My role

As the sole product designer in Deliveroo's API/developer experience team, my focus was to bring to life faster and smooth API integration processes and controls that accelerates retail and system partner's business efficiency.

I divided my time equally between hands-on design work and driving collaboration with back-end tech and product to align partner needs and business goals, while also exerting influence on senior leadership.

Design strategy, workshops, research, ideation, UI&UX, prototype and testing.

For system partners: a developer portal, a marketing site, an API docs site, and an API management tool.

For retail partners: API intros, performance, and troubleshooting features.

A product manager, 3 - 7 engineers. 

Phase 1: Understanding the business and users

As part of the newly formed developer experience team, I took proactive steps (below) to develop a problem-solving strategy. 

Clarify business's problem 

The business set the team with a mission:

"To enable tech partners to self-serve Deliveroo API integrations"

*Tech partners are developers from POS/in-store system companies. They ultimately enable restaurants to manage Deliveroo on their in-store systems instead of using Deliveroo hardware products.

We crystallised this into:

+ Meeting the increasing demand from partners requesting to use our APIs to streamline their kitchen operations, without the need for additional Deliveroo hardware.

+ Saving time and costs spent on technical managers to manually carry out integration processes.

+ Seamless Deliveroo order lifecycle for a better customer experience

Study the team and the API sector

With limited initial knowledge of APIs, I immediately immersed myself in both internal and external resources to start learning.

Simultaneously, I scheduled one-on-one meetings with key team members and essential stakeholders, such as the product manager, four engineers, two tech leads, and two tech integration managers, to gain comprehensive insights into the project's progress and current status.

Identify gaps and plan for action

After the discussions and my increased understanding of APIs, I concluded my findings into three areas to act upon next:

1. Delve into the different user roles and internal teams - The way Deliveroo's API process is built requires multiple parties' input. I wanted to consider the unique requirements of each user group and determine if multiple platforms or tools are necessary to meet their needs.

2. Enable engineers in envisioning the end product(s) - Since this is a new project for back-end as well as front-end development, there is uncertainty about selecting appropriate services, defining precise features, and connecting them to form a coherent product.

3. Help establish the project strategy and roadmap - Once a version of the end product concept is established, it can be utilised to kickstart a roadmap for design and delivery.

Phase 2: Streamlining abstract thinking

Running workshops

#discover #align #inspire #ideate

To accomplish the three action points mentioned earlier, I conducted a series of workshops aimed at analysing the problem, identifying user types, exploring technological capabilities, brainstorming, and generating ideas.

Instead of running full-day design sprints, I organised a series of 2-hour workshops due to uncertainties in the back-end. This approach allowed engineers to perform necessary spikes between workshops and helped me tailor subsequent agendas based on the outcomes and decisions of the previous workshop.

Workshops turned out to be effective. We were able to turn abstract ideas into draft feature concepts, user flow maps and a platform IA in 6 weeks' time.

Trust the process

I spent time comprehending the outcomes discussed between each workshop to enhance the quality of service and use of time for the next one.

As the team progressed through this process,

+ we were aligned on user needs and pain points

+ we gained more confidence in making initial judgments

+ the concepts of individual features and user flows took shape

+ we identified the need to build additional tools alongside the Portal to support API integrations end-to-end, e.g. a tool for the commercial team to approve API contracts.

Creating a product x design roadmap

After six workshops, I gathered all the results and started linking them together to create a structured IA and a product journey map.

I then referenced them to develop a design roadmap that captured epics, design options for top-discussed approaches, design estimations and progress.

This design roadmap helped to

+ unblock engineering from product vision uncertainty

+ guide the product and development roadmaps and prioritisation throughout the project

Phase 3: Continuous tech x design iterations

In a six-month phase, the team and I worked to develop the portal (v0.1). This involved connecting ideas, creating user flows, iterating based on new tech discoveries, and continuously testing to enhance UX and achieve project goals.

KEY USER FLOW / 

Onboarding and guidance tour

KEY FEATURE / 

The API Dashboard

KEY USER FLOW / 

The API testing process

Phase 4: Improving the API ecosystem

I undertook 4 other initiatives aimed at enhancing Deliveroo's API ecosystem to provide an elevated experience for both internal and external user groups.

WEDSITE DESIGN /

Deliveroo's developer site & API docs

NEW FEATURE DESIGN / 

API integration controls & metrics for restaurants and grocery stores

NEW TOOLING DESIGN / 

API manager app for employees

Evolving the Design System (TDS)

My TDS contributions from project include 13 upgrades to existing components, 15 illustration badges, and 9 narrative illustrations. Additionally, I helped to introduce a new component contribution system to the company.