid. As part of the company culture, SumUp’s success is linked to the success of its merchants. When lockdown measures began in March 2020, these small merchants were some of the first to feel the sudden economic impact of the crisis.
As Patryk explains, this period meant that the team needed to re-align themselves around a common goal, determine new bold goals, and implement OKRs so that they and their merchants could survive going forward.
Re-thinking products to a new reality
Products had to be adapted to be mobile-first or mobile-only, and a quick and easy onboarding process was implemented to streamline operations. As Patryk pointed out, this was made possible by dividing their workforce into different squads and cross-collaboration around common goals.
Eventually, the SumUp team discovered a one-time window opportunity and performed what was essentially two years’ worth of product implementation in just 30 days. MVPs were quickly scaled from silent releases to public availability in their top markets, and thousands of merchants were onboarded.
Adapting a product roadmap on the fly
Patryk highlighted the key learnings from this period that product managers can follow:
- Assumptions are only useful if you know what’s coming
- Talk to users to understand their daily struggles
- Launch even if everything isn’t perfect
- Early feedback is fundamental
The key takeaway from this talk is that unforeseen circumstances are simply storms that need to be weathered, and they can turn out to be incredible opportunities.
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