Bhuvan Sarupuri Ph.D.

Standardizing Feature Releases

Transforming ad-hoc processes into strategic, repeatable systems

Methods
Interviews, Workshops, Affinity Mapping
Impact
Cross-organizational Strategy

Note: Collaborative research and design work completed with TOPdesk team members.

The Challenge

TOPdesk's feature releases lacked standardization, creating inconsistent user experiences, burdened UX teams, and development efforts that failed to generate expected adoption.

Our product's feature releases lack a standardized approach

This operational inefficiency was actively undermining product value, team productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Why This Matters

🎯 User Adoption at Risk

Without consistent communication and onboarding, users struggle to discover and adopt new features, reducing ROI on development investments.

⚙️ Team Efficiency Compromised

UX designers and researchers spend excessive time reinventing release processes instead of focusing on innovation.

🚀 Development Velocity Slowed

Product teams face significant bottlenecks from lack of standardized workflows, delaying time-to-market.

👥 Customer Insights Missing

Without standardized approaches, teams lack mechanisms to address perception issues, measure communication effectiveness, track feature adoption, or collect post-release feedback systematically.

Research Approach

1

Discovery Workshop

Collaborative session with UX researchers across product teams to map current practices, decision factors, and identify gaps in existing processes.

2

Stakeholder Interviews

In-depth conversations with 7 key stakeholders: 4 Product Owners/Managers, 2 User Guidance team members, and 1 Copywriter.

3

Affinity Mapping

Systematic synthesis of research data, clustering insights into actionable categories and identifying patterns across teams.

Research Questions

From Raw Data to Insights

Our affinity mapping process transformed hundreds of interview notes into structured, actionable insights:

Affinity Mapping Process
Affinity Mapping Session: Clustering interview insights from 7 stakeholders into four main categories: Communication, Solutions, Release Notes, and Additional Tags

Key Findings

Through affinity mapping, insights emerged across four critical categories:

Key Findings Categories
Categorized Findings: Research insights organized into Communication, Solutions, Release Notes, and Small Tags

1. Communication Fragmentation

2. Process Standardization Gaps

3. Documentation Challenges

4. Measurement & Feedback

Mapping the Existing Process

We documented the current release strategy and journey to understand the existing state and identify opportunities for improvement:

How Might We...

Transforming insights into actionable opportunities across stakeholder groups

User Guidance Teams

  • Content Timing: Get content out on time
  • Visibility: Know features releasing soon
  • Capacity: Maximize small team capacity
  • Documentation: Update portal on time
  • Collaboration: Connect dev-teams with UG
  • Info Gathering: Collect all necessary input

Development Teams

  • Standardization: Shared efficient approach
  • Consistency: Efficient release process
  • Speed: Deliver features quickly
  • User Delight: Design enjoyable solutions
  • Engagement: Maintain feedback flow
  • Measurement: Measure user satisfaction

End Users

  • Usability Testing: Involve users effectively
  • Feature Flags: Standardize implementation
  • Feedback Loops: Create standard loops
  • Transparency: Set realistic expectations
  • Communication: Map efficient channels
  • Alignment: Standardize feedback process

Customers

  • Perception: Address update concerns
  • Measurement: Track communication effectiveness
  • Adoption: Measure feature adoption
  • Feedback: Standard post-release loops

Deliverables & Impact

This research produced actionable recommendations across the organization:

📋

Product Management

Standardized decision frameworks for release approaches

🎨

UX Guild

Reusable solution patterns and templates

📚

User Guidance

Earlier integration and clearer content requirements

📢

Marketing

Aligned communication strategies across channels

Further down, we aim to align with the departments above and create a release strategy for the entire product.

Why This Research Drives Business Value

User Adoption Rate

Clear communication helps users discover and adopt features faster

Team Velocity

Standardized processes free teams to innovate rather than reinvent

💰
Development ROI

Features users actually use justify resources spent building them

🎯
Competitive Edge

Consistent improvements demonstrate active product evolution

The Bottom Line

By standardizing the feature release process, TOPdesk can transform from ad-hoc release management to a strategic, repeatable system. This research provides the foundation for improving customer satisfaction, team efficiency, and product competitiveness—turning internal process improvement into measurable business value.

Interested in Strategic UX Research?

I specialize in uncovering systemic issues and translating insights into actionable strategies that drive organizational impact.