Testing new markets with an Activity Library
Parabol
Parabol started as an agile meeting platform and quickly became a top choice for teams who needed to run Retrospectives, Standups, or Sprint Poker meetings. On 2023 we set out to explore new markets by expanding the type of activities our customers could run in our platform.
As a Product Design Lead, I worked closely with our Product Managers, Developers, Growth Experts and our Founders, to explore, test and validate our assumptions.
Validating assumptions
The Activity Library
In order to test our experiment, we designed a library of activities where users could browse our catalog of activity types, as well as get recommendations of activities based on various criteria.
Creating a flexible system
I designed a new architecture and component system that gave us the flexibility that we needed in order to test different activity types and presentation formats. This included alternative layouts for displaying and highlighting activities, as well as an end-to-end flow for searching and bookmarking activities.
This new flexibility also allowed us to explore ways in which we could improve the overall experience, particularly when it came to onboarding new users. From nudging them to try some of our most popular activities, to surfacing tutorials on how best to facilitate activities and coordinate their teams.
Validating our experiment
This experiment allowed to validate our assumptions and define a direction forward. Our usage data showed us that we were on the right direction, with current and new users spending more time on the platform and running more activity types beyond the traditional agile offering we already had.
These insights gave us the confidence to plan next steps and double down on our expansion strategy.
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