Product Operations
Co-initiator of TraceLink's Agile journey and evolution.
Summary
Company
TraceLink
Role
Manager, Technical Publications and UX Manager
Location
North Reading, MA
Year
2018
In 2018, TraceLink, the leading supply chain management software company in the world, embarked on a significant transformation by implementing the Agile framework. This initiative aimed to enhance collaboration, improve product quality, and accelerate time-to-market for our software solutions.
While many companies have similar stories, ours is unique because it started with Technical Publications. Yes, you read that right—my colleague Joel Anderson and I, in partnership with our new VP of Quality, Kish Dassari, and new VP of Engineering, John Hogan, and led the first Agile pilot at TraceLink with Technical Publications at the helm.
I wore many hats on this project:
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Owner of the overall initiative, partnered with Director of Product Management Joel Anderson.
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Liaison to R&D Executive Management
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Chief content architect for revamped release notes, and content strategist for 2019+.
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Sole Jira Administrator, configuring the central TraceLink Jira
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Consultant for new Product Requirements and Functional Specification Templates.
Working Backwards
Customers could not understood what we were delivering and why it was valuable. Previously, many teams supporting customers or sales lacked a clear source of truth for upcoming features and timelines. This led to confusion about our goals and compromised customer satisfaction. After one weekend of completely revamping our release notes content, everything changed, because we wrote it from the customer's perspective. This sparked an appetite for clarity and traceability and would create a domino effect that would lead to our Agile maturation.
Objectives
01
Achieve better clarity for customers to understand delivered features/products and their value.
02
Enhance product quality by incorporating continuous feedback loops.
03
Ensure clearer traceability from the software deployed to customers down to the objective evidence of our product.
04
Accelerate time-to-market for new features and products.
05
Increase flexibility to adapt to market changes and customer needs.
Strategy & Implementation
Solution
A complete revamp of the product development process and supporting resources:
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Technical Communications: Took ownership of release notes (from Product and Project Management) and enhanced documentation with more customer-centric feature definition and detailed content to enable customer validation.
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Agile Framework: Leveraged Agile to bring teams together, facilitate focus, and make the organization more adaptable as business needs evolved.
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Jira Implementation: Piloted Atlassian’s Jira for the SDLC, replacing the difficult-to-trace and interpret Pivotal Tracker tool.
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Enhanced Artifacts: Created templates and a centralized repository for Product Requirements, Functional Specifications, Test Plans, and High-Level Designs (HLDs) by product area.
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Training and Documentation: Defined and documented key SDLC information and training to enable the R&D organization and support TraceLink SOP content supporting GxP compliance.
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Central Product Management Wiki: Curated a central repository for all product artifacts, process information, and team information.
Project
Requirements
a.
Adhere to GxP (good anything practice) based on pharmaceutical industry.
c.
Support multiple product lines and enable consistency across.
e.
Ensure all phase gate approvals are incorporated into the same tool.
g.
Make all features within the release notes and customer communications traceable down to objective evidence.
i.
Secure key stakeholder buy-in and management’s agreement to ensure process integrity and offer final approval on the initiative.
b.
Account for CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 21 Part 11 requirements.
d.
Maintain an unimpacted quarterly release schedule with a month’s preview for customers.
f.
Centralize all R&D product deliverables and development/testing activity in one tool.
h.
Ensure all product teams adhere to one process.
j.
Ensure executive visibility to all product deliverables.
Project Duration
9 Months
Stakeholders
The benefits of an initiative like this one is how it can positively impact employee's engagement while greatly improving customer satisfaction, which is every leader's ideal.
Research and Discovery
Stakeholder Interviews
Identified key stakeholders, including executives, product managers, development teams, and customers, to obtain insights.
AWS Interviews
Conducted external interviews with large-scale enterprises (e.g., Amazon Web Services, SAP) to determine scalable choices for growth.
GxP Requirements Gathering
Gathered requirements from the Global Regulatory and Compliance team to ensure GxP standing.
A/B Analysis
Conducted internal interviews with colleagues experienced in Agile environments for an A/B analysis.
Personae Development for Colleagues
Conducted customer and Services interviews to identify current pain points and gaps.
Process Definition & Execution
I served as the owner of this initiative in partnership with Joel Anderson, a Director of Product Management, Kish Dasari, VP of Quality Assurance, and John Hogan, SVP of Engineering.
Challenges & Solutions
Resistance to Change
Challenge: Initial resistance from executive management accustomed to the Waterfall methodology and a regulated environment. Concerns that releasing every sprint would upset customers needing a four-week validation period.
Solution: Highlighted benefits experienced by larger organizations and illustrated clarity benefits for customers. Emphasized that software could be "deployed" without exposing it to customers if necessary (i.e., release quarterly when customers are prepared).
Coordination Across Teams
Challenge: Ensuring alignment and coordination across multiple teams.
Solution: Implemented Scrum of Scrums meetings to synchronize activities and resolve dependencies and held weekly executive readouts on the progress of the new framework.
Maintaining Documentation
Challenge: Transitioning to Agile while maintaining necessary documentation for compliance.
Solution: Integrated templatized documentation practices within the Agile process.
Outcomes & Benefits
Improved Collaboration
Enhanced communication and collaboration between development, QA, and product management teams with better clarity on what to build (leading to better development and testing).
Improved cross-organization collaboration, with Marketing and Sales having better visibility into key features, product timelines, risks, and impediments.
Services could better support the customer base with clearer delivery schedules. The Automated Validation Management team noted, “This is the single best document (release notes) that has come out of the product. I can finally do my job more efficiently and with more confidence.”
The Global Regulatory and Compliance team conducted more effective customer audits, as assets were more discoverable and understandable.
Fostered a more cohesive and motivated workforce within engineering, which had a strong appetite for an Agile working environment.
Product Management appreciated the Technical Communications team for taking on the documentation responsibilities regarding release notes.
Enhanced Product Quality
With feature names and descriptions for the release notes written by technical writers, customers had more clarity on the product and features they were receiving, and the impacts on their validation.
Achieved higher customer satisfaction with timely and relevant product updates. One critical customer remarked to the executive team in 2019, “...this is one thing in 2019 you did absolutely right.”
During customer audits, customers could easily trace features/products down through proper testing/code via the release notes, increasing confidence and trust in the TraceLink brand.
Faster Time-to-Market
Accelerated release cycles, enabling quicker response to market needs. The pilot proved successful with TraceLink’s Product Verification and Master Sharing product (Product Information Manager), which included the product’s journey from discovery to production despite constantly changing requirements.
Increased ability to deliver incremental value to customers regularly. With Product Verification, an MVP product was delivered within a few months.
Josh Sheldon
VP, Professional Services & Support at TraceLink (Services)
“This is the single best document (release notes) that has come out of the product. I can finally do my job more efficiently and with more confidence.”
Jeff Olson
Manager, Engineering
"This is what we've been waiting for. Epics and stories, we can keep it that simple."
Pifzer
(Pharmaceutical Manufacturer)
“...this is one thing in 2019 you did absolutely right.”
Conclusion
The implementation of the Agile framework at TraceLink in 2018 marked a pivotal transformation in their product development approach. By fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, and flexibility, TraceLink successfully navigated the challenges of transitioning from Waterfall to Agile. The initiative not only improved operational efficiency and product quality but also strengthened TraceLink's position in the competitive supply chain software market.
In 2022-23, Joel Anderson and I successfully conducted discovery on SAFe as the company continued to grow and expand its product ecosystem. With successful buy-in, the company invested in 2023 to prepare for a shift to SAFe, which is currently underway.