Sergiy Korolov, Co-CEO of Railsware and co-founder of Mailtrap, shares insights on value-focused product development. He emphasizes the crucial distinction between shipping features and genuinely delivering value, urging teams to prioritize user problems over mere feature lists. Sergiy introduces the BRIDGeS framework, which helps clarify problems before solutions and guides effective strategy pivots. He discusses the importance of user research and validation, demonstrating how real-world examples like Mailtrap highlight demand before feature development.
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insights INSIGHT
Stop Treating Features As Problems
Teams confuse solutions (features) with users' underlying motivations and problems.
Separating problem motivation from solution choices reveals higher-impact opportunities.
insights INSIGHT
Value Is A Better User State
Value means moving a user to a better state by solving a problem or delivering a benefit.
Different products deliver value differently: chocolate gives pleasure, insurance reduces risk.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Calendly: Value From A Simple Wrapper
Calendly solved messy, back-and-forth scheduling by giving users a public link tied to calendars.
That simple wrapper removed coordination pain and scaled scheduling for individuals and teams.
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Today, we are another episode in our series, sponsored by our good friends at Railsware. Railsware is a leading product studio with two main focuses - services and products. They have created amazing products like Mailtrap, Coupler and TitanApps, while also partnering with teams like Calendly and Bright Bytes. They deliver amazing products, and have happy customers to prove it.
In this series, we are digging into the company's methods around product engineering and development. In particular, we will cover relevant topics to not only highlight their expertise, but to educate you on industry trends alongside their experience.
In today's episode, we are talking again with Sergiy Korolov, Co-CEO of Railsware and Co-founder of Mailtrap. In my conversation with Sergiy, we dive into how Railsware delivers value - not just features - by following their BRIDGeS framework, enabling their team to focus on value delivery.
Questions:
Railsware is proud of its product development approaches, so let’s pave the way to our topic through one of your prominent cases. In its early days, Calendly reached out to you to deliver their product – with a tight budget and a large set of requirements. You’ve said earlier that several of those initial expected features remained unfulfilled. This leads me to the question: to you, what's the difference between shipping features and delivering value, and why do so many product teams get this wrong?
You’ve been working on several client products, as well as on Railsware’s own. How do you identify what "value" actually means for different stakeholders?
Railsware is known for its BRIDGeS framework, a useful tool to bring the team on the same page and set the product process straight. Can you walk us through the BRIDGeS framework and how it helps teams focus on value delivery?
What role does user research and validation play in the BRIDGeS approach?
Can you share a specific example where applying BRIDGeS helped a team pivot from building the wrong features to delivering real value?
What's the biggest challenge teams face when transitioning from feature delivery to value delivery?
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