Embie

Proud to represent Embie at Vivatech, come visit us at C27-009 ! Thanks hub.brussels | Europe for the warm welcome and support 🔥

How bringing designers, developers, and product together transformed our workflow at Embie. 🚀 🗣️ Lesson #5 out of 7 learned while building over 20 web products in 4 years: Designers, Developers, and Product folk belong in the same room. In the world of web development, there’s a subtle art to ensuring designers and developers work in harmony. At Embie, we've realized the immense value of having these teams share the same space. It's common in tech to find designers and developers operating in their bubbles. Designers often craft detailed Figma prototypes, hoping developers will get every nuance. Developers might get lost in technicalities, making their feedback seem like a foreign language. The key to bridging this gap? 🎙️ Constant, clear communication. By having designers, developers, and product folk together in one room, you encourage open dialogue and mutual understanding.  This isn't just about making projects easier; it’s about enhancing them through better understanding Our approach at Embie? Include everyone in daily stand-ups. This didn't click overnight – it required patience and a willingness to adapt. (Props to Ericka de Fauconval for enduring too many stand-ups where fellow devs lost themselves in tech details) Now, it’s a seamless part of our workflow. Designers better understand the technical implications of their choices, and developers gain insight into the intricacies of UX. This integration leads to a more productive development cycle. It allows for real-time feedback, quicker iterations, and a shared vision that’s reflected in the final product. So, if you’re struggling with siloed teams, consider bringing them together. The results might just surprise you. 📩 Interested in how this approach can transform your product development? Drop me a message, and let’s explore how integrated teams can drive success in your projects. #webdevelopment #teamintegration #productdesign #design #ux #development #product #tech

We just replaced our inbound sales rep (aka me 😅) with a custom GPT. Here’s how you can try it out, and build your own. OpenAI announced two weeks ago that we could build custom GPTs with: * Built-in instructions on how to act * External resources (docs, images, …) * Website access * Conversation starters * API Access I’ve wanted to get my hands on it straight away and finally got time to do it over the weekend. Of course I had to make it about Embie, so it’s now trained on answering most questions you could have about our services ! Check the link in the comments to access it (requires ChatGPT at the moment, see below for free invites!) If you want to build one for yourself, head over to ChatGPT (with a subscription) : * On the left side you will see a new “Explore” tab * Under “My GPTs” there will be an option to “Create a GPT” * ChatGPT will help you build out your idea Here are a couple ideas of how it can be useful to you : * 📑 Give it your HR policies (remote working, holidays, …) and have it answer complicated questions * ✨ Give it your product specs and have it respond to user questions * 🔌 Connect it to various APIs and ask it to give you a morning briefing with news, weather, in a way that is helpful to you * 💬 If you have other ideas, comment how you plan to use it ! I am personally excited to integrate more AI in our services, feel free to reach out with any question ! PS : I have free invites to get access to a trial for ChatGPT , comment if you need one ! #product #ai #tech #openai #entrepreneurship #startup

Lessons #2 out of 7 learned while building over 20 web products in 4 years: 🧑🍼 Your internal tools deserve the same attention as your customer products. When you build a product for your consumers/clients, you know the design, robustness and ease of use of your software will impact your brand. When building internal tools it’s easier to cut corners, with thoughts like “design doesn’t matter since it’s not public, we’ll just ask a dev to come up with it”. But internal tools do have a big impact : => On productivity : Properly caring about how you build internal tools will increase your company productivity => On employee wellbeing : giving them user-friendly interfaces helps them feel more relaxed on the job  => On employer branding : it’s an opportunity to show that you pay attention, even when no-one’s looking We’ve seen it with the tools we built for our clients, and we’ve seen it ourselves. That’s why we’re in the process of redesigning our own internal tool. (Props to Gizem Onur for the great work!) Please give your employees the tools they deserve 🛠️ What’s your experience with well (or not so well) designed tools in the workplace ? 📩 Drop me a message if you want to learn more about we build products that work. #product #tech #design #entrepreneurship #startup #tools

Lesson #1 out of 7 learned while building over 20 web products in 4 years : Ease into it. When imagining a new product, whether it’s an internal tool, or a customer product, you usually start with a vision of what you want to achieve. Say your vision is to make it easy for people to get their food delivered. You start with a list of features you want to build : - In-app menu - Online payment - Order display in the restaurant - Map delivery tracking Then ask your team to build this out, and they take a couple months to ship a first version.  Once launched, orders start coming in, but you realize that the restaurants are quickly getting overwhelmed (cc The Bear). The restaurants need you to work on a system to manage the flow of orders more efficiently. At the same time, you notice that customers don’t really check the delivery map, they usually just rely on notifications to check progress. The thing is, you spent a third of your budget on getting the map right, because you were convinced that what users really lacked when ordering food was a good sense of how long it would take to arrive. If instead, you had limited the features to their simplest versions everywhere and shipped early, you would have addressed the key user issue months in advance and within your initial budget. Your vision isn’t wrong, some customers really want that map! But going towards your vision step by step ensures you build what’s right, at the right time. When discussing a new product idea with a client, the first thing we ask is : “What is the simplest version of your product we can build?” This sounds obvious, but it’s so very tempting to build towards your vision right away, that you forget that what you really need to do is to start putting your product into people’s hands. 📩 Drop me a message if you want to learn more about we build products that work.  #tech #product #design #entrepreneurship

7️⃣ key lessons learned building and shipping over 20 web products in 4 years at Embie 🪜 Ease into It: Avoid the urge to perfect everything from the start. Limit your initial scope, ship fast, and then let user feedback guide you to make the most out of your resources. 👨🍼 Internal = External: Treat internal tools with the same reverence as external ones. A well-designed internal tool propels productivity and empowerment. 🙉 Your ideas < Your users' ideas: Your vision is essential in the first phases of development, but as users interact with your product, their feedback becomes the golden ticket to refinement. ✨ Quality Pays Off: Investing in quality tech from the beginning slashes costs in support, bug fixes, and maintenance down the lane. 🗣️ Designers, Developers and Product folk belong in the same room: A mere handover of design files like a Figma file can lose much in translation. Have your team collaborate on designs and features so that developers understand what they’re building, and designers understand what resources developers need. 🔺 The quality-budget-features triangle: The trade-off among quality, features, and budget is real. Prioritize quality and cherry-pick features that align with your budget and add substantial value. 📈 Products are growth engines: Whether selling the product or aiding your value chain, exceptional digital experiences will drive business. At Embie, we're committed to bringing quality digital experiences to everyone, through building custom software products that reach our clients', and their users' goals. In the following weeks, I’ll dive deeper into each of these aspects. 📩 Drop me a message if you want to learn more about how we build products that work. #product #tech #design