Two’s company, three’s a crowd.

While trios may be socially awkward, they’re optimal for product development. It’s why ServiceRocket is dynamically aligning product managers, UX designers and engineers.

“The Product Trio framework creates a map of accountability shared by the entire product team,” says Aidin Mahmoodi, Senior Lead, Product Management. The result, he adds, “streamlines the end-to-end productization of ideas.”

That approach supports ServiceRocket’s customer-driven Accountable Innovation model that will enable the company to more efficiently deliver product innovation in 2023.  

The collaboration is great news for ServiceRocket’s product users and partners, says Hakim Nizamuddin, Lead, Product Design. “Working together with product and engineering, UX design can provide a seamless and amazing experience for our users and customers who interact with us, regardless of the channel.”

As team lead for UX designers across Malaysia, Australia and Chile, Hakim is excited to create an environment where they can ‘grow wild’ with users, front and center.

We asked him about the UX design team’s evolving role at ServiceRocket.

You’ve described your team as a group of crazy and wacky designers. Are those essential characteristics?  

HN: Yes, I sincerely believe they are. It enables the designers to stay motivated while becoming more proactive and creative.

It’s controlled chaos, but in a good way, of course!

With that freedom, every designer is capable of leading projects with little to no supervision from me. They also come out with ideas to improve our design process, to the point where we now have too many ideas! That’s a wonderful problem to have.

How are you cultivating your team to think different, as Apple used to say?

HN: It starts with building solid relationships through communication. I remain open to suggestions and will listen to anything —any idea or concept—from the designers.

That openness creates a space where the team can ideate, without the fear of making a mistake.

I always tell my team, “Mistakes are moments of discovery and learning.”

Is your objective, in part, to create greater transparency about design processes across ServiceRocket?

HN: UX and design were once thought to only be applicable for products. In reality, they apply to marketing, e-commerce, content design, customer support, etc. as well. Thus design processes need to be transparent, accessible and implemented across the organization.

That’s why the UX team has created design resources that are accessible to anyone in the company. We want Rocketeers to embrace the importance of UX.

We want to go higher with our UX maturity at ServiceRocket.

How does the UX team work with engineering and product on app development?

HN: In less than a year, we’ve implemented research, wireframing, prototyping and testing in the app development process. Both engineering and product are always involved in the work since design and development work together as a team. We’re blessed in that these departments are open to new changes and happy to collaborate.

Can design improve the product development process?

HN: Before the design department existed at ServiceRocket, products were developed and tested through development. Improvements took a great deal of engineering’s time. Even when research was done, there were gaps between our expectations and user expectations. Design acts as a bridge to fill those gaps.

Frankly it’s better to mess up in the design phase—it’s cheaper and faster compared to an MVP in development. We ideate the solution, test it, and then test it some more, before it’s pushed to development.

Designers in UX and design are actually data-driven people.

We need to first know the ‘why’ by gathering data from analytics and research, before any work is done. The only way to create an amazing product and service is through foundational research and analytics.

How does one innovate great apps for the B2B global audience?

HN: Because the B2B user pool is not as big as B2C, it takes longer. Sometimes we can only get three to five users.

But that doesn’t stop the designer from gathering useful insights! In fact, we are planning to improve our research and testing resources and processes so we can test more users and create great products for our global audience.

Some Rocketeers in your team are serious gamers. Does that experience inform their design skills?

HN: Definitely. Games are focused on providing an immersive experience for their users so they can enjoy the story and the mechanics of the game.

The same principle applies to great games and our products: Delight the Customer.

As a team, we often talk about the games we like. It’s a great way to have a casual conversation and a great way to bond.

Creative design is a relatively new field in Malaysia. How do you see designers there contributing to global design innovation?

HN: Creative design has existed here for quite some time, especially for graphics and animation.

Beyond that, some Malaysian enterprises are putting funds into building innovative startups and design teams around user experience. The same goes with recent funds for research, innovation and development from the government to and MaGIC that will help startups grow and test their products.

While UX design in KL is relatively young, it’s growing by leaps and bounds.  

I wouldn’t be surprised if Malaysia will be on par with top global design innovators within the next two years. That’s exciting!

Are you a UX designer who’s passionate about your work? Join a collaborative team that innovates every day and has your back. As part of a rich global culture that celebrates diversity you'll enjoy amazing benefits that enable every Rocketeer to do the best work of their life. Join us.‍