Challenge
I was contacted by a relatively small audio/video company (SnapAV) that wanted to build an app for one of their IP-connected power conditioners, essentially a surge protector with controllable outlets, so their integrators could reset them remotely.
Remote management had been the "holy grail" of the CEDIA industry. Integrators spent hours driving to customer homes just to reboot a device. Solving this sounds simple, but no one else in the space had succeeded in making it easy, affordable, and reliable. I accepted the position as UX Lead on a team of five.
Approach
We were building something that had been attempted in this field several times, with high-profile examples of failure. Some competitors became too focused on a single product category; others were so unfocused they never released meaningful features. We had to be different.
We settled on four things being critical: integrators had to be able to monitor, control, configure, and be notified when problems arose. We started with three power conditioner models, all only differing in the number of outlets they supported. This would soon grow into an IoT platform supporting over 200 native models across multiple categories.
Discovery
We drew on SnapAV's fantastic customer relationships. We traveled to conferences, showed off prototypes, tested, listened, iterated. Integrators needed outlet on/off, reboot, and configuration, but the conversations went much deeper.
Not everything was serious. Every team member went through the rite of passage of accidentally turning off a router instead of rebooting it, creating a "truck roll" for ourselves. Even this silly use case led us to create "Network Device" outlet categorization to prevent accidental shutoffs.
Going to conferences, getting in the field, and realizing the chance we had to make a real difference in people's lives was invigorating. We could help people be successful in their small businesses and support their families and communities.
Vision
If we were going to be successful, we had to realize we could not be everything to everyone. Most integrators were not very tech savvy. They were struggling to find employees who could configure networking equipment. We had a choice: teach someone to be a network engineer, or make it easy enough that anyone can learn?
We chose the latter.
Make our customers successful by building what they need. No more, no less.
There's a big difference between building what someone wants and what they need. It was my job to figure out the difference.
Our goals:
- Keep integrators informed about what's happening at customer locations
- Make troubleshooting simple from any device
- Listen to customers and make them successful
Launch
Launched in 2014 with immediate CEDIA adoption. But success didn't come without challenges. Internal stakeholders wanted additional device types (surveillance, networking, media) that were very different from the WattBox we started with. Product managers saw the attachment rates and customer satisfaction, and our team wasn't structured to handle the demand.
Building the research practice
SnapAV was still new to software development and hadn't done much usability testing. I championed speaking with customers as often as possible, going to conferences, getting into the field, showing off designs and testing prototypes.
We created a style guide for consistent UIs across all product lines and moved away from the JDM (Joint Development Manufacturing) model so we could control the full experience.
Scaling the platform
As OvrC expanded beyond power management, we added networking, surveillance, and media categories. The platform needed to scale without losing its simplicity.
We developed advanced features like WAN settings, speed testing, billing integration, and video distribution, all while maintaining the core principle of simplicity.
Documentation handed off to dev teams was developed in Axure, providing guides for how each feature should work with links to BRDs and design specs. We built a design system to standardize UIs across multiple product lines.
Impact
OvrC became the premier remote management system in CEDIA within months.
- Built and led the UX team from 1 designer to a full design organization
- Grew past 5M devices at 200,000+ locations during my time on the team, 20M+ today
- Grew from 3 models to 200+ across power, networking, surveillance, and media
- Introduced a hub for non-SnapAV device visibility
Success brought its own problems. We were constantly asked to stretch the bounds of what the system was designed to do, and a lot of the job became deciding what not to build so the platform wouldn't lose the simplicity that made it work in the first place.
This one stayed near and dear to my heart. We set out to help small businesses be more successful, and watching integrators build real livelihoods on top of something our team made is the part I am proudest of.